By John-Henry Westen
WASHINGTON, February 9, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The United States Air Force released a revised version of its religious guidelines today after the previous guidelines received substantial criticism for restricting religious freedom. Lt. Gen. Roger Brady, Air Force deputy chief of staff for personnel announced the new guidelines saying, “The guidelines address prayer at military events, but in no way restrict private prayer or chaplains’ activities in religious settings.”
In December 2005, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) presented a national petition with 160,000 signatures asking President Bush to protect the constitutional right of U.S. military chaplains to pray according to their faith. Before that, in October, the President was sent a letter signed by nearly 75 members of Congress asking for religious freedom for chaplains.
Focus on the Family Senior Vice President of Government and Public Policy Tom Minnery praised the new guidelines saying, “We applaud these guidelines. If they are applied properly, they will safeguard the free exercise of religion guaranteed to all citizens, both military and civilian.
The new guidelines specifically state that “voluntary participation in worship, prayer, study and discussion is integral to the free exercise of religion.”Â
Minery explained that “The guidelines appropriately caution superiors againstÂmaking (religious) comments that could appear to subordinates to be official policy.” However, with that proviso, the guidelines note that “‘superiors enjoy the same free exercise rights as all other airmen.”
The guidelines also indicate that chaplains will not be forced to participate in religious activities of other religions.“We respect the rights of chaplains to adhere to the tenets of their individual faiths, and they will not be required to participate in religious activities, including public prayer, inconsistent with their faiths,” said General Brady.
“We hope these guidelines will bring an end to the frontal assault on the Air Force by secularists who would make the military a wasteland of relativism, where robust discussion of faith is impossible,” Minery concluded. “That has not been the history of our armed forces, and it should not be their future.”
See the Revised Interim Guidelines online:
https://www.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-060209-003.pdf