Yesterday at the U.S. Naval Academy, a Jewish chapel was dedicated. The Washington Post reported Saturday that now, for the first time, Jewish midshipmen will have their own place to hold religious services. The other service academies already have chapels for their Jewish students. The new building is named after Uriah P. Levy, a naval officer during the War of 1812, who was court-martialed because of conflicts with fellow officers over their anti-Semitic insults.
Last Thursday, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights issued a somewhat equivocal press release on the topic. While applauding the building of the chapel, it noted that traditional civil liberties groups have not objected to the spending of federal funds on it, while they routinely object to the spending of federal funds for classroom materials for Catholic schools. Catholic League president William Donohue concluded the release with the following rather oversimplified criticism of current First Amendment doctrines: "In other words, prayer rugs can be purchased with federal funds to accommodate suspected Muslim terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, and Jewish chapels can be built with federal monies, but Christian kids can’t sing 'Silent Night' in the classroom. Got it everyone?"
