2/16/12: Congressman Proposes Protection for Chaplains

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A Kansas Congressman has proposed legislation to protect the conscience rights of chaplains serving in the United States Armed Forces. Representative Tim Huelskamp has introduced the Military Religious Freedom Protection Act.

The proposal would ensure that no chaplain could be required to officiate at so called same-sex commitment ceremony. The language provides that a chaplain cannot be required to perform or participate in “any duty, rite, ritual, ceremony, service, or function that is contrary to their own conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs.”

The Defense Department recently announced that same-sex “marriages” and civil unions are to be performed in military chapels in states where those unions are legal. Chaplains would be forced to participate.