Shhhh….Don’t Say His Name
September 27th, 2006 by Jack KingstonIt all started when some Air Force Academy cadet complained that the chaplain was closing prayers “in the name of Jesus.” You would think this could have been handled locally at the academy but not in today’s politically correct world. The censorship committee worked fast and turned this into a national Department of Defense priority.
This is nothing new. Apparently the name Jesus has been offending people for years. In Washington, prayers have been watered down so much they’re scarcely more than inspirational moments directed to some vaugue ’spiritual being’ generally considered good but not necessarily welcomed in polite company.
But the DOD went too far in the scramble to cleanse the prayers and gag the chaplain. They violated the Constitution which despite the challenges against it, has a little power in this town. The First Amendment says it’s against the law for the government to establish a religion or restrict the free exercise of religion. Respectively, these are referred to as the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.
Restricting the method in which a chaplain can pray, violates this. A court decision “Katcoff v. Marsh” states that the DOD must provide a chaplain, but the chaplain serves as a representative of his denomination not as an agent of the government. Therefore he is entitled to pray in the manner of his denomination.
There is language in the House version of the Defense Authorization bill that would take us to the pre-Air Force incident language and return to a 200 year old history in which saying “Jesus” wasn’t a problem. Right now, the House and Senate are in conference on the defense bill and we will keep you updated on the latest as both sides work out a final report.
I also wanted to let you know that I was on FOX News yesterday discussing this topic. You can check out my appearance HERE.