CHAPLAIN ALLIANCE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY June 21, 2012 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact CHAPLAIN ENDORSERS at info@chaplainalliance.org or call (571) 293-2427
Chaplain endorsers commend 66 members of Congress
for letter to DoD
WASHINGTON — Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty is commending the 66 members of Congress who signed a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta outlining a pattern of attacks on faith by Air Force leadership.
“A long list of actions by Air Force leaders appear to make it difficult for officers and airmen to be true to their faith in the Air Force,” stated CH (COL) Ron Crews, USAR retired, executive director of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “I am grateful that 66 members of Congress have put their signatures to a letter expressing their concern that the Air Force is ‘developing a culture that is hostile to religion’ that has grown more evident since a memorandum was issued by General Norman Schwartz, chief of staff of the USAF.”
Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty especially thanked Representatives Randy Forbes (R-VA), Todd Akin (R-MO), and Diane Black (R-TN) for their leadership in writing the letter.
“We have been raising concerns with members of Congress for some time now about the apparent growing hostility toward any expression of faith in the Air Force,” Crews said. “Air Force officers, not chaplains, have contacted us about the environment in their workplace: not being allowed to place a Bible on a desk or invite a fellow officer to a Bible study in their home. This is not the environment for our military that our Founding Fathers envisioned.”
Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty affirms that no American, especially those who wear the uniform to protect our nation, should be denied their God-given and constitutionally protected religious liberties.
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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