CHAPLAIN ALLIANCE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY February 16, 2021 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact CHAPLAIN ENDORSERS at info@chaplainalliance.org or call (571) 293-2427

Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty Commends Secretary of Defense Austin

WASHINGTON — Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty commends Secretary of Defense Austin for his commitment to combat extremism within the Department of Defense (DOD). “No service member or dependent should be marginalized, ostracized, or punished because of who they are or what they believe,” said Bishop Derek Jones, Executive Director of the Chaplain Alliance. We must be sensitive to the protection of “…the principle of free thought—not free thought for those who agree with us, but freedom for the thought we hate,” as the late Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendel Holmes, Jr. stated. This, of course, includes religious beliefs, whether popular or unorthodox. Chaplain Alliance’s endorsed chaplains take seriously their constitutional obligation to provide for the free exercise of religion for all service members, and they stand at the ready to assist any service member who is the victim of extremist behavior or ideology, including hegemonic politically motivated extremism.

Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty is an organization of chaplain endorsers, the faith groups that provide chaplains for the U.S. military and other agencies needing chaplains. The endorsers in Chaplain Alliance speak for more than 2,600 chaplains serving the Armed Forces.

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