Obama Muzzling Military Chaplains

One of the items on Obama’s second term agenda is to root out traditionally Christian chaplains from the military. He sees them as bigots unworthy of conscience protections. Like Chick-fil-A, they don’t uphold Obama’s “values.”

Obama’s mouthpieces in the military have already blurted this out. In 2010, Admiral Michael Mullen told a Christian chaplain who opposed the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy that “If you cannot get in line, resign your commission.” That same year Lieutenant General Thomas P. Bostick, the Army’s deputy chief of staff in charge of personnel, said military members who dissent from Obama’s gay rights agenda should “get out.”

“Unfortunately, we have a minority of service members who are still racists and bigoted and you will never be able to get rid of all of them,” he said, as reported by the Washington Times. “But these people opposing this new policy will need to get with the program, and if they can’t, they need to get out.”

Pentagon officials go through the motions of saying that military chaplains still enjoy religious freedom. But this claim grows ever more lawyerly and narrow. When Defense Department Counsel Jeh C. Johnson testified before Congress about the implications of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy’s collapse for religious freedom, he said that it would not affect what a chaplain said in “the religious context.” In other words, chaplains would be punished for objecting to Obama’s gay rights agenda anywhere outside of a pulpit.

Thanks for the ping, Doc. I saw it and meant to get back to it. (You have hastened the day. :>)

The author is basically correct, and I say that after a career as an Army Chaplain.

A chaplain is supposed to be a fully qualified, fully ordained minister/priest of the denomination he represents, and he is to fully represent them. That is his religious ministry.

On the other hand, there are roles a chaplain generally performs that are not specific to his religious identity. For example, in my years in service I had a couple assignments where I was uniquely used as a family counselor due to education I’d received. I was to counsel, train, and educate. Additionally, I was a trainer in terms of suicide prevention, long-distance relationships, deployment and redeployment family issues, etc.

There are other roles as a set of visitation eyes and ears for a commander that make a chaplain a resource for a commander on the morale of a unit as it relates to the chaplain’s expertise in morality, esprit, etc.

In short, not all of a chaplain’s time is used in uniquely religious pursuits.

So, given that a chaplain is to fairly represent his denomination but also be a human resource for a commander in non-religious concerns, what does that mean for Obama’s focus on freedom in religious matters.

Simply, that there won’t be freedom in non-religious matters.

For me, there’d be an easy work around. If I had to counsel a gay couple, I’d counsel them to break up. I wouldn’t have to paint a target on myself. I’d simply have to say that the “facts” point to their greater happiness apart from each other.

Really, though, the issue is being rated by a commander who can end your career with a bad rating. If he’s an old-army kind of guy, then you’re probably protected. If he’s a wingnut himself or craven toward them, then he’ll be on a crusade to root out those who believe homosexuality is deadly behavior for the poor souls who engage in it.

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