Recently, the Catholic church came out in support of a coalition of chaplain endorsers advocating for religious freedom protections in the US military.  Combined, the groups represent the overwhelming majority of faiths of US military servicemembers (and, in fact, the United States).

In apparent response to that broad unity, a US News and World Report article tried to paint a picture of a divided front:

Some evangelical groups are gearing up for a fight on military chaplains and same-sex marriage while others say they’ll seek a middle ground after the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act.

The Southern Baptist Convention…says it is working to better protect chaplains from any pressures to marry same-sex couples…

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, for one, is allowing chaplains to make decisions at a local level about how to handle gay marriage.

The dichotomy is false, however.  The ELCA has long been a comparatively liberal faith group — despite a weak attempt by Michael Weinstein to paint an ELCA chaplain as “fundamentalist” (a characterization Chris Rodda then tried to say never happened, despite Weinstein’s own public statements to the contrary).  To say the ELCA is now “seeking middle ground” is disingenuous, because that “middle ground” has been its official position.

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