Michael “Mikey” Weinstein was recently interviewed about the Navy’s decision to ban civilian volunteers from leading religious services during boot camp. In the course of the interview, he was asked:

Host: Is the military required to provide a leader of some sort, to make sure that whatever somebody’s faith is, there’s somebody there — a chaplain, a volunteer, there — is that something that’s required…?

Weinstein: Yes, yes. That is a requirement from the chaplain’s corps.

Weinstein’s response digressed into converting people from one faith to another, so the hosts asked the question again: 

Host: For clarification, the chaplaincy, or the chaplain program is supposed to provide a chaplain of some kind or allow the provision of a chaplain of some kind for any faith regardless of the number of people in it…?

Weinstein: The answer is a resounding yes.

The answer is a resounding no, actually. There is no requirement for the military to provide a faith leader for any particular faith, in fact, much less a leader for every one. In point of fact, there are many people in the US military who don’t have access to leaders of their faiths.  It is a simple, logistical fact of life.

Weinstein’s very assertive answer was completely wrong — but he continued the discussion in a way that was completely correct:

If someone…is requesting accommodation, it is a requirement that the chaplaincy help them.

That is correct. Chaplains “perform or provide” for all service members.  It seems Weinstein was so intent on giving an “absolute” initial answer to the question (a public relations technique) that he didn’t give them the correct answer.

It is regrettable that Weinstein gave his host and their listeners the wrong answer — twice — but, to be fair, he’s somewhat out of his element. His normal talking points, which are generally attacks on Christians, simply don’t fit the conversation in which he is currently engaged — though he did start to digress to those talking points both times.  (It seems Weinstein is a little out of practice talking about military religious freedom.)

The military generally — though not universally — does an admirable job of providing for the religious rights of those in uniform.  In this particular case — that of the Navy RTC — there are significant concerns the Navy isn’t performing to that normal standard.   The Navy RTC does have the ability to provide faith leaders for many groups — but, contrary to Weinstein’s initial curt answer, the Navy is not required to provide a chaplain or chaplain equivalent for each and every faith represented in the organization.

Of course, if the Navy is going to preemptively ban available faith leaders so that some recruits have no one, they’re going to justifiably raise concerns among a great many religious liberty organizations — organizations that will call the Navy to task to demand an explanation and a compelling government interest for the imposition on religious liberty.

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