Senator Shelby,
I urge you to take immediate action in the Senate to affirm the right of military chaplains and all military personnel and civilian employees to pray according to the dictates of their own religious traditions.
As a current Army Reserve officer who has applied for an active duty appointment as an Army chaplain, I am appalled that senior leadership in our armed forces are systematically stamping out the free exercise of religion of our chaplains who wish to pray in the name of Jesus Christ. This is unconscionable and the rights of all soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines must be protected.
Chaplains in the military are required to be ordained and endorsed by their respective faith groups and are required to perform the religious services of their faith groups. To deny chaplains the right to perform these duties is contrary to the U.S. Constitution, the religious liberty of the chaplains, and the good order and discipline of the U.S. military. I am frightened to think of what straits American liberty will be in if we allow government policy to dictate whether clergy may pray in the name of the Lord.
Senator Shelby, will you do the right thing to affirm religious liberty and defend our constitutional rights?
Sincerely,
The Rev. Daniel J. Sparks
[Likewise submitted to Senator Jeff Sessions, Representative Spencer Bachus, President George Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney.]
In his December 2005 newsletter to Army chaplains, the Army Chief of Chaplains, Chaplain (Major General) David H. Hicks wrote:
Thanks for sharing that. Is it possible to have a balance between the “needs of the audience” and a chaplains personal convictions? I like your letter.
Len, yes, I think it is possible to have a balance. Let me use a hypothetical example.
Say that I am a chaplain and my commander has me stand in front of my battalion and offer a prayer. I should be aware that the unit (presumably) is not entirely made up of Christians. However, I am also aware, the commander should be aware, and everyone else who can see the cross on my collar should be aware that I am a Christian chaplain. I have been endorsed by my denomination as someone who is fit to perform religious services of my faith and the Army, in fact, requires that I do so in order to function as a chaplain.
The commander should not be surprised or perplexed if I close my prayer in Christ’s name. In fact, he should expect me to do no less (if I actually choose not to use Christ’s name, that is my preference, not the commander’s). The soldiers should not be offended by my use of Christ’s name, an expression of my Christian faith. Instead, they should realize that the religious freedom of all soldiers is affirmed by the careful protection of their religious expression and the religious expression of the chaplain. Mentioning the name of Christ is not the same as forcing a soldier to convert (as if forced conversion were possible).
If I cannot truly function as a Christian, then why have Christians in the chaplaincy? And, by extension, if chaplains–of whichever religion–cannot be faithful to their religion, why should a chaplaincy exist? Our religious liberties are being encroached on all sides, and the military has, sadly, become a laboratory for all types of social and political experimentation. Mark my words: if chaplains are wholly prohibited from praying according to the beliefs of their religion, the expulsion of the entire chaplaincy from the military will quickly follow.
So, yes, chaplains can and should be sensitive to their audiences (”situationally aware”), but they should not be required to forsake their moral, religious, and military duties. Accomodation of another’s religious beliefs does not mean that mine must be curtailed.
All men have an obligation to acknowledge God. What kind of cleric would he be who, ministering in the name of God, refuses to acknowledge the authority of God?