WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week Third District Representative Walter B. Jones (R-NC) introduced H.R.268, legislation to ensure that every military chaplain has the prerogative to close a prayer outside of a religious service according to the dictates of the chaplain's own conscience. The narrowly tailored bill – first introduced in 2008 as H.R. 6514 – would provide this protection for military chaplains within all branches of the U.S. Armed Services and at U.S. Military Academies.

“Throughout our nation’s history, chaplains not only have remained an integral part of our military, but they have always prayed according to their faith tradition. For Christian chaplains, closing their prayers in the name of Jesus Christ is a fundamental part of their beliefs, and to suppress this form of expression would violate their religious freedom,” Congressman Jones said. “Officially inhibiting or defining what chaplains can and cannot say in effect establishes an official religion and violates our military chaplains’ First Amendment rights. Demand for so-called ‘non-sectarian’ prayer is merely a euphemism declaring that prayers will be acceptable only so long as they censor Christian beliefs. By focusing on a chaplain’s right to close their prayers according to the dictates of their conscience and faith tradition, this legislation aims to protect the most basic aspect of military chaplains’ religious expression.”

Since 2005, Jones has called on the President of the United States, as Commander in Chief, to protect by Executive Order the constitutional right of military chaplains to pray according to their faith. While an Executive Order has not been issued, in 2006 Jones saw progress for the restoration of the First Amendment rights of military chaplains with passage of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007. The bill’s conference report directed the Secretaries of the Navy and Air Force to rescind their 2006 policies and guidelines regarding the exercise of religion, and to reinstate the policies that were previously in effect. While the Air Force’s and Navy’s 2006 guidelines prevented chaplains from praying according to their own faith and conscience in public venues, the services’ 1999 and 2000 guidelines guarantee stronger religious freedom for military chaplains by not specifying or restricting the manner in which chaplains must pray.

“The repeal of the restrictive Air Force and Navy guidelines in 2006 was a mark of progress in the effort to restore the First Amendment right of military chaplains – of all faiths – to pray as they see fit,” Jones said. “While this repeal was a step in the right direction, continued reports that it remains difficult for chaplains in all branches of the military to pray according to their faith indicate that more must be done to guarantee the rights of military chaplains throughout the Armed Forces.”