A Victory for Chaplains

For the past year and a half, our Office of Government Affairs at the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) has been working on behalf of military chaplains throughout the country and around the world in order to protect their right of freedom of speech.  Regulations issued in 2000 and 2005 by the military significantly curtailed the ability of chaplains to pray according to the dictates of their conscience.  This issue became so significant that chaplains began contacting our office and the offices of Congressman Walter Jones and others expressing their concern over this censorship.  In case after case, chaplains were told not to pray in Jesus name or to refrain from using a specific deity.  It reached such a point of concern that legislation was necessary to end this censorship and discrimination.

Our Government Affairs team, as well as our senior attorneys at the ACLJ, worked with Congressmen Walter Jones, Todd Akin, and Duncan Hunter to draft language into the Defense Authorization Bill that would protect the chaplains right to pray.  As you can imagine, groups on the left opposed chaplains free speech initiatives.  Nevertheless, the United States House of Representatives leadership stood firm on this issue.  The legislation passed overwhelmingly in the House and was on its way for approval when a roadblock appeared in the United States Senate.  We mobilized our members from around the country to demand that these chaplains be protected.  By radio, television and email, we pursued an aggressive strategy to protect the right of military chaplains to pray.  Despite the Senate roadblock, I am happy to report a major victory for our chaplains.

While the Senate did not adopt the language that we helped negotiate from the House of Representatives, they did put a provision in the bill which rolled back the existing regulations that have served as the basis for the censorship.  These regulations issued by the Air Force and the Navy became the foundation from which these acts of censorship took place.  In a temporary victory, Congress rolled back those regulations that were causing the difficulty for the chaplains and reinstated earlier regulations that were more protective of the free exercise of religion.  Congress also said that they will visit this issue fully in January when the new Congress returns.  We anticipate major hearings on these issues.  In the interim, we have a victory for our chaplains, but this is only the first phase of this engagement.  Next will be the major hearings before the United States House and Senate and permanent legislation to protect chaplains right.  As Congressman Todd Akin pointed out in his press release:

I am happy that we have taken a step towards restoring the freedom that our military chaplains ought to enjoy, said Akin. The Navy and Air Force regulations that we are striking prevented chaplains from praying according to their faith and conscience, whether they were Muslim, Christian, Jewish or of any other faith.

While I would have liked stronger language protecting the religious freedom of chaplains, this legislation is a first step forward in protecting the First Amendment rights of chaplains and all the men and women serving our country in the military, said Akin.

I concur with Congressman Akin and am pleased that we have this temporary victory for our United States Military chaplains.