Defense Amendment on Chaplains’ Prayer

Update: Bachmann’s amendment has reportedly been refused due to not being “relevant to the bill.”

US House Rep Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would “protect the religious freedom” of Chaplains in the US military, allowing them to pray in accordance with the dictates of their faith.  From the rules committee (pdf), the amendment 

Would ensure that any chaplain serving in the US Armed Forces, if called upon to lead a prayer outside of a religious service, would be free to close that prayer according to the dictates of the chaplain’s conscience.

Amendments like this have failed in the past; see the 2007 Defense Authorization Act.  The House version contained the amendment, but the final version out of conference committee did not.  This attempt does not appear to have yet made it out of committee.

Recent discussions on the repeal DADT, and the call for “conscience clauses” for Chaplains, have given renewed emphasis to the subject of the religious freedom of Chaplains in the military.

2 comments

  • JD-

    Was Bachmann’s amendment excluded from the same bill that now includes a repeal of DADT under grounds of relevancy? Isn’t DADT getting lumped in with a spending authorization package? I’m just trying to get my facts straight.

  • Yes. If you go to the US House rules committee page, you can see Bachmann’s amendment, which was not brought to a vote, was #56, and Rep. Patrick Murphy’s (D-PA) amendment “repealing” DADT, which was just passed, was #43.

    Technically, the Defense Authorization Act contains the structure and governmental directives to the military (of which the budget is a part), but the Defense Appropriations bill actually funds it.