ACTION – Protect the freedoms of our warriors petition from FRC!

 

Sign FRC's petition to protect the freedoms of our warriors here!

 

By muzzling these leaders, the Obama administration is diminishing the chaplains' role from spiritual leader to glorified counselor. Obviously, this is all by design. If the President can hollow out our military, then the rest of society won't be far behind. In the war on religion, the administration is enlisting its own Army. Join us in standing with our troops. to Congress, asking members to take action to ensure that America's armed forces are afforded the same freedoms for which they risk their lives.

First, he ordered churches to violate their conscience. Now, the President is instructing them not to talk about it! Welcome to Barack Obama's military. After stripping away the rights of religious groups everywhere, the commander-in-chief is putting a halt on protests from the pulpit, at least in the Army's chaplain corps. Like most Catholics, the military's priests had planned to speak out against the rule forcing groups to violate the tenants of their faith by funding abortifacients and contraception.

Unfortunately, they never got the chance. While church leaders around the country voiced their disapproval to the mandate on Sunday, the Army's pulpits were silent. According to several sources, the Chief of Chaplains had issued an Army-wide gag order, warning priests not to read any letter resisting the policy. The church "cannot--and will not--comply with this unjust law," wrote Archbishop Timothy Broglio, head of the corps' priests. According to the Army, that language is too controversial. After a lot of back and forth with the administration, the Chief of Chaplains announced that "a new version of the letter will be read, one that was edited of the language about 'unjust laws.'" Chaplains should consider the text of Acts 5:29 this coming weekend. The administration is fearful of this language because laws have a moral foundation--and in our system of government, they have to have the consent of the governed. That's why the administration is telling churches what they can and can't say.

Not surprisingly, that kind of censorship didn't sit well with Archbishop Broglio. In a statement, the Archdiocese didn't hide its frustration. "[We] stand firm in the belief, based on legal precedent, that such a directive from the Army constituted a violation of his constitutionally-protected right of free speech and the free exercise of religion, as well as those same rights of all military chaplains and their congregants." Of course, this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who's followed the seismic shifts in the military. This is exactly the path we expected the Pentagon to take after "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" came crumbling down. For two years, FRC warned about the systematic silencing of people of faith that would result once the President imposed his radical social agenda on the military.

While the military itself is governed by different rules when it comes to free speech, chaplains have always had the right to speak openly about the moral issues of their day. That's why George Washington established the chaplaincy. He understood the importance of teaching soldiers the difference between right and wrong. If Washington wanted an army that was above reproach, he knew the most effective way to accomplish it was providing a moral compass that rules and regulations cannot. Chaplains have been offering that guidance since 1775.

By muzzling these leaders, the Obama administration is diminishing the chaplains' role from spiritual leader to glorified counselor. Obviously, this is all by design. If the President can hollow out our military, then the rest of society won't be far behind. In the war on religion, the administration is enlisting its own Army. Join us in standing with our troops. Sign FRC's petition to Congress, asking members to take action to ensure that America's armed forces are afforded the same freedoms for which they risk their lives.