The Rutherford Institute yesterday announced that it has filed suit in federal district court in Washington, D.C. on behalf of high profile Navy chaplain Gordon J. Klingenschmitt. The chaplain, who was court martialed in September for disobeying orders not to wear his uniform to a press conference that criticized the Navy's policy on religious exercise, is now the subject of separation proceedings instituted by the Navy on different grounds. The Navy says he lost the endorsement of his religious group to act as a chaplain. Klingenschmitt resigned from the Evangelical Episcopal Church shortly after he was convicted in the court martial. Subsequently, however, he secured a nomination as a chaplain from another evangelical organization, the Full Gospel Church. The complaint (full text) in Klingenschmitt v. Winter seeks an injunction to stop the Navy from separating Klingenschmitt from the service by treating him as a new applicant because of his change in ecclesiastical endorsement. More broadly, the suit seeks a declaratory judgment finding that the Navy's policy of preventing chaplains from praying "in Jesus name" in settings with general audiences is unconstitutional. (See prior related posting.)
UPDATE: The Marine Corps Times reports that on Wednesday the court refused to grant Chaplain Klingenschmitt a temporary restraining order in his pending suit.
