November 18, 2025
President Trump is incensed, again.
This time it is over the increasing cost to renovate the U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel in Colorado. The cost of the Cadet Chapel restoration project, which began in September of 2019, has now ballooned to almost $335 million, and is not expected to be completed until November of 2028.
"The United States Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel has been a CONSTRUCTION DISASTER from the time it was built in 1962. The earlier stories are that it leaked on Day One, and that was the good part. Hundreds of Millions of Dollars have been spent," said Trump on social media. He also termed it a "mess" and a "complete architectural catastrophe."
Located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on the campus of the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA), the Cadet Chapel was completed in 1962, and was named a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 2004. The chapel stands 150 feet tall, and is 280 feet long and 84 feet wide. Its most notable architectural feature is its 17 spires.
The Cadet Chapel was built to "meet the spiritual needs of cadets and staff." It houses a Protestant chapel, a Catholic chapel, a Jewish chapel, a Muslim chapel, a Buddhist chapel, and a Falcon Circle for Wiccan, Pagan, and Druid worshippers. There are also "all-faith" rooms for other religious groups to use.
USAFA superintendent Lt. Gen. Richard Clark stated about the renovation:
Whether you're a cadet, a graduate or among the thousands of visitors each year who enter our gates, we know the place this amazing building has in the hearts of many who support our Academy. We're disappointed too. We're disappointed we can't open the chapel doors as soon as we originally thought, but in the end, we're doing the right work at the right time for the right reason: preserving this national historic landmark for generations of cadets, graduates and Americans.
There has been much hand-wringing over how the Air Force could allow its chapel to deteriorate so much that it needs to be closed for years for renovations costing so much.
But here is a question that no one is even considering: Should the Air Force even have a chapel in the first place?
Of course not.
First of all, the federal government has no business constructing a chapel anywhere in any government building. Not on a military base. Not in a Social Security office. Not at a national park. Not in the Capitol building. Not in the White House. Not in a Post Office. Not in an office building. Not in a courthouse. Since when is it the concern of the federal government to do something to "meet the spiritual needs" of anyone? It is not the job of the government to encourage or facilitate the practice of religion any more than it is the job of government to hinder or prohibit the practice of religion.
It should be noted that this has nothing to do with the First Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Constructing a chapel is not establishing a religion. The issue is simply the proper role of government.
Second, with a government chapel comes government chaplains and government control. Taxpayer-supported chaplains are expected to serve two masters: God and the state. I have written about the evils of Christians being military chaplains here and here. A government chapel means that it is the government who ultimately decides who gets to preach and what they are allowed to preach.
And third, what connection is there between religion and a branch of the U.S. military? There is none whatsoever. Religion-any religion-is supposed to uphold and pursue the sanctity of life, non-violence, virtue, respect, compassion, toleration, kindness, peace, and the Golden Rule. Contrast these things with what is done by the Air Force. The Air Force bombs countries that pose no threat to the United States, maims and kills foreigners who never harmed any American, makes widows and orphans, engages in offense while calling it defense, destroys property and infrastructure, kills civilians and calls it collateral damage, helps to carry out a reckless, belligerent, and meddling U.S. foreign policy, and carries out unjust, immoral, and unnecessary military operations.
The actions of the Air Force cannot be sanctified by having a chapel on the grounds of the Air Force Academy. Young men and women of any religion should aim higher than a career in the Air Force.