RE: Free speech for chaplains

[Newsom Michael]

I’ll bite.  The chaplain can be disciplined.  Such preaching is clearly bad for military morale, given the current rules regarding homosexuality and the military.    -----Original Message----- From: Rick Duncan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2005 11:13 AM To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics Subject: RE: Free speech for chaplains   Sandy's question is an interesting one. Can the military fire or discipline a chaplin because the military disagrees with his religious beliefs (or at least with his preaching of his religious beliefs)? Doesn't such a decision amount to a religious test for office? Or at the very least, denominational discrimination forbidden by Larson v. Valente (evangelicals need not apply)?   In other words, could the military require a doctrinal statement--"salvation is universal for all who believe anything sincerely"-- for the office of chaplin?   To put a twist on the issue, suppose a chaplin preaches that homosexual marriages are within God's will. Could a chaplin be disciplined for preaching that?   Cheers, Rick Duncam Sanford Levinson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: There is a fascinating article in today's NYTimes on the increasing number of Evangelical chaplains in the armed services.  Consider oe James Klingenschmitt, of the Evangelical Episcopal Church, whose retention was recommended against by his commanding officer following, among other things, his preaching at a memorial service at sea for a Catholic sailor that "emphasized that for those who did not accept Jesus, 'God's wrath remains upon him.'"  I presume that the this was not meant to apply to the Catholic seaman, but it obviously suggested to any Jewish or Muslim (or atheist or Buddhist, etc., etc., etc.) that they were condemned to God's wrath.  In any event, is there a serious argument that it is improper to take such speech into account in deciding whether to recommend that the contract be renewed.  I presume, incidentally, that the armed forces would not renew the contract of a chaplain who sugested that a given wa! r was in fact "unjust,"  If the armed services can constittionally do that (presumably on grounds that it is not good for the morale of those in the armed services), then why can't it fire chaplains who suggest that many members of the armed services are damned to eternal perdition?   sandy _______________________________________________ To post, send message to Religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlaw Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others. Rick Duncan Welpton Professor of Law University of Nebraska College of Law Lincoln, NE 68583-0902 Red State Lawblog: www.redstatelaw.blogspot.com "When the Round Table is broken every man must follow either Galahad or Mordred: middle things are gone." C.S.Lewis, Grand Miracle "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered." --The Prisoner ________________________________________________! __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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