{"id":6397,"date":"2010-07-13T00:30:18","date_gmt":"2010-07-13T06:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=6397"},"modified":"2015-06-27T19:16:05","modified_gmt":"2015-06-27T22:16:05","slug":"if-gays-serve-openly-will-chaplains-suffer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/13\/if-gays-serve-openly-will-chaplains-suffer\/","title":{"rendered":"“If Gays Serve Openly, will Chaplains Suffer?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

USA Today<\/em> has duelling articles on the potential impact of the repeal of the policies commonly known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”<\/p>\n

“No, the mission is to serve all soldiers.”<\/a><\/strong>
\nArnold Resnicoff, a former Navy Chaplain, responds in the negative. Resnicoff was also a special assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force<\/a> from 2005 to 2006, when the Air Force Academy “Christian scandal” made news.\u00a0 (Michael Weinstein called Resnicoff an “unmitigated disaster.”)<\/p>\n

Resnicoff’s primary argument is that<\/p>\n

good chaplains can preach and teach, true to their beliefs \u2014 respecting rights<\/em> while challenging what they believe is wrong<\/em>. (emphasis original)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He maintains there would be zero impact to Chaplains.<\/p>\n

“Yes, religious liberty is in real jeopardy.”<\/a><\/strong>
\nDaniel Blomberg of the Alliance Defense Fund answers in the affirmative.\u00a0 In contrast to Resnicoff, Blomberg says the change would “likely harm” Chaplains:\u00a0 <\/p>\n

This harm includes limitations on the right of chaplains to preach, counsel, or teach according to their faith when doing so requires identifying homosexual behavior as sinful or detrimental.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Obviously, the two are making competing claims, and both cannot be correct.\u00a0 However, the future is “uncertain” with respect to how the repeal will play out.\u00a0 For example, while the ADF represents Chaplains who oppose repeal<\/a>, they have asked that if repeal is inevitable, specific safeguards be put in place to protect the religious freedom of Chaplains.\u00a0 The result of those protections would be the outcome that Resnicoff apparently foresees without qualification.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Resnicoff also takes a similar tack as others who have supported the repeal by comparing it to other acts that religious personnel might find “immoral.”\u00a0 In this case, he cites abortion:<\/p>\n

For some faiths, abortion is premeditated murder, yet no religious group makes threats to withdraw chaplains unless rules bar women who had abortions, or “tolerate” them only if they “never tell.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Resnicoff is correct, but his comparison to the issue of homosexuality is either disingenuous or ignorant.<\/p>\n

First, Blomberg\u00a0accurately points out that the military tried to stifle\u00a0Chaplains who encouraged their congregants to support the partial birth abortion ban<\/a> (because it was a “political” issue).\u00a0 So contrary to Resnicoff’s prior assertions, “good Chaplains” may not be free to be “true to their beliefs” (at least not until the Courts intervene; they supported the Chaplains in the abortion dispute).<\/p>\n

Second, to make the comparison valid, Resnicoff needs\u00a0to cite official government policy on abortion in the military, not just a point of “acceptable immorality.”\u00a0 It is at this point his comparison falters:\u00a0 not only is abortion currently banned in most cases in military facilities, but military doctors are not required to perform abortions even in cases where they are permitted.\u00a0 Even the current push to permit abortions in military facilities<\/a> is reported to have a conscience clause<\/a> allowing those with moral objections to defer.<\/p>\n

Thus, despite the claim of equivalency, the military treats abortion differently, even as it currently treats homosexuality differently.\u00a0 Resnicoff’s point fails.\u00a0 His example is not an environment envisioned in a post-DADT military by those who support repeal.<\/p>\n

[The Burris amendment to the 2011 DAA only deleted text<\/a> banning use of military facilities for abortion, it did not add any text; thus, while Senators have said the amendment has a “conscience clause,” one\u00a0does not appear to be explicit.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

USA Today has duelling articles on the potential impact of the repeal of the policies commonly known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” “No, the mission is to serve all soldiers.” Arnold Resnicoff, a former Navy Chaplain, responds in the negative. Resnicoff was also a special assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force from 2005 to 2006, when the Air […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[719,769,771,5284,219,770,85,2,5218,7,45,10,65],"class_list":["post-6397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-and-religion","tag-abortion","tag-arnold-resnicoff","tag-burris-amendment","tag-chaplain","tag-dadt","tag-daniel-blomberg","tag-mikey-weinstein","tag-military","tag-military-religious-freedom-foundation","tag-mrff","tag-politics","tag-religion","tag-usafa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6397\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}