[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 156 (Wednesday, December 7, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H11189-H11190]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    URGING CONGRESS TO DEFEND THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT OF MILITARY 
                               CHAPLAINS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McCaul of Texas). Under a previous order 
of the House, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, as I am on the floor 
tonight, I think about the great history of this country and the fact 
that this Nation was founded by people of faith; and yet in this great 
Nation today, our chaplains in the military are being told if they 
should be of the Christian faith that they cannot outside of their 
church pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
  Mr. Speaker, to me this is very alarming when we have a President, 
President Bush, who is a man of faith, who went to China and criticized 
the Chinese, or at least encouraged the Chinese, to allow the Chinese 
to have more religious freedom.
  This never seemed to be a problem until about 1998. For whatever 
reason, those in the leadership of the chaplain corps of the military 
decided that they needed to encourage those of faith, particularly the 
Christian faith, not to pray in the name of Jesus Christ outside of the 
church.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to say I would be on the floor tonight if this 
were happening to the Jewish chaplains, to the Muslims chaplains in the 
military. I would be on the floor defending their first amendment right 
because that is exactly why our men and women in uniform are in Iraq 
and Afghanistan, to defend freedom; and yet within this country we are 
having our chaplains being denied their freedom to pray in the name of 
their faith.
  Mr. Speaker, 72 of us have written a letter to the President of the 
United States, three Senators have joined us, and we have asked the 
President to please use his executive authority as Commander in Chief 
to say that as long as I am Commander in Chief that I will guarantee 
that the chaplains in this great military will have their first 
amendment rights protected, whether they be Muslim, Jewish, or 
Christian. Mr. Speaker, I include this letter for the Record.

                                    Congress of the United States,


                                     House of Representatives,

                                 Washington, DC, October 25, 2005.
     President George W. Bush,
     The White House,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. President: We are disappointed and gravely 
     concerned to learn that the Christian military chaplains are 
     under direct attack and that their right to pray according to 
     their faith is in jeopardy. As you may know, the Air Force 
     leadership recently released proposed guidelines that will 
     restrict

[[Page H11190]]

     how Air Force chaplains can pray, and if approved, those 
     guidelines may well be implemented throughout the entire DoD. 
     We believe that the Air Force's suppression of religious 
     freedom is a pervasive problem throughout our nation's Armed 
     Forces, and 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. 
     There are currently no laws or regulations that prohibit 
     chaplains from praying according to their respective 
     denominations or different faiths, and we are deeply 
     concerned that chaplains are now being instructed on what to 
     say when they pray.
       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 tradition; and 
     Christian chaplains have always been able to pray using the 
     name of Jesus. We believe that if Christian chaplains are 
     chosen to pray before a professional setting, then they--as 
     with the chaplain of any other faith--have a constitutional 
     right to adhere to the religious expressions of their faith. 
     Praying in the name of Jesus is a fundamental part of 
     Christian belief and to suppress this form of expression 
     would be a violation of religious freedom.
       The current demand in the guidelines for so-called ``no-
     sectarian'' prayers is merely a euphemism declaring that 
     prayers will be acceptable only so long as they censor 
     Christian beliefs. Current surveys in the military indicate 
     that upwards of 80 percent of soldiers identify themselves as 
     Christians, and such censorship of Christian beliefs is a 
     disservice not only to Christian chaplains, but also to 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 the chaplains of their faith.
       While some military members may find certain prayers to be 
     offensive and wrongly claim that they are not non-
     pluralistic, we believe these restrictions raise 
     constitutional issues involving the Establishment. Free 
     Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment 
     (There are numerous other offensive provisions throughout the 
     proposed guidelines. including the onerous provision that 
     chaplains can only speak of their faith with officers--the 
     ``peer to peer'' provision). Officially inhibiting or 
     defining what chaplains can and cannot say in effect 
     establishes an official religion and burdens our military's 
     chaplains' right of free speech.
       We are requesting that you, as Commander and Chief, protect 
     by Executive Order the constitutional right of military 
     chaplains to pray according to their faith.
           With deep concern,
         Walter B. Jones, Sam Johnson, Joseph Pitts, John 
           Hostettler, Trent Franks, Joel Hefley, Scott Garrett, 
           Robert Aderholt, Virginia Foxx, Dave Weldon, J. Gresham 
           Barrett,Randy Neugebauer, Jo Ann Davis, Michael 
           Bilirakis, Frank R. Wolf, John Culberson, Henry Brown, 
           Melissa Hart, Steve Chabot, Louie Gohmert.
         Jeb Hensarling, Virgil H. Goode, Jr., Rob Bishop, Darrell 
           Issa, Spencer Bachus, Michael E. Sodrel, Ron Lewis, 
           Steve King, W. Todd Akin, Robin Hayes, Donald Manzullo, 
           Marilyn Musgrave, Mark Souder, Mike McIntyre, K. 
           Michael Conaway, Jim Ryun, Charles W. ``Chip'' 
           Pickering, J. Randy Forbes, Todd Tiahrt, Ron Paul.
         Katherine Harris, Tom Price, Sue Myrick, Bob Beauprez, 
           Roger Wicker, Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, Jeff Miller, 
           Gil Gutknecht, Rodney Alexander, John Sullivan, Joe 
           Wilson, John R. Carter, Mike Rogers, Bob Inglis, Luis 
           Fortuno, Bobby Jindal, Michael Turner, Michael McCaul, 
           Wally Herger, C. L. ``Butch'' Otter, Michael C. 
           Burgess, Dan Burton, Phil Gingrey.

