In an apparent effort to thwart conspiracy theorists, the US military has occasionally taken to publicizing what is obvious to the casual observer within the military.  Over the past few years, for example, the military has posted a variety of news articles noting servicemembers of all faiths and no faith have the protected ability to exercise their ideologies even while serving.

Just this week, the Navy published an awkwardly-titled but sincerely-written piece from the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, “Members of Differing Faiths Peacefully Coexist on Navy Aircraft Carrier.”  Obviously, members of different faiths peacefully coexist throughout the military, though some might allege otherwise without substantiation.  The article offers a concise and fairly comprehensive coverage of the efforts by the US military to appropriately ensure the religious rights of its members: 

With 40 different services held at sea each week, strike group Sailors have the opportunity to attend a service that best represents their preferred faith group. Although each worship service is designed around specific faith traditions and expressions, the chaplains on board provide pastoral care to all 7,000 Sailors in the Lincoln Strike Group, for all religious affiliations.

“We recognize our Constitutional obligation to accommodate the free exercise of religion for all members of the military and their families,” said Cmdr. Thomas Webber, a Navy chaplain, and the strike group’s command chaplain.

The Navy chaplain corps lives by a code of ethics designed to ensure all faiths are represented and cared for spiritually. Lincoln’s chaplains understand that as a chaplain for 7,000 Sailors they function in a pluralistic environment, including working with chaplains of other religions, to provide ministry to all military personnel and their families.

As an institution, the military is not perfect.  Likewise, it is made up of the culture it represents, meaning not all of its people are perfect, either.  Still, despite the occasional unsupported outcry to the contrary, the US military generally does a fairly admirable job of supporting the religious needs of its members, even when they’re isolated on an armada of ships conducting blue water ops.