Paul Finkelman
Sanford Levinson wrote:
. Now as law professors, as teachers of our future leaders, will you actually teach your students that government should agree with them, and side with Mr. Weinstein and Yale Divinity, and enter the Protestant Chapel to silence the chaplain's speech with military policemen? Sandy? Paul? Chip? Alan? I cannot think you really believe what you're saying. Please keep the government out of my chapel. Please.As I've noted earlier, I find myself genuinely conflicted. Generally speaking, I'm not sympathetic to "military discipline" arguments in First Amendment cases, but I can surely understand why the Armed Forces would try to limit the freedom of soldiers, e.g., to engage in speech that would likely be disruptive of "good order and morale" during wartime situations. Similarly, I can understand why the military would be wary of speech that emphasizes the divisions within the ranks between "saved" and "unsaved" (and therefore "damned") soldiers, especially if one of the lessons being taught at voluntary gatherings is the necessity to try to persuade those in the latter category to change before they are killed and thus suffer eternal damnation. From the evangelical perspective, nothing, obviously could be more important. Yet, just as I cannot turn my constitutional law class into a discussion of whether or not my students will suffer the eternal torments of hell (or simply absence from God), I think that there are reasonable limits that can be placed on the speech of military chaplains. But I am open to arguments on the other side, since I really do find it a difficult issue.sandy
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-- Paul Finkelman Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law University of Tulsa College of Law 3120 East 4th Place Tulsa, OK 74104-3189 918-631-3706 (office) 918-631-2194 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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