CHAPLAIN ALLIANCE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY April 7, 2015 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact CHAPLAIN ENDORSERS at info@chaplainalliance.org or call (571) 293-2427
Chaplain Alliance defends conscience at Supreme Court
Brief filed in pivotal marriage case outlines religious freedom concerns
WASHINGTON – Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Friday in the case of Obergefell v Hodges. The case involves the question of whether states are free to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman and whether a state is required to recognize marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples in other states.
“Nowhere is the intersection of government inference and freedom of conscience more troubling than in the lives of our military chaplains,” said Ron Crews, a former Army Chaplain and executive director of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty. “As our brief explains, chaplains need to be able to abide by their conscience to be able to serve their Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen, and Marines. In today’s military, chaplains are increasingly facing discipline or fearing career-ending reprisal for doing just that, especially in the area of marriage.”
The brief, filed jointly with the North Carolina Values Coalition; the Liberty, Life, and Law Foundation; the Christian Family Coalition; and the Traditional Values Coalition argues that the case is not about who may marry, but about what marriage actually is. The brief explains to the high court that nullifying state marriage laws approved by the voters or their elected representatives “jeopardizes core freedoms of self-governance, thought, speech, and religion, and obscures the inevitable damage to Americans who cannot conscientiously endorse marriage redefinition.”
The Supreme Court will hear two and a half hours of oral arguments on April 28. The court combined Obergefell v Hodges with other cases from four states (Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld the voter-approved laws in those states.
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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