With claims of religious intolerance and Christian proselytizing swirling at the Air Force Academy last year, the school’s commanders swept in and instituted an enlightened set of rules that emphasized respect for others’ beliefs while still supporting spirituality.
The situation could have escalated, but it was appropriately addressed and remedied. End of story? Not quite.
U.S. House Republicans are seeking to undermine the new rules, trampling on the separation of church and state by allowing chaplains to pray in the name of Jesus at public military ceremonies.
The military has resolved this matter. Congress should leave well enough alone.
Both the Air Force and Naval academies in the past year issued rules allowing chaplains to pray as they wish at voluntary services, but required non-sectarian prayers, or moments of silence, at public gatherings, especially when attendance is mandatory.
Religious zealots begged President Bush to issue an executive order allowing chaplains to pray however they choose, whenever they choose. Having no luck with the White House and no guts to put forward a bill for an up-or-down vote, House Republicans recently tacked the provision onto a $513 billion defense authorization bill.
It was a sneaky move – the kind that makes us glad Colorado’s state government has a “single subject rule,” meaning only amendments related to the actual bill can be tacked onto it. The bill passed the House 396-31, because a vote against this provision would be a vote against the military spending bill. Who wants that hanging over their heads this election season?
The provision says a chaplain “shall have the prerogative to pray according to the dictates of the chaplain’s own conscience, except as must be limited by military necessity, with any such limitation being imposed in the least restrictive manner feasible.”
The Senate is expected to pass its own version of the defense bill sometime after Memorial Day. Then the bill will go to a conference committee, where we urge committee members to strip this provision.
It’s intolerant, mean-spirited, intrusive and utterly unnecessary.
