United States Navy Chaplain Corps - Controversies

Controversies

The Chaplain Corps has been responsive to the diverse ministry requirements of Sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, Merchant Marines and all their family members since its inception over two centuries ago. Throughout its history the corps has experienced several controversies.

Some contemporary controversies include the filing of class-action lawsuits by "non-liturgical" active and former active-duty Protestant chaplains alleging religious discrimination. These chaplains argued that the Navy allegedly employed a quota system which caused "non-liturgical" Protestant chaplains to be underrepresented through the current career promotion established by the Department of the Navy. .

In September 2006, LT Gordon Klingenschmitt was reprimanded and fined $3,000 for disobeying an order not to wear his military uniform at a protest. Eventually, he faced a court martial over the issue of praying "in Jesus name" in his uniform in public. Klingenschmitt was honorably discharged from the Navy in March 2007. The chaplain disagreed with a policy that required him to offer non-sectarian prayers at Navy command functions (essentially public, military-wide and often mandatory). Congress later rescinded the policy which was enforced at Klingenschmitt's trial, but did not rescind Klingenschmitt's discharge from the Navy, which meant that Klingenschmitt was discharged after only 16 years of service, four years short of the 20 that he needed for retirement. The Navy no longer requires chaplains give only non-sectarian prayers at command functions. The Navy doesn't prohibit chaplains from preaching in a sectarian manner in worship settings.

In the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Accommodating Faith in the Military (dated July 3, 2008) states: "That precise question has been raised in a series of cases, going back a decade, over the way that the Navy selects chaplains. These lawsuits allege that the Navy has hired chaplains using a "thirds policy," a formula dividing its chaplains into thirds: one-third consisting of liturgical Protestant denominations (such as such as Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians and Presbyterians); another third consisting of Catholics; and a last third consisting of non-liturgical Protestant denominations (such as Baptists, evangelicals, Bible churches, Pentecostals and charismatics) and other faiths. The lawsuits claim that the Navy's criteria are unconstitutional because they disfavor non-liturgical Protestants, who make up a great deal more than one-third of the Navy, while Catholics and liturgical Protestants each make up less than one-third.

In April 2007, a US District Court in Washington DC, rejected one of these challenges to the Navy’s chaplain-selection criteria. The court held that the Navy had abandoned the thirds policy and said that its current criteria were constitutional because the Navy has broad discretion to determine how to accommodate the religious needs of its service members. This decision was affirmed in 2008 by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

In June 2009, the Navy's Inspector General found that the Deputy Chief of Chaplains, RDML Alan Baker, took actions which "reprised against" his former Executive Assistant during a promotion board in 2008 and was subsequently not recommended for his second star and selection to Chief of Chaplains by the CNO. This determination found that Adm Baker improperly influenced a Captain (06) promotion board in a negative manner. Chaplain Baker retired in September 2009. The current Chief of Chaplains for the Navy is RADM Mark Tidd.