Column: Military Chapels Not Barred from Evangelism
Nathan Newman, an Air Force Reserve Officer and George C. Marshall Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, responded to an article in the Colorado Springs Gazette by Tom Roeder discussing the (previously discussed) 4-year closure of the US Air Force Academy Chapel.
In it, Roeder had said:
Religion is a big deal at the academy and other military bases but not for the reasons one might suspect. The services are barred from evangelism, and promotion of faith is restricted, but the academy like the rest of the military must care for the religious needs of troops under federal law.
In the guest column, Newman responded:
The religious services at the academy and the chaplains who serve those religious rites are not barred from evangelism. Chaplains serving cadets in this capacity are not restricted from promoting their faith. In fact, they would be erring in their duty if they were not acting in accordance with their religious endorsers.
Newman is absolutely correct — but one has to wonder if Roeder poorly articulated “Services,” and meant the Armed Services, not “religious services.” Were that the case, Roeder would generally be correct, because the military services as institutions cannot attempt to convert their troops (to or from religion) or promote any one faith — or absence of faith — over another.
That said, there are an amazing amount of people who would have assumed Roeder was correct in (apparently) saying military chapel services are restricted in their content. Newman accurately explains that religious services are exactly that — religious. The government cannot interfere with the religious exercise of either a chaplain or his congregants, even if they are meeting in a military chapel.
To his credit, Newman also highlights the fact USAFA has “gotten religious liberty right” recently, citing the (correct) decision to defend USAFA football players praying in the end zone prior to games. That was one of a string of losses handed to perennial critic of religious liberty, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein, who called the USAFA decision “outrageous” and a “brutal breach” of the Constitution. On the contrary, it was a win for military religious freedom.
While military chaplains run the spectrum of beliefs (particularly when everyone who isn’t Catholic, Jewish or Muslim gets lumped into “Protestant”), troops of faith can rest assured that both they and their chaplain have the protections of law and the Constitution to exercise their religious liberty.
No doubt, there may be times that doesn’t seem true, as attacks on faith and freedom frequently occur, but the US military generally does an decent job of protecting the rights of its troops to practice their religion.
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I see no reason why the preacher should not be able to preach whatever he/she wants to in a church. Not even Mikey can argue this point, and if he did, he would be wrong.
If cadets go to the AFA chapel and feel “evangelized” and don’t want to be, the doors aren’t locked and they are free to leave. Now if they aren’t free to leave, that is a different matter, and should be rectified rather quickly. I know, when in Rome….
All the AFA grads I’ve known over the past 37 years have been pretty good and know how to separate their religion from their work rather well. Some butter-bars need a little wood-shed fix’en from time to time tho. :)
@watchtower
Mikey Weinstein has argued it more than once (here and here, for example). In fact, Weinstein has explicitly said chaplains’ sermons should be assessed for their impact on “good order and discipline” and he would “prosecute” chaplains who preached such sermons — sermons, for example, that say homosexuality is a sin.
That Mikey Weinstein would go so far as to attack religious church services is an indication of what his real agenda is. It’s likely the only reason he hasn’t continued those attacks is that they are a bridge too far for most of his (paying) supporters. But its clear that’s where his heart lies.
Watchtower, you are correct. Chaplain can practice their faith in their churches. However, I would also argue that Chaplains can practice their faith in public as well. As a chaplain, I evangelize all of the time, and I encourage other Airmen who share the same convictions as I do, to do the same.
Weinstein has historically argued that chaplains can practice their faith in private (which is true), but not in public (which is false).
Weinstein once warned that if chaplains preach against homosexual sin in military chapels, he would prosecute. I clearly preached against homosexual sin in a military chapel, and made the video public. Did Weinstein attempt to prosecute me? Absolutely not! Weinstein did not do a thing. The “paper-tiger” is a harmless little angry man who hates Christians, but loves money. This is why he lambasts Christians: to make money.