www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Navy Chaplain Faces Court Martial For Praying

This is an interesting thread to a military person and can be compared with the current developing situation in the Russian military where chaplains (not in uniforms) are given more and more ministry over the objections of non-orthodox/christians. I believe Poland had uniformed chaplains and would be interested in finding out about the other countries like Ukraine, Bielorus, etc. I met an OCA navy chaplain last year who sspent some time with the Romanian military to assist in setting up a chaplaincy. I also heard while in Iraq that the Georgian Army had a chaplain there.

The operative phrase in the original, posted article was "in uniform." The important behavior was that the chaplain went to a press event, in uniform.

You do not give up your civil rights by joining the military, but you are covered by a slightly different code of conduct in the form of the UCMJ. Protesting or appearing at a press conference in uniform - be it economic, political, or religious protesting - is generally a no no. I'm not so sure that he will be court-martialled; to me, the GCM and SPCM processes have bigger fish to fry. A small reprimand and a reminder about what one can and cannot do in uniform is more appropriate.

The Navy policy is not that you cannot invoke the name of Jesus, as was initially reported in some press reports, but that for a general command function (where, typically, people of many faiths attend), prayer should be non-sectarian in nature. This has long been the habit among chaplains. A change of command ceremony, where non-sectarian prayer is the norm, is different from a religious service, where sectarian prayer is the norm.

Some of the finest homilies I have heard have been from military Chaplains. We have a priest who was a Navy chaplain at our church; I love to hear homilies when he mentions that part of his past.

Chaplains perform a necessary service in the military; as the child of a combat veteran I can tell you that my dad was strengthened by the presence of a priest and by the ability to receive the Sacraments in the field. He was strengthened by the presence of a priest when he was wounded and recovering in hospital. My late cousin, killed two years ago, sought his chaplain for absolution before going on his last patrol. How would it be if these priests had failed to serve?

My mom's cousin was an Orthodox priest and an Army chaplain; it was not an easy life. It was not an easy choice for him or for his wife and children. His bishop supported him. There are the many of the flock among the ranks of soldiers and sailors who need a chaplain. Some priests are called to serve that community.

I remember that when my father was buried at Arlington almost ten years ago, we were so comforted by the chaplain (a colonel) whom they sent. I was struck by how unusual he looked (he was the toughest looking priest I had ever seen) but how he knew EXACTLY what to say to comfort. I guess that comes from doing a tough job under tough circumstances. I remember my dad telling me that in the Army, the priest really was like a "father" figure.

Catholics are still the largest single religious group in the military, yet they do not have the numbers of chaplains to minister to them that some others have. More and more, the chaplaincy is being filled by fundamentalist Christians. Military duty is not for everyone and it is not for all priests, but it is a noble calling for those so called.

I also fail to see how he thinks he has a case. The issue is that he demonstrated/protested while in uniform ... well that just isn't allowed. Period. No matter who you are or what you are protesting.

And I fail to see how this is a "whistle blower" issue, either.

He disobeyed orders. He is and should be held accountable for that.

And has been pointed out already - the DOD rules do not in any way prohibit him from using the name of Our Lord in the direct peformance of his priestly duties. He is not barred from ever using the name of Our Lord - he is still allowed to use the name of Jesus Christ when celebrating the Mass, when hearing confessions, when baptising or marrying, when counselling or providing spiritual guidance.

But a military chaplain becomes a "jack of all religions" of a sort when he is the only chaplain available and not all of those under his pastoral care of of the same faith or denomination as he.

These rules aren't new nor are they novel.

I'm guessing the good father doesn't stand a chance in a court martial.

Christ is Risen!

Surprisingly, there has been a move in the US House of Representatives to allow military chaplains more freedom in praying as they see fit.

Perhaps we should all continue to pray for this.
Deacon El


House Bill Would Remove Limits on Military Prayer
Amy Fagan, Washington Times
05/09/2006

Tucked into a massive defense authorization bill that the House will vote on this week is a provision aimed at giving military chaplains more freedom to pray as they see fit.
The language was crafted by House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, California Republican, and Rep. Walter B. Jones, North Carolina Republican, and is part of the defense bill approved by Mr. Hunter's panel last week.

Mr. Jones and others have long complained that some military chaplains feel restricted in how they can pray and have been encouraged, in some instances, not to pray in Jesus' name.

Mr. Hunter said it is "folly" to tell chaplains to "start editing prayers."

"I think this is good for chaplains of all faiths," he said of the new provision.

A Pentagon spokeswoman wouldn't comment on the matter because it involves pending legislation.

The provision would establish that, in each branch of the military, chaplains "would have the prerogative to pray according to the dictates of their own consciences, except as must be limited by military necessity." It says that whenever such military necessity is cited, "it would be imposed in the least restrictive manner feasible."

