WASHINGTON — A long-awaited
report on the possible repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay members says
the chaplains corps has “some of the most intense and sharpest divergence of
views” on the issue.
The comprehensive review,
issued Nov. 30, concluded that “special attention” should be given to the
concerns among the approximately 3,000 chaplains in the military services when
and if a repeal is implemented.
The report said some
chaplains condemned homosexuality as a sin and said they could not support
homosexuals, while others said “we are all sinners” and chaplains should care
for everyone.
Nevertheless, the report
concluded that existing regulations protecting chaplains’ First Amendment
rights are “adequate” for the ban’s repeal.
“Service members will not be
required to change their personal views and religious beliefs,” the report
said. “They must, however, continue to respect and co-exist with others who may
hold different views and beliefs.”
Some retired chaplains and
leaders of agencies that endorse chaplains have been outspoken against a
repeal, with some predicting it could prompt an exodus of chaplains from the
military.
The report said the military
heard from 77 of 200 endorsing agencies, and none said they would withdraw
endorsements of chaplains if a repeal occurred. It said just three of about 145
chaplains who took part in focus groups said they would seek to leave the
military if there was a repeal.
Officials of some chaplains’
organizations that have opposed the repeal questioned the report’s claims of
sufficient protections for chaplains who oppose homosexuality.
“I do not expect that anyone
who holds fast with the truth as it is in the word of God … to be allowed to
continue on and to advance in their career as I did,” said James Poe, a retired
Navy captain and former secretary of the International Conference of
Evangelical Chaplain Endorsers.
Other retired chaplains seem
unwilling to suggest that chaplains should walk out on the troops if the ban is
repealed.
“I have said, ‘Before you
consider resigning and leaving, recognize that you are there for your people in
the positive and the negative,’” said Paul Vicalvi, a retired Army chaplain who
directs the Chaplains Commission for the National Association of Evangelicals.
“I’m telling them not to
retire. … Now some of them may say, ‘I just can’t operate in this environment,’
but that’s not coming from me.”
But with the release of the
report, Vicalvi remains concerned that chaplains will be prevented from
counseling military members about their biblical interpretations on
homosexuality.
As the Senate began hearings
Dec. 2 to consider the repeal, other chaplains’ endorsers voiced skepticism.
Ron Crews, a retired Army
chaplain and an endorser for Grace Churches International, an evangelical
network based in Fayetteville, hopes Congress will consider language to ensure
that the religious rights of all military members — not just chaplains — are
protected.
“There needs to be a
strengthening, some addition to the code that would provide a religious
exemption clause,” he said.
Other religious leaders say
they will wait until a repeal is enacted — which is far from a certainty — to
determine their next steps.
“We’re all going to wait to
see what actually transpires,” said retired Chaplain Douglas Lee, a retired
U.S. Army brigadier general, who endorses chaplains for several denominations,
including the Presbyterian Church in America.
“Will there be able to be
open and free pluralism?”