Found Guilty, Evangelical Christian Navy Chaplain Says He'll Appeal
by Chad Groening and Jenni Parker
September 14, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A military jury has found Navy chaplain Lieutenant Gordon James Klingenschmitt guilty of disobeying an order by appearing in uniform during a March 30 news conference outside the White House.The military court martial jury agreed with the Navy's argument that Klingenschmitt disobeyed an order from a superior officer, telling him that he could only appear in uniform at media appearances if conducting a bona fide worship service. According to an Associated Press story, however, the lieutenant believes he has been wrongly convicted.
"I am going to appeal this all the way to the United States Supreme Court," Klingenschmitt contends. "I have not yet begun to fight. I will continue to pray in Jesus' name; I will continue to do so in uniform," he says.
The jury disagreed with the chaplain's argument that his actions fell under the rubric of worship when he appeared at a March news conference held by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in protest of a Navy policy requiring non-sectarian prayers outside of religious services. Klingenschmitt insists that all he did was pray at the event, and therefore, his part in the news conference constituted "bona fide" worship.
However, according to the Associated Press report, the Navy prosecutor argued that Klingenschmitt showed up at the news conference without prior permission and gave reporters flyers comparing his actions to the civil disobedience of Rosa Parks. The lieutenant claims he was silent before his accusers and patterned his defense after Isaiah 53:7.
That verse prophesied that "when Jesus was put on trial, 'he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and he did not open his mouth,'" the chaplain points out. He feels his defense took a similarly unresisting approach by resting without presenting any evidence or calling any witnesses.
Judge Roy Moore attended the trial and was prepared to offer testimony. "I've got plenty to say," he noted yesterday, before the defense rested. "I don't know what they will ask. I'm supposedly there for a factual witness and to testify to what went on."
However, Moore felt the military court had little interest in what he would have wanted to say about religious freedom and free speech. "I think that, of course, they don't want to hear about the law and about what the Navy is doing," he observed, "and basically that's what I could testify about."
The penalty phase of the court martial is scheduled to resume today. The five-officer military jury will decide on Klingenschmitt's punishment; according to some sources, he may be docked two thirds of his pay for a year and reprimanded as a result of the guilty verdict.
Chaplain Plans to Carry His Religious Freedom Case Forward
Klingenschmitt told WorldNetDaily that while he respects the jury's authority and its verdict, he does "not respect the authority of the military judge who declared that worshipping in public is not the same as public worship." The judge, who rejected the lieutenant's motion earlier this month to drop the case, concluded that military chaplains are protected only inside the chapel during Sunday worship, and if they disobey orders not to worship publicly, they are subject to criminal prosecution by court martial.
Several dozen chaplains have joined in a civilian lawsuit in which they claim the Navy only promotes Christian ministers who advocate non-sectarian speech, while it drums those with evangelical beliefs out of the Navy. Chaplain Klingenschmitt says any government official who requires non-sectarian prayers is forcing his government religion on Christian ministers like himself, chaplains who want to worship their creator and pray in Jesus' name, in an effort to "censor, exclude and punish" them for their actions.
Klingenschmitt says he is prepared to pursue his appeals process options, right up to the highest court in the land if necessary. Meanwhile, he notes that he is also promoting a bill in Congress that, if passed, would overrule the Secretary of the Navy's policy requiring non-sectarian prayers.
