[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 21]
[House]
[Pages 28133-28134]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




         PROTECTING FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT OF MILITARY CHAPLAINS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. 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, before I start my remarks, 
I want to pay respect and gratitude to the gentleman from Michigan who 
served with my father for a number of years, and also has been a friend 
to me.
  Mr. Dingell, you are an example of what is good about the House of 
Representatives.
  Mr. Speaker, in my remaining time, I want to speak about a serious 
problem in my opinion, and that is the fact that chaplains in the 
American military, those who happen to be of the Christian faith, have 
been told they cannot use the name Jesus Christ when they pray outside 
of the church.
  Mr. Speaker, I would be on this floor tonight if this were a Jewish 
rabbi or if it were a Muslim chaplain in the United States military.
  Mr. Speaker, 72 Members of the House have sent a letter to the 
President. This is the first sentence. ``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.''
  Mr. Speaker, I spoke to a Navy chaplain, and in the last 3 years, I 
have talked to hundreds of chaplains who have conveyed to me the fact 
that they are being told outside of their church they cannot pray their 
faith, and I think this is a tragedy, particularly in our military.
  About 10 months ago I spoke to a Navy chaplain in Hawaii who told me 
he is a Methodist. He told me ``Congressman, let me tell you what 
happened. I was praying at a service to remember Marines who were 
killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. When I finished my prayer, I prayed in 
the name of Jesus Christ, our savior.''
  Mr. Speaker, he told me, about an hour and 15 minutes later, he got a 
call from a Marine major who reminded him, in those kind of settings, 
you cannot pray in the name of Jesus Christ, and please in the future 
do not do so.

[[Page 28134]]

  He was so upset, Mr. Speaker, he went to a friend of his who happens 
to be a Jewish chaplain, and he said to his Jewish chaplain friend, 
``Chaplain, do I offend you when I pray in the name of Jesus Christ?''
  The Jewish chaplain said, ``No, you do not. This is your faith and 
your tradition and you should pray in the name of your savior.'' This 
came from a Jewish chaplain.
  Mr. Speaker, to me this is a very tragic situation. We are asking the 
President, as Commander-in-Chief, to use his constitutional authority 
to call up the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, and say, Mr. 
Secretary, I am Commander-in-Chief and I am asking that you protect the 
first amendment right of all of our chaplains, whether they be Muslim, 
Jewish or Christian.
  As I begin to close, let me just read a letter that I received from 
an Army major who is a chaplain. This was last year.
  ``Dear Congressman Jones:
  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.''
  Mr. Speaker, I want to make it clear tonight that if we do not 
protect the right of our chaplains in the military; and I have spoken 
to many, almost 200 as I said just a few minutes ago, that are telling 
me that they are being encouraged not to pray outside of the church in 
the name of their religion and their faith; there is something wrong 
with that.
  We are going to do a news conference tomorrow and ask the President 
to please protect the first amendment right of our Muslim, Jewish and 
our Christian chaplains, and I will tell you that the American Center 
for Law and Justice, ACLJ, they have over 158,000 signatures from 
people around this country asking the President to use his 
constitutional authority to protect the first amendment rights of all 
of our chaplains.
  With that, I want to say to the gentleman from Michigan, 
congratulations, you are a great man and a great patriot. And I close 
by asking God to please bless our men and women in uniform, to please 
bless the families of our men and women in uniform, and God please 
bless and hold in his arms those who have given their life dying for 
this country, and I ask God to please bless America, and continue, God, 
to show us the light that we might save this great Nation and do what 
is right in your eyes.

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