The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, an organization of chaplain endorsers representing more than 2,000 current chaplains actively serving the armed forces, is concerned about the Supreme Court’s decision today to strike down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act. The Chaplain Alliance calls on Congress to pass enhanced religious liberty protections for all military personnel.
“The court’s unfortunate decision to strike down the federal definition of marriage highlights the need for the religious liberty protections recently passed by the House Armed Services Committee and the full House of Representatives,” said CH (COL) Ron Crews, USAR Retired, executive director for Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “Most of the faith groups in our country firmly hold that marriage is the union of one man and one woman. They strongly believe that children deserve to know their mother and father. Chaplains from those faith groups will continue to minister with those convictions. Chaplains have been protected by DOMA as they minister to service members and their families in a manner consistent with those sincerely held beliefs. That freedom is now at significant risk.”
The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty submitted an amicus brief in support of DOMA explaining how the repeal of DOMA could impact the religious liberty of service members and military chaplains:
If, for instance, traditional religious beliefs and practices on marriage and the family become the constitutional equivalent of animus-based racism, service members who order their lives around those beliefs and practices will likely be forced to abandon either their faiths or their careers. Similarly, chaplains who represent amici’s faith groups could face tremendous pressure to self-censor when teaching about marriage and family, topics that are vitally important to fully meeting service members’ religious needs Short of a constitutional amendment, there likely would be little that either the military or Congress could do after the fact to remedy the loss of religious liberty.
“This ruling makes absolutely clear that Congress must pass comprehensive religious liberty protections,” added Crews. “Chaplains as well as all military personnel must be able to serve our nation without giving up their religious beliefs and convictions.”
