It appears that those who have religious liberty concerns with DADT repeal are being told to shut up or ship out.

While homosexual advocacy groups are complaining that Service members who engage in homosexual behavior can’t speak up in support of DADT repeal (as if they needed more advocates with the Commander in Chief, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Secretary of Defense on their side), it’s those who support keeping the current policy who are feeling the real heat.  The last Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff lost his job for informally expressing that his religious beliefs supported current law, and a top general  received sharp criticism from Pres. Obama’s military leadership for merely suggesting that Service members share their opinions on repeal with Congress.  Apparently, Service members are discouraged from exercising their constitutional franchise, and instead should provide their feedback to the same politically-appointed leadership that has already said DADT must be repealed.

So, what has been the experience of those trying to speak up in support of current policy?  Decidedly one-sided.  Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, stated that those Service members who disagree with repeal can “vote with their feet” and leave the military.  A chaplain, speaking in one of the DADT repeal forums being held on military bases, asked the senior officer administering the meeting whether religious freedom would be protected in the wake of repeal and was told that, if the chaplain couldn’t affirm repeal, his only option was to just quit.  And now the survey being circulated to Service members about repeal, while valuable in some ways, seems to be another indication that “the fix is in.”   News reports are saying the survey “appears to lean heavily on questions about teamwork, performance, mission completion and morale…[It] asked how a repeal will affect the respondent’s likelihood of recommending military service to family members or close friends and their own continued service; and whether they personally know any gays, served with any gays and whether they were a leader or co-worker, and how well the unit performed.”  Notably, there’s not a single question about the potential impact of repeal on religious liberty for chaplains and Service members.

There’s another serious flaw in this approach, one identified by an active duty Service member who recently wrote me about the reports on the survey:

 To me, [the survey's questions] are all tactical “gotcha” questions.  I’ve worked for someone I have a suspicion was gay.  The unit performed just fine, there were no morale issues, etc.  Based on the survey answers, the military could very well say “well, then, let’s repeal the ban!”  That misses the point that suspecting someone is gay is not at all the same thing as working in an environment where such behavior is normalized – an environment that would ultimately be detrimental to the military’s effectiveness, performance, and morale.  It also misses the strategic level question we should be asking:  What is the impact of the military calling something “right” that is immoral?  They could ask, for example, if I’ve ever worked with a person who lived with someone who wasn’t their spouse (which I have).  The unit performed just fine, and there were no visible morale issues to speak of.  That doesn’t mean the military should abandon its support of marriage and families or support that lifestyle. 

 A lot of people have repeated the quote “you just have to shoot straight, not be straight” to support the repeal.  That, like the military’s apparent logic above, frames an argument of “we only care about the ends, not the means” – which is a type of thinking that has all kinds of ethical implications (mostly bad). 

Character means something, but character is measured in morality and ethical conduct, not just whether you can shoot straight.

Service members have this kind of sophisticated moral clarity, it’s disappointing that some of our country’s leaders don’t share it.  And, as an anonymous active-duty chaplain recently pointed out, losing moral clarity in an entity that must take human life is dangerous.   

It’s wrong that the President is willing to discourage the constitutional rights of Service members to speak and express their opinions to Congress.  It’s wrong that he is almost certainly sacrificing the free religious exercise rights of our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines to fulfill a campaign promise.

Stay tuned for yet more evidence that normalizing homosexual conduct in the military will diminish the constitutional rights of our Service members, who are fighting and dying to preserve those rights for us.

The author of the quoted section is an active-duty Service member whose name is withheld to avoid censure for expressing these views.  The views expressed are the author’s alone and do not represent those of the U.S. military.

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A lot of ink has been spilled in the mainstream media about repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  Some of it has even managed to cover how religious liberty could be threatened by such a repeal.  But not a single outlet has provided the kind of in-depth, thoughtful analysis that was just provided yesterday by WORLD magazine.  In 1,700 words, WORLD’s reporter, Edward Lee Pitts, manages to capture pretty much the entire issue, and illustrates it with moving stories provided by the chaplains he interviewed for the piece.   If there’s a single article you read on this issue, WORLD’s article should be it.

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So what if Congress forces the military to make homosexual behavior normal?  Isn’t that just a military issue?  Why should average Americans care at all?

Because this change will change America.

Why is that?  For at least two reasons.  First, the military is a repository of American culture—it reflects, in a single institution, many of the highest values our society respects.  Honor.  Duty.  Sacrifice.  Fidelity.  Strength.  Courage.  Ingenuity.  Perseverance.  Victory.  Thus, forcing the military to affirm homosexual conduct will cram that conduct into the pantheon of American values.  As Al Mohler pointed out recently, the homosexual movement’s goal in repealing the military’s current policy has little to do military personnel policy and everything to do with changing American culture.  And by making this change to the way America perceives itself by changing the lens of the military, the homosexual movement will be able to grease the skids for other societal changes.  Like forcing Christian businesses—daycares, bookstores, para-church ministries—to employ individuals who openly and unrepentantly engage in immoral sexual behavior.  This will be accomplished by the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (“ENDA”), a leftist effort to normalize homosexual behavior nationwide.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi directly admitted as much, saying her strategic approach to passing ENDA hinges on first repealing DADT.

