Washington, D.C. – In a press conference today on Capitol Hill, Third District Representative Walter B. Jones (R-NC) was joined by Reps. Trent Franks (R-AZ), Mike McIntyre (D-NC), and Mike Conaway (R-TX) to unveil nearly 160,000 signatures of American citizens calling on the President to protect the First Amendment rights of military chaplains.

Colby May, Senior Counsel and Director of the Washington Office of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), presented seven hundred pages of signatures at the event. The ACLJ collected the signatures from American citizens from across the nation who expressed their support for an October 25th letter to the President, sent by Congressman Jones and more than seventy other Members of Congress, calling for the protection of the constitutional right of military chaplains to pray according to their faith.

Rev. Dr. Billy Baugham, Executive Director of the International Conference of Evangelical Chaplain Endorsers, was also present at the press conference and described the “pandemic problem” of the suppression of the religious rights of military chaplains throughout the Armed Service. “This is going to destroy the chaplaincy,” Dr. Baugham said.

“We’re going to keep banging this drum until First Amendment rights are returned to our military chaplains,” Congressman Jones said. “This is about protecting the right of all military chaplains of all religions to pray as they see fit.”

“This is all about supporting freedom of speech and religious expression,” Congressman McIntyre said. “Chaplains should be free to express the tenets of their faith. Prayer is the ultimate expression of free speech.”

“True tolerance is not in pretending we have no differences,” said Congressman Franks, who expressed the disservice it would be not only to chaplains, but to men and women serving in harms way who look to chaplains for comfort, if the speech of military chaplains is not protected.

For additional information please contact Kathleen Joyce in Rep. Jones’ office at (202) 225-3415.