USA: military & religion: Petition for Prayer Rites of Military Chaplains

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), headed by leading constitutional lawyer Jay Sekulow, has just sent out an SOS to gather signatures for its Petition to Protect Military Prayer. What's at issue is an effort to illegalize military chaplains who pray in the name of Jesus.

An ACLJ email newsletter outlines the situation:

We have joined a group of Christian Congressmen, led by Rep. Walter Jones, in calling on our President to enact an Executive Order protecting chaplains and their right to pray.

Chaplains in our United States military are being reprimanded for ''using overtly Christian language'' in public settings.

These men of God, who hold an officer's rank, have been criticized and scolded for using Bible verses and invoking the name of Jesus in memorial services.

This is blatant religious discrimination ... a violation of First Amendment rights! And it must be stopped!

Sekulow reports that nearly 80,000 signatures have been gathered, but the goal is not less than 125,000.

Already the Air Force has introduced proposed guidelines that dictate how Christian chaplains can and cannot pray, says ACLJ, such guidelines ''could soon be the standard for all branches of the military.''

As Congressman Jones noted, ''Our chaplains should not have any second thoughts about how they should pray. Let their hearts speak with what God puts in their minds to pray.''

You can copy the petition's text (below) to sign it and mail/email it to the White House, or you can clickup the form online to join in a ''petition for redress of grievances'' pertaining to the growing violation of the First Amendment to the US Constitution in this matter.

Petition to Protect Military Prayer

To the Honorable President George W. Bush

We are disappointed and gravely concerned to learn that the right of military chaplains to pray according to their faith is in jeopardy.

It has come to our attention that in all branches of the military, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Christian chaplains to use the name of Jesus when praying. We believe this suppression of religious freedom is a pervasive problem that must be dealt with and eliminated immediately.

Throughout our nation's history, chaplains not only have remained an integral part of our military, but they also have always prayed according to their faith's tradition. We believe that if chaplains are chosen to pray before a professional setting, they have a constitutional right to adhere to the religious expressions of their faith. Furthermore, such censorship of Christian beliefs is a disservice to Christian chaplains as well as the hundreds of thousands of Christian soldiers in the military who look to their chaplains for comfort, inspiration, and support, just as our military soldiers of other faiths look to their chaplains.

We respectfully request that you, as Commander and Chief, protect by Executive Order the constitutional right of military chaplains to pray according to their faith.

Make a positive move to counter the spread of bureaucratic secularism that disenfranchises Christians in the US military. - Politicarp