  Mr. Speaker, a couple of other points and then I will start closing.
  For 4 years I have heard from chaplains around this Nation in letter, 
meeting with them in person, by telephone, and they have told me just 
how concerned and disappointed they are that they do not have the 
freedom. Let me at this time read a letter from a marine major written 
to me in May of this year, getting ready to go to Iraq. He is in Iraq 
tonight, and I hope and pray that all of our men and women in uniform 
are safe.
  He said: ``Dear Congressman Jones, I am a member of the military, and 
there is something that I think you should know.
  ``Before my last change of command, my chaplain came to me and asked 
if I minded if he mentioned Jesus in his prayer given at the start of 
the ceremony. I was surprised by the question since the prayer was for 
me and my family and we are Christian and we specifically desired he do 
so. He alluded to the fact that he and other chaplains have been asked 
not to mention Jesus Christ. This startles and frightens me that one's 
faith is being infringed upon even within our own military. I strongly 
believe in religious freedom, and I hope you understand my grave 
concerns about forces that would try to limit it.
  ``I hope you can find support to stop this intolerance that is 
creeping into all walks of life. Sincerely.''
  This, again, is a marine major who is in Iraq fighting for freedom 
for the Iraqis and for those in Afghanistan.
  Mr. Speaker, the last letter I want to make reference to is from a 
chaplain in the United States Army, and he wrote: ``Thank you for your 
interest in ending the religious persecution that exists in our 
military today. I am a chaplain in the United States Army, and I can 
tell you in all honesty that religious persecution is taking place in 
the Army on a daily basis. The persecution centers on Christian 
chaplains praying in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Additionally, I 
have personally been subject to heavy-handed intimidation by a senior 
chaplain.''
  Mr. Speaker, there is story after story after story that I could 
share with the Members on the floor tonight, but because of time, I can 
only give those two situations. But this is a grave situation that we 
in Congress, like the young man tonight from California that was sworn 
in, Mr. Campbell, hold up our hand to protect the constitutional rights 
of the people of this great Nation. Please, Mr. Speaker, as I close, I 
ask that we in this Congress defend the first amendment right of all of 
our chaplains.
  And I close by asking God to please bless our men and women in 
uniform and God continue to bless America.

                          ____________________