CHAPLAIN ALLIANCE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY June 27, 2012 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact CHAPLAIN ENDORSERS at info@chaplainalliance.org or call (571) 293-2427
Censorship of prayer
disrespects duty of all chaplains
WASHINGTON — Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty expressed concern Tuesday over recent police department decisions that prohibit chaplains from praying according to their personal faith by misapplying recent court decisions related to public invocations.
“In America, we celebrate religious diversity and encourage the free exercise of it, even in the public square,” said Chaplain (BG) Doug Lee, USAR retired, president of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.
“Military chaplaincies are the best example of this: the military encourages chaplains to serve without shedding their faith-group distinctive,” Lee explained. “When Jewish rabbis pray, they do so according to their faith; when a Muslim Imam prays, he does so per Muslim tenets, and so on. When chaplains pray according to their beliefs, it is a demonstration of the remarkable religious liberty America has so far enjoyed throughout its history. No court decision has placed the government in the position of censoring the prayers of chaplains.”
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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