The Navy has a policy that asks chaplains of all faiths to consider the views of their audience before invoking specific religious beliefs. That appears to be similar to the Air Force guidelines from February of this year, which read in part that "nondenominational, inclusive prayer or a moment of silence may be appropriate for military ceremonies or events of special importance when its primary purpose is not the advancement of religious beliefs."

Some chaplains have complained publicly that they've been asked to use general terms in prayer. Late last year, Mr. Jones and other House members demanded that the White House step in, and the White House was receptive. But Mr. Jones said this new bill's language will make the issue clear and enshrined in law.

"I'm very pleased," he said Friday, adding that it will "guarantee the First Amendment rights to our chaplains that have been challenged in recent years."

"This language helps to restore the privilege of that chaplain to pray as his faith calls on him to pray," he said.

He conceded that the language isn't a complete "home run," but said it's a "major step," and he plans to talk to senators in coming weeks to help ensure that the provision remains in the bill and becomes law.

Capt. Jonathan Stertzbach, a Christian Army chaplain serving in Iraq told The Washington Times in January that he and chaplains of other faiths were being pressured to offer only nonsectarian prayers. He was silenced by his supervisors soon after his public statements.

Navy chaplain Lt. Gordon James Klingenschmitt filed a formal complaint against the Navy policy in March, but naval officials have said Lt. Klingenschmitt has exaggerated the policy's reach.

In summer 2004, an optional worship service performed by Lt. Klingenschmitt reportedly offended some in attendance, and he received a "poor fitness" mark on his permanent record, which he is fighting to have removed.

Lt. Klingenschmitt, who also held an 18-day hunger strike in front of the White House over the military prayer issue, got into more trouble recently for appearing at a March 30 event in front of the White House after he'd been forbidden by his superior from making press appearances while in uniform without getting permission. The one exception was if the chaplain is offering a prayer, which Lt. Klingenschmitt says he did. He was given the choice of a formal reprimand or a court-martial, and he has chosen the latter

Slightly off thread but here it is anyway: I have a niece who is a medical doctor colonel in the Air Force who told me last year that she had to remove from her office a religious picture or crucifix under new Air Force reg's. So what's next, removing the cross from the chaplain's uniform?

I remember an incident one year that the Pentagon tired to forbid us to preach against partial birth abortion, which by the way I had not planned to talk about. As soon as i got the order I tore up my homily notes and preached against this evil.
Saying that there were a few good people men and women in the Air Force who were more concerned about Truth than with money, rank, power and false prestige. Many congratulated me on this homily.
One priest took the Pentagon to task and won.
Hang in there Father and be courageous!

Stephanos I

I suppose that a member of the military cannot have an Icon of Christ or the Theotokos at his/her workstation, but that a nude pinup would probably be tolerated?

What is our country coming to?

I dont think that was fair to make that comment. The work place is the work place. Phornographic pictures would not be tollerated and it is not appropriate to display religious items in the office space. I always thought this was a given in any work place, especially for those who work in government offices.

ICXC
NIKA

Good for you, father, for taking such a courageous stand! It is shameful the way Christian military chaplains are being treated in this regard. I fear that under a Democratic regime of Lady Hillary, there will be attempts made to force chaplains to burn the incense before the Caesarette on a whole host of liberal social issues. The fact that this is happening under Bush's watch is shameful. Hopefully the White House will intervene.

Not being in the military, I don't know what the rules are. But a while back a friend said that a lot of guys had nude pinups that the brass tolerated, so the situation wasn't very friendly for females in the military. And it still isn't from what I was told a few months ago by a woman who just left military service. She said the pressure from the guys was horrific.

When God is tossed out, the devil surely finds a home.

What I see at the university scares me. The muslim students have smiling pictures of their religious leaders in full garb on their PC desktops. And they leave them on in the classrooms for all to see when they go to the restrooms.

I am not a Muslim. I am not a fan of Islam. In fact I am a pretty vocal critic of the "Religion of Peace".

But I see a certain level of hypocrisy in the idea that we (Christians at large) can be upset about or feel threatened by t a Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Taoist, Pagan, etc. can or will display a symbol of their religion. Because of your feelings of discomfort over their display of religious symbolism you feel that they should not be allowed to display these symbols.

Yet on the same token you feel that a Christian should be allowed to display religiously symbolic items.

The fact of the matter is that for some people of other religions Christian symbols are just as discomfiting as their symbols are to us.

I find no contradiction that a military officer who is not a member of the clergy and whose job is not ministering to military personnel is not allowed to display religious symbols.

Unless of course you want to offer the freedom to disply religious symbols to everyone no matter what their religious affiliation.

Somehow I think you'd be pretty upset though if your son or daughter in the USAF was being treated by a physician who had a pentagram and crystals on their desk.

