Military Times:
A group of 20 conservative lawmakers have asked for and received a meeting with top Defense Department officials “to discuss the steps that need to be taken to protect the religious freedom of our servicemembers.”
The Congress members, led by Reps. Doug Collins, R-Ga., and Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., have written several letters to Defense Secretary Mark Esper in which they objected to the military’s limitations on service members’ attendance at worship services during the coronavirus pandemic. They are also upset with the Pentagon and services’ responses to complaints by Mikey Weinstein, president and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, regarding three recent actions by military chaplains. Weinstein argued that those actions violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from making any law “respecting an establishment of religion.”