NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER – Top brass say they’re not aware of bias against military chaplains

Published On: January 31, 2014|Categories: News|0 Comments|

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Selected Article Excerpts:

  • WASHINGTON (RNS) Lawmakers peppered Pentagon officials on Wednesday (Jan. 29) about claims that military chaplains have faced discrimination for their beliefs, and time and again, chaplains and personnel officials said they were unaware of any bias.
  • Virginia Penrod, deputy assistant secretary of defense for military personnel policy, told the House Subcommittee on Military Personnel that she could not cite specific instances where chaplains had to preach a sermon or oversee a ceremony that conflicted with their beliefs. “There’s absolutely nothing in policy or code that prohibits a chaplain from praying according to the dictates of their faith,” she said.In recent years conservative activists have complained that some military chaplains have been restricted in fully preaching their beliefs or have been muzzled or forced to follow policies they disagree with.
  • Members of the panel questioned whether military commanders are allowed to proselytize. Brig. Gen. Charles R. Bailey, the Army’s deputy chief of chaplains, said it would be “wrong” for commanders to say that their faith is superior to any other, but other kinds of private conversations about faith are permitted.
  • Some members of Congress seem to have a different impression from the military’s top chaplains about the state of religious accommodation in the military, said Bishop James B. Magness of the Episcopal Church’s armed services office. “There’s a real disconnect,” said Magness, “if things are being said to members of Congress that are not getting to the chiefs of chaplains. I don’t have a reason for why.”

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