Mark asks a good question.
I don't know how the military hires chaplins, but I expect it is by religion-neutral credentials ("ordained" status, theology degree, etc). So in one sense this is a religious test. But it is not a test that turns on the military's disapproval of a particular religious belief or tenet.
Could the military annouce that all chaplins must affirm the divinity of Christ? Would that requirement be constitutional? Or how about requiring that all chaplins must affirm the belief that all meat is clean and edible. Would that be permissible? Sandy was suggesting that a chaplin should be disciplined for expressing a religious belief about salvation through Christ.
If the EC and FEC and FSC has any bite in the military, the military should not have the power to single out certain religious beliefs as verboten and punish chaplins who express them.
Cheers, Rick Duncan
Mark Graber <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
How does the military appoint a chaplain without requiring a religious test for the office?MAG
>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 07/12/05 11:12AM >>>Sandy's question is an interesting one. Can the military fire or discipline a chaplin because the military disagrees with his religious beliefs (or at least with his preaching of his religious beliefs)? Doesn't such a decision amount to a religious test for office? Or at the very least, denominational discrimination forbidden by Larson v. Valente (evangelicals need not apply)?In other words, could the military require a doctrinal statement--"salvation is universal for all who believe anything sincerely"-- for the office of chaplin?To put a twist on the issue, suppose a chaplin preaches that homosexual marriages are within God's will. Could a chaplin be disciplined for preaching that?Cheers, Rick Duncam
Sanford Levinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:There is a fascinating article in today's NYTimes on the increasing number of Evangelical chaplains in the armed services. Consider oe James Klingenschmitt, of the Evangelical Episcopal Church, whose retention was recommended against by his commanding officer following, among other things, his preaching at a memorial service at sea for a Catholic sailor that "emphasized that for those who did not accept Jesus, 'God's wrath remains upon him.'" I presume that the this was not meant to apply to the Catholic seaman, but it obviously suggested to any Jewish or Muslim (or atheist or Buddhist, etc., etc., etc.) that they were condemned to God's wrath. In any event, is there a serious argument that it is improper to take such speech into account in deciding whether to recommend that the contract be renewed. I presume, incidentally, that the armed forces would not renew the contract of a chaplain who sugested that a given wa! ! r was in fact "unjust," If the armed services can constittionally do that (presumably on grounds that it is not good for the morale of those in the armed services), then why can't it fire chaplains who suggest that many members of the armed services are damned to eternal perdition?sandy_______________________________________________
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Rick Duncan
Welpton Professor of Law
University of Nebraska College of Law
Lincoln, NE 68583-0902
Red State Lawblog: www.redstatelaw.blogspot.com
"When the Round Table is broken every man must follow either Galahad or Mordred: middle things are gone." C.S.Lewis, Grand Miracle
"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered." --The Prisoner________________________________________________! __
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Rick Duncan
Welpton Professor of Law
University of Nebraska College of Law
Lincoln, NE 68583-0902
Red State Lawblog: www.redstatelaw.blogspot.com
"When the Round Table is broken every man must follow either Galahad or Mordred: middle things are gone." C.S.Lewis, Grand Miracle
"I! will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered." --The Prisoner
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