Chaplain Alliance Stands with Army Chaplain Joseph Lawhorn
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — October 29, 2026
Contact: Archbishop Derek L. S. Jones, Executive Director, Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty · djones@ChaplainAlliance.org · ChaplainAlliance.org
A chaplain who helped a soldier choose life should not lose his career over a complaint his commander called closed
CALL urges the Army to clear Lt. Col. Lawhorn's record and calls on the Department to carry out Secretary Hegseth's reforms against the weaponizing of the military complaint system
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty (CALL) today announced its full support for Lt. Col. Joseph Lawhorn, a Ranger-qualified Army chaplain with nearly three decades of service, and joined the call by First Liberty Institute and McGuireWoods LLP for the Army Board for Correction of Military Records to remove adverse information from his promotion file and from every official record in which it appears.
In December 2020, Chaplain Lawhorn delivered the Army's required annual suicide-prevention training to members of the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade. Directed by his commander to "be real" with soldiers, he told them the truth about his own diagnosed depression — how, in his darkest days, he would retreat into a closet — and how his faith in Jesus Christ carried him through. He titled the session "Coming Out of the Closet: Straight-Talk about Depression and Suicidality." One soldier sought out his behavioral-health provider two days later and said he would be forever thankful. Another called it the best suicide-prevention training he had ever received.
A single attendee objected to the title and alleged “Coming Out” was discriminatory against gay and lesbian service members, though no complaint by such a service member was ever voiced. An investigation followed. Afterward, his commander told Chaplain Lawhorn face to face that the matter was over and everyone should move on. No reprimand, no retraining, and no negative evaluation followed; the same commander later ranked him the best brigade chaplain he had ever led and wrote "Promote now." Yet in January 2026, while under consideration for colonel, Chaplain Lawhorn discovered that the investigation's findings had been approved and placed in his file as adverse information. This summer, his name did not appear on the promotion list – a promotion that would have been expected with his superior record and highest recommendation for promotion.
Secretary Hegseth named this problem — the Army must now fix it
In April 2025, Secretary Pete Hegseth signed his "No More Walking on Eggshells" memorandum, Restoring Good Order and Discipline Through Balanced Accountability, ordering every military department to review its Military Equal Opportunity and civilian EEO programs. The Secretary warned that these systems had been weaponized and used in bad faith against superiors and peers, directed that complaints lacking credible evidence be dismissed in a timely way, and ordered that favorable personnel actions — including promotions — not be held hostage to unsubstantiated allegations. Speaking to the nation's senior commanders at Quantico in September 2025, he promised "no more smearing reputations … no more sidetracking careers." More recently, the Secretary established an Office of Religious Affairs to strengthen spiritual readiness and the ministry of chaplains across the Total Force.
Chaplain Lawhorn's case is precisely what those reforms were written to end: one complaint, five quiet years, a commander's assurance, an exemplary record — and then a promotion board that saw only the stain.
"Saint Paul wrote that God 'comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God' (2 Corinthians 1:4). That is exactly what Chaplain Lawhorn did," said Archbishop Derek L. S. Jones, Executive Director of CALL and a retired Air Force combat fighter pilot with 28 years of service. "He opened his own wound so that a hurting soldier might find healing, and at least one soldier did and said so publicly. The chaplain's ministry of presence and truth-telling is not a liability to be managed; it is a lifeline. When the complaint system can be used to quietly bury a faithful chaplain's career years after his commander declared the matter closed, it has become exactly the weapon Secretary Hegseth warned against."
"Religious liberty is not a courtesy the services extend when it is convenient," Archbishop Jones continued. "It is the first freedom named in the Bill of Rights, and the military chaplaincy exists so that those who defend that freedom may freely exercise it. A chaplain who speaks honestly from his faith to save lives must be protected, not punished. We call on the Secretary of the Army to correct Chaplain Lawhorn's record without delay, to give him a fair hearing before a new promotion board, and to ensure that Secretary Hegseth's reforms reach every chaplain who has been silenced or sidelined in the same way."
CALL stands with First Liberty Institute, McGuireWoods LLP, and every chaplain who serves as a shepherd of souls to those who stand watch over our nation.
About the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty
The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty (CALL) is a coalition of faith-group endorsers and chaplains dedicated to protecting the constitutionally guaranteed religious liberty of military chaplains and the service members they serve. Learn more at ChaplainAlliance.org.
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