The situation in the military is not good. I do not want my son to serve in that kind of environment where a man or woman facing death in a military campaign may have to have a chaplain who is not even Christian preside over a devotional.
Aren't the muslims in the Armed Forces demanding chaplains (who will preside over non-denominational services)? What a farse!

On the side ....

At my university in the USA, a large minority of students are muslim, but the majority are actually Jewish. It is a power struggle. The Jews don't go around wearing caps and displaying religious symbols and neither do the Christians, but the muslims wear their garbs and display their pictures all over their PCs.

In the computer labs, some of the muslims sometimes turn up the volume of their anti-American Arab broadcasts, so that other students cannot study. And muslims are actively recruiting on campus, while the Christians do not, because it is not politically correct to do so any longer.

I just feel it is in bad taste when the Christians and Jews are trying to play nice and must hide their religious symbols while some muslims feel that they must lord it over us.

Christ is Risen!

The bill in the US House of Representatives passed.
Keep the prayers coming.
Deaocn El
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House Injects Prayer Into Defense Bill
Alan Cooperman and Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post
05/12/2006

The House passed a $513 billion defense authorization bill yesterday that includes language intended to allow chaplains to pray in the name of Jesus at public military ceremonies, undercutting new Air Force and Navy guidelines on religion.
The bill, which passed by a vote of 396 to 31, also contains significant adjustments to the Pentagon's original request, mainly by shifting hundreds of millions of dollars toward military personnel -- in the form of troop increases, protective gear and health-care benefits -- and away from new weapons systems. The measure includes $50 billion for next year's cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We're not a rubber stamp," House Armed Services Committee ranking Democrat Ike Skelton (Mo.) told reporters.

Before the bill reached the House floor, Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee added the provision on military chaplains. It says each chaplain "shall have the prerogative to pray according to the dictates of the chaplain's own conscience, except as must be limited by military necessity, with any such limitation being imposed in the least restrictive manner feasible."

Air Force and Navy rules issued in recent months allow chaplains to pray as they wish in voluntary worship services. But the rules call for nonsectarian prayers, or a moment of silence, at public meetings or ceremonies, especially when attendance is mandatory for service members of all faiths.

Focus on the Family, the Christian Coalition and other evangelical Christian groups have lobbied vigorously against the Air Force and Navy rules, urging President Bush to issue an executive order guaranteeing the right of chaplains to pray in the name of Jesus under any circumstances. Because the White House has not acted, sympathetic members of Congress stepped in.

"We felt there needed to be a clarification" of the rules "because there is political correctness creeping into the chaplains corps," said Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.). "I don't understand anyone being opposed to a chaplain having the freedom to pray to God in the way his conscience calls him to pray."

Among the provision's opponents is the chief of Navy chaplains, Rear Adm. Louis V. Iasiello, a Roman Catholic priest.

"The language ignores and negates the primary duties of the chaplain to support the religious needs of the entire crew" and "will, in the end, marginalize chaplains and degrade their use and effectiveness," Iasiello wrote in a letter to a committee member.

The National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces, a private association of religious groups that provide more than 70 percent of U.S. chaplains, also objected to the language. "Chaplains represent their faith communities and we endorse them to represent that faith community with integrity and loyalty to that tradition, not to the dictates of their individual conscience," the association's executive committee wrote.

Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, called the language "divisive." Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) offered an amendment to add that chaplains should show "sensitivity, respect and tolerance for all faiths," but it was defeated on a party-line vote in committee, and the Rules Committee did not allow floor debate on the chaplaincy provision.

Just so we all realize though ... this then opens the door for a Hindu chaplain (should there be one) to pray in the name of Vishnu at such events and Christians will have no room to complain.

Or for Muslim chaplains to pray Islamic prayers.

Or for Wiccans to pray in the name of the Goddess. Since the US government has declared that Wicca is indeed a religion and its practice must be allowed on bases it is only a matter of time before we have Wiccan chaplains.

This is a door that goes both ways. If Christians can pray in the name of jesus then you're going to have to expect and accept when people of false religions pray it the name of their false gods.

"The Navy has a policy that asks chaplains of all faiths to consider the views of their audience before invoking specific religious beliefs. That appears to be similar to the Air Force guidelines from February of this year, which read in part that "nondenominational, inclusive prayer or a moment of silence may be appropriate for military ceremonies or events of special importance when its primary purpose is not the advancement of religious beliefs."

Preposterous. Since when was the purpose of prayer NOT to advance religious beliefs? Anything else in syncretism!

He who prays, prays to his own God in the manner that his God dictates. "for there are many Lords and many Gods....." Apostle Paul. When the Muslim, Jew, or Hebrew prays, I bow my head respectfully and don't worry about what he says since it is not my prayer or my Church's prayer.

When the Orthodox chaplain prays I hang on every word. He prays to our Lord for me.

In Christ,
Andrew