Alliance Defense Fund
announced that last week 22 representatives of religious groups that endorse military chaplains wrote a letter (
full text) to Congressional leaders urging action to protect religious liberty as the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell policy" becomes effective. The letter reads in part:
Chaplains and service members have told us they are very concerned they will be marginalized and even punished for being faithful to their religious beliefs in the wake of the repeal. We share those concerns. In fact, some chaplains have already personally experienced the punitive atmosphere this repeal has generated.
President Obama’s group that studied repeal assured Congress and the military that religious liberty would not be harmed. However, those assurances are not law and have not been transferred into actual law.... Chaplains and service members will be chilled from freely and fully exercising their faith because, for instance, they cannot know whether a commander in Fort Lewis will view religious and moral expression on sexuality more restrictively than one in Fort Bragg.