And this leads to the second point: perhaps the only institution more deeply respected and widely recognized as the training ground for inculcating societal values than the military is marriage.  And normalizing homosexual conduct in the military will not only—as an ACLU attorney recently stated—be a cultural precursor to normalizing homosexual “marriage,” it will actually create the perfect storm for destroying the primary federal law protecting marriage—the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA”).

Basically, it will go like this: a same-sex couple will get “married” in a state like Massachusetts.  One or both members of the couple will be in the military, and will press for married couples’ benefits, like housing and medical coverage, arguing that the military cannot discriminate against homosexual “marriages.”  And when the military denies the request based on DOMA, that Service member will sue in a sympathetic federal court to get DOMA declared unconstitutional.  And, quite possibly, the only federal bulwark against a nationwide redefinition of marriage will be breached.  Sound far fetched?  The first part of the strategy is already happening: a soldier in a homosexual relationship applied for married housing just after Defense Secretary Gates announced the goal of repealing current policy.  

So, other than the simple reason that we should protect the military because we respect it, why should we civilians care about what happens to the military?  Because we value our culture.  Because we value marriage.  Because we’re next.

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As we’ve discussed repeatedly here (and I really mean repeatedly), repealing the law against open homosexual behavior in the military will almost certainly harm religious liberty for chaplains and service members, especially since Congress has refused to include an exemption for religious liberty in any of its repeal efforts.

But, as the Catholic Archbishop for the Military Diocese, Timothy Broglio, recently pointed out, other fundamental concerns are also at stake.  Namely, the moral voice of the military is in danger of being silenced at a time when its guidance is most in need to an institution which—because it must daily make life-or-death decisions—requires a trustworthy moral compass.

Shutting the mouths of chaplains—who not only provide religious services and counseling, but also regularly teach courses in ethics to military leaders and are specially tasked to provide ethical gudiance to commanders of their units—sends a message that their guidance isn’t trustworthy in the real world of the military.  As a fighter pilot I was talking to recently pointed out, this will be extremely difficult for young Service members trying to come to grips with the morality of war and their place in it.

Even in a best-case scenario following repeal, where chaplains are allowed some small freedom to, for instance, preach about their beliefs on sexual ethics within the confines of a chapel, reliance on the military’s most-sought moral guide—the chaplaincy—will still be irreparably damaged.  A soldier listening to his spiritual chain of command in chapel services will hear one thing, but outside the chapel will to be ordered by his military chain of command to do the opposite.  This cannot help but to create a deep impression in such a soldier’s mind: religion is a curiousity for non-serious matters, but has no application to how the job is done. 

This bleak best-case scenario would not last long.  The military cannot become divided against itself and remain an effective fighting force.  And there’s no question who will lose the battle between chaplains and military command.  Thus, chaplains who believe in something more permanent than the whims of shifting political majorities will find themselves increasingly marginalized and, ultimately, discharged.

And then a huge swath of Service members will find themselves without chaplains who share their faith to turn to for moral guidance in these war-torn days which try soldiers’ souls. 

Is that a sacrifice worth making for political correctness?

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Already, veteran chaplains from numerous denominations–including Lutherans, Southern Baptists, and Presbyterians–have spoken out to express their concern that repealing the current law that protects the military from open homosexual behavior will, among other things, harm religious liberty.  Just yesterday, another major voice in the chaplaincy community, Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Catholic Church’s Military Diocese, added his voice in defense of the military’s current law.

His argument was made on two grounds: First, repeal cannot be allowed to limit the First Amendment rights and duties of chaplains in their ministry to Service members.  While those who practice homosexual behavior should receive “respect and treatment worthy of their human dignity,” “no restrictions or limitations on the teaching of Catholic morality can be accepted.  First Amendment rights regarding the free exercise of religion must be respected.”  Similarly, “Catholic chaplains must show compassion for persons with a homosexual orientation, but can never condone–even silently–homosexual behavior.”

Second, in what Archbishop Broglio describes as “a more fundamental” issue, repeal would harm the ability of the military to be an effective fighting force.  He reasons–correctly–that morality and “corresponding good moral decisions” are integral to “unit cohesion and the overall morale of troops and effectiveness of the mission.”  Thus, normalizing immoral behavior, like homosexuality, through military policy potentially would have an “enormous and overwhelming” effect on military readiness.  ”Sacrificing the moral beliefs of individuals or their living conditions to respond to merely political considerations is neither just nor prudent, especially for the armed forces at a time of war.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Stay tuned for more news of other religious leaders speaking out against repeal.

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If you’re a military chaplain, active or retired, and are interested in becoming involved in this issue or signing the Chaplains Letter, please contact us with your information.

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