Chaplains Offered Exit Plan As Gay Training Starts

By Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Army has started training chaplains on the repeal of the ban on openly gay military members, saying those who are unable to follow the forthcoming policy can seek a voluntary departure.

"The Chaplains Corps' First Amendment freedoms and its duty to care for all will not change," reads a slide in the PowerPoint presentation, released to Religion News Service Thursday (March 24). "Soldiers will continue to respect and serve with others who may hold different views and beliefs."

Critics familiar with the Army presentation, however, say the military is essentially telling chaplains who are theologically conservative that they are not welcome.

"U.S. Army now warning chaplains: If you don't like the homosexual agenda, get out!" reads a headline on the website of Mass Resistance, an anti-gay group based in Waltham, Mass.

President Obama signed a law repealing Don't Ask/Don't Tell last December, but the new policy will not take effect until 60 days after Obama and military leaders are assured that it will not harm military readiness.

Lt. Col. Carleton Birch, a spokesman for the Army chief of chaplains, said about half of the military service's 2,900 chaplains have received the training, which started in February and is likely to conclude in April.

"Our training is an opportunity for our senior chaplains to have an honest and open conversation about the repeal policy, its effects on them and their ministry," Birch said. "And it's going very well. ... In no way are we giving the message, shape up or ship out."

Birch said only one Army chaplain has left the service over the pending repeal of Don't Ask/Don't Tell.

Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, an independent group that strongly opposes gays serving openly in the military, predicts more departures when the policy is lifted.

"The training is engaging in a form of strategic deception," she said. "I think active-duty people are being reassured nothing will change. That is an unrealistic expectation."

Donnelly, whose center received the presentation from a source and has distributed it among supporters, hopes an upcoming House subcommittee hearing will address questions about the effects of the policy change on chaplains.

"Many may be saying that now they will not leave voluntarily," she said, "but that doesn't account for those who would be forced out involuntarily when all of these conflicts become more apparent."

The Army slides include various vignettes, including a soldier who complains after a chaplain calls homosexuality a sin during a chapel service. Notes that accompany the presentation specify that sermons cannot be restricted "even with regard to socially controversial topics."

Birch said the vignette does not represent any change in policy.

"In my 23 years as a soldier in the Army, I've never heard a sermon specifically on homosexuality," he said. "So even though they have the right to do that, that doesn't mean that it's going on every Sunday in our chapels."

The other military services also have begun training of chaplains, with the Navy starting in February and planning to complete it by June. The Air Force started its training in March and hopes to finish by May.

Maj. Joel Harper, a spokesman for the Air Force, said none of that military service's 520 active-duty chaplains has asked to leave over the expected repeal. He called the training "informative in nature" about how the policy changes will affect them.

"It is not an attempt to change anyone's opinion about the subject," he said.

Comments

[Anna Nicole Dahmer]

01:04 PM on 04/01/2011

jesus will return soon and all of the christians will be "ruptured" just like it says in the bible.
then everything will be just fine. don't worry, be happy.

[John Delk]

07:42 AM on 04/01/2011

Change is hard even for hardliners who want "don't ask, don't tell". Really good and talented people are needed in all branches of the Military

[BobSF94117]

01:31 AM on 04/01/2011

"Critics familiar with the Army presentation, however, say the military is essentially telling chaplains who are theologically conservative that they are not welcome.

"U.S. Army now warning chaplains: If you don't like the homosexual agenda, get out!" reads a headline on the website of Mass Resistance, an anti-gay group based in Waltham, Mass."

I'm stunned that anyone would mention Mass Resistance. It's like reporting what the KKK has to say when civil rights for blacks comes up. "Critics" indeed.

Despicable.

[Daleri Rileda]

04:40 PM on 03/31/2011

This is the reason for separation of church and state because the state is not able to accurately represent biblical teaching.

Ther main reason there are offshoots of Christianity is because of the failure of those in power to teach what God's word is saying.

The state and very often the church are not able to teach what God says.

