U.S. Navy and Chaplain Differ Over Basis for Charges
by Chad Groening
May 5, 2006
(AgapePress) - - An evangelical Navy chaplain says he is facing a possible court-martial for disobeying what he believes was an unlawful order. The Navy, however, is challenging Lieutenant Gordon Klingenshmitt's account of why he's facing the possibility of such a serious charge. Chaplain Klingenshmitt says the U.S. Navy is trying to punish him for what he did on Lafayette Square near the White House on March 30. He says he faces disciplinary action for praying in the name of Jesus while in uniform outside a chapel setting.
"The new SECNAV instruction authorizes commanding officers to punish chaplains for disobeying orders if they pray in Jesus' name outside of a chapel," Klingenshmitt shares. "So that's what I'm being charged with -- willful disobedience of what they say is a lawful order. I say it's an unlawful order."
The event on March 30 in the nation's capital was a news conference protesting a ban on military chaplains invoking specific religious figures such as Jesus Christ in their prayers -- unless they did so in a chapel setting. Klingenshmitt admits he did pray in uniform at that event, and that one of the prayers ended with the words "through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen."
But Terry Davis, public affairs officer at Naval Station Norfolk, says the charges are not for praying in uniform, but for participating in uniform at an event supporting personal or partisan political, economic, social or religious issues -- and for violating orders. "The charges against Lt. Klingenshmitt were for violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice," she explains. "It's Article 90, which is willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer, and Article 92, failure to obey a regulation or order."
According to Davis, charges against the chaplain "have absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he prayed. It has to do with his conduct as a naval officer and that the Uniform Code of Military Justice is very specific when service members can and cannot wear their uniform."
Klingenshmitt, who is filing a religious harassment complaint against the Navy, says he had prior written permission to wear his uniform to events he considered a "bona fide religious service or observance." And he says it is part of his job as a military chaplain to say public prayers in his uniform; he also noted there is a cross on that uniform.
It is unfortunate, he says, that the Navy has decided it is going to enforce the brand new Secretary of the Navy policy that bans Christian prayers outside of a chapel. "And since it was outside of a chapel setting, they're saying that I either had to pray nonsectarian prayers or I had to not wear my uniform," he explains.
Klingenshmitt says he has refused to accept a reprimand known as a "captain's mast" and has been read his rights. If he is court-martialed and found guilty, he could face up to five years in prison and be dismissed from the Navy with a dishonorable discharge. "We'll have to wait and see if the Lord comes and defends me," he says.
The Navy chaplain says the ball is now in the Navy's court, but he does not expect a court-martial summons any time soon.
Associated Press contributed to this story.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
