Fort Bragg accused of pro-evangelical bias in hosting fall 2010 concert

Evangelical Christians have been a rising presence in the military for several decades.  One effect of this sociological fact is that the public promotion of particular religious values has been increasingly common.  In this instance, an atheist group wishing to host a rival concert complains of bias.

This earlier post on the rising profile of evangelical Christians in the officer corps is relevant.

This is an update on my earlier post concerning pastors' efforts to shake loose of IRS controls on political actiivity

Pastors to Protest IRS Rules on Political Advocacy

Growing dominance of right-wing religious sects in the U.S. officer corps (revised)

In 1960, when the late Morris Janowitz published his classic study, The Professional Soldier, he described an officer corps that was largely dominated by "elite" or mainline Protestants--Lutherans, Presbyterians and, especially, Episcopalians. Indeed, the design of the Cadet Chapel at West Point cries out "Anglican." Over the course of the last half century, the officer corps has changed dramatically in terms of the proportional representation of religious denominations. Catholics, and evangelical Protestant sects, including Methodists, Baptists and other evangelical sects, as well as non-affiliated fundamentalist Protestants are now widely represented in the officer ranks. Mormons are over-represented in the officer corps, as compared to their share of the population. (There are about six million Mormons in the U.S., roughly two percent of the population; which is to say there are as many Mormons as Jews in the U.S.) Jews comprise a tiny minority of the officer corps, below their less than two percent share in the general population. I recall that when the Jewish chapel was opened at West Point, in the late 1980s that there were less than 20 Jewish cadets in the Corps of Cadets (the Corps was then 4,400 strong). The numbers may have increased over the past two decades.
These developments, accelerated by the advent of the all-volunteer military, reflect trends in the larger society, as Morris Janowitz would have been quick to point out. The upshot of this sociological change is that the officer corps is now led by officers who are much more likely to wear their faith on their sleeves, so to speak.
This report on the military academy speaks to the point.

Religion and Its Role Are in Dispute at the Service Academies - NYTimes.com

A recent Pew study is also relevant.

Evangelicals Are a Growing Force in the Military Chaplain Corps

When Morris Janowitz, the late and renowned military sociologist, wrote the Professional Soldier a half century ago the officer corps was still dominated by "elite" protestant sects, namely the Episcopalians and the Lutherans. Religion in those days was only quietly assertive, and never really in-your-face. Over the last five or six decades the officer corps has changed. Catholics were always there, but Protestant sects from the evangelical right have increasingly made their way into the officer corps along with many Mormons who found in military one of the few employers in America that would reward their large go-forth-and-multiply families with expanded government housing and extensive programs for children. The result is an officer corps that increasingly reflects not just the beliefs that mark George Bush's political base, but the political ideologies as well.

The upshot is that officers (and enlisted people) now more often find themselves in situations where religion is inserted into their work, even if they do not desire to encounter religion in temporal life. The recent flap at the Air Force Academy showed quite clearly how dangerous this latter trend may be while also highlighting the dubious constitutional basis for military officers, chaplains or others, to promote religion in daily military life.
Some religious minorities are already under-represented in the military, Jews for instance. The trend that I allude to above will only promoted that divergence from military service.
Evangelicals Are a Growing Force in the Military Chaplain Corps - New York Times