At a time when the noon-day prayer at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis is threatened by radical organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU,) religious freedom for American military chaplains is also threatened, especially those chaplains who pray in the name of Jesus.
Throughout the centuries-old history of the United States Naval Academy, prayer has been allowed before the noon meal in the midshipmen's dining hall. Now the ACLU is threatening that tradition by bullying the naval academy into stopping those prayers and threatening a lawsuit against the academy if such prayers are not stopped.
At the same time, other atheists are continuing to try to snuff out the religious freedom of military chaplains who pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Congressman Walter Jones, R-NC, with the help of two other religious freedom champions, Congressman Chris Smith, R-NJ, and Congressman Ron Paul, R-TX, are pushing Congressman Jones' bill, H.R. 6514, to ensure the constitutional rights of military chaplains to be able to pray-- however they want -- including in the name of Jesus.
In John McCaslin's "Inside the Beltway" of the "Washington Times" last week, Congressman Jones was quoted saying: "For Christian chaplains, closing their prayers in the name of Jesus Christ is a fundamental part of their beliefs, and to suppress this form of expression would violate their religious freedom. The demand for so-called 'nonsectarian' prayer is merely a euphemism declaring that prayers will be acceptable only so long as they censor Christian beliefs."
It is time for Americans to get behind these Members of Congress and pass legislation ensuring the constitutional rights of midshipmen at Annapolis and chaplains in the United States military, and to make sure that the federal judiciary does not interfere with these First Amendment rights.