[John Delk]

07:51 AM on 04/01/2011

You didn't say what God has to say. If you are truly a Christian, give away you stuff, your money, and actually Love people. Whom gave you authourity to judge anyone?

[Hayek89]

03:51 AM on 03/31/2011

Before the repeal of DADT, there was nothing that prohibited a Chaplain from counseling a soldier of his denomination who requested such counseling against heterosexual promiscuity or attending strip clubs or even preaching against such activities in a denomination specific service. Both of those activities are legal rights for which there is no military prohibition. A Catholic priest, for example, could deny a Catholic soldier communion for such activities if the priest knew about them.

A Chaplain acting in a non-denominational role, however, could not deny any official services to such soldiers based on theological-moral disapproval of activities.

Consistency would seem to imply that a Chaplin after DADT would not be prohibited from doing the same regarding homosexual relations that were not accepted by his or her religion as long as it was done in a denomination specific setting.

There is no justification for DOD to treat the two differently. If treated the same, there is no reason for Chaplains to have an issue or complain.

[logologic]

01:09 AM on 03/31/2011

"Good. Maybe this will be the end of the unofficial fundamenta­list religious indoctrina­tion of our troops."

Exactly. George Washington was not a Christian, and felt no need to indoctrinate US troops to that persuasion. Let them go.

[Hayek89]

05:26 AM on 03/31/2011

As an aside, George Washington may not have been of a single Christian denomination, but your claim is stronger than history supports. We have no direct writings or statements by him about the details his religious beliefs. What we do know is that in his writings, he did express a belief in a supreme being, and he attend Quaker, Anglican, Episcopal, and Roman Catholic services in non-official capacities (all being Christian). The best we can say is that he was a theist and, based on attendance, may or may not have been a Christian.

[joelb5000]

01:05 PM on 03/30/2011

I will be interested to see how many chaplains leave the military over this policy, especially in these hard economic times. I hope it's not many, and then we can point out how silly it was for conservatives to claim the world was ending for letting gays serve openly.

[Michael Mouton]

03:52 AM on 03/30/2011

So chaplains can't tolerate openly gay people but they can tolerate all the other people engaged in supposed sin--can they tolerate troops that regularly engage in premarital sex? It's about homophobia, period.

[genrel1248]

07:31 PM on 03/29/2011

I didnt know you needed special training to be gay.

[Windfish]

06:01 PM on 03/29/2011

What, specifically, is the problem? The article did not make clear what the problem was between the repealing of DADT and "theological conservatives."

[UnderTheHedgeWeGo]

08:45 PM on 03/29/2011

I would think the problem would be uninformed narrow minded bigotry.

[Windfish]

10:45 PM on 03/29/2011

That would be a problem, yes, but there is nothing in being a "theological conservative" that would feature that. It is a notorious strawman.

I am still at a loss with the article.

[PrairieGayCompanion]

07:34 PM on 03/28/2011

Good. Maybe this will be the end of the unofficial fundamentalist religious indoctrination of our troops.

[onionboy]

05:32 PM on 03/28/2011

In keeping with DADT practices, chaplains should be carefully scrutinized for their opinions on the matter. If they walk away from their computer without logging out, their email should be read. If they've said anything negative about the policies, they should be summarily kicked out.

That's the reality of how DADT was enforced. There was very little "telling" that was the problem.

[Atwill]

01:45 PM on 03/28/2011

Good. Get out of you dont lik it. No one needs some bigot in the military. Keep your relegious hate to yourself. I hope all homophobes get out.

[alterego55]

12:03 PM on 03/28/2011

Don't Stay Don't Pray.

[CAMBEL]

10:12 AM on 03/28/2011

Should Mormon chaplins have been allowed to preach against letting blacks serve before 1980 when their church finally allowed them in fully? Of course not, and military Chaplins shouldn't be doing anything similar now. They are there to offer aid and comfort to members of their religions, not to try to evangelicize or enforce bigotry against our laws. If they cannot do that then good riddence to those individuals.