In a reply to the House members, Gen. Michael F. Ryan, chief of staff of the Air Force, asserted that Berry s refusal to serve with women was a matter of his personal convictions, not the result of his religious beliefs. The Air Force transferred Berry to a procurement job in Massachusetts. His lawyer said that would not end the matter. The military is supposed to accommodate religious beliefs to the maximum extent possible, but Berry and his advocates are AWOL in the logic department. If so, a member of the white supremacist World Church of the Creator could claim that his religious beliefs prevent him from sharing a foxhole with blacks and Jews.
Berry does have a problem.
He believes proximity to women is dangerous. He can dress up such thinking in religious garb, but the military was right to dismiss it. Berry voluntarily joined a coed institution. If he cannot work with women because the temptation is too much, he should not be able to deny a woman her place in a missile silo. Apparently, Falwell and Berry s defenders feel there is nothing immoral about blowing up the world.