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Originally Posted by UGAalum94
Maybe, maybe not. Simply because you assume certain employment doesn't really mean that you give your all your rights. I think people who work for the government have to be careful obviously because they run the risk of making it seem that the government has established a particular religion, but the flip side of the 1st amendment is that the government cannot make laws to restrict the free exercise of religion either.
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I think military chaplains pose a particular challenge, a very fine line to walk.
Yes, they are military officers, but their job is not to act for the military
per se, it's to serve the members of the military. The theory involved is not that the military (government) needs the chaplains, nor that the government is supporting any particular religion, but rather that the government has an obligation to those in its service -- especially those in combat situations or otherwise away from home -- to make sure that spiritual needs are met, just as it must make sure that other needs are met.
As you say, the Free Exercise Clause can come into play. Do we really want the government telling members of the clergy what can and can't be said in the context of religious services of worship or in the context of something like religious counseling?
I'm not suggestion that Drolefille hasn't raised some very serious and valid concerns. But if the current problem is one of sometimes coming to close to establishment, or apparent establishment, the cure is not for the pendulum to swing too far the other way and infringe on Free Exercise rights. The cure is to deal with the underlying military culture, to make an effort to ensure that all military personal who want the services of a chaplain have such services available from a chaplain they can be comfortable with and to ensure that military life is not structured in such a way as to effectively penalize anyone for their choices regarding chaplains and religious life.
I know there are challenges there -- there aren't enough chaplains to begin with, much less enough from the various traditions represented in the military. (Though many chaplains I have known of have been very aware of their obligations to those outside their own traditions and have tried very hard to be respectful to those outside their own traditions.) But that, I think, is where the answer has to be, not in telling chaplains what they can and can't talk about.