The Navy’s plan to allow chaplains to perform same-sex marriages in military chapels has led to opposition.
Last week, Family Research Council (FRC) president Tony Perkins tweeted, “Hearing Navy chaplains are now being trained to perform same sex weddings following [Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT)] changes. Major religious liberty implications.” Later, Perkins reported on the FRC website that the Navy had “jumped ship on DOMA.”
This week, in the final installment of our Meditation Monday devotions for 2023, Heather explains why Christmas is an appropriate time to be finishing this series.
“Biblically speaking, there are 400 years of silence between the book of Malachi, which closes out the prophetic ministry of the Old Testament, and the words the angel spoke to Zachariah, who would be the father of John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus. Christmas is a reminder of the fulfillment of all the promises that happened despite that 400 years of silence.”
Though we now have the benefit of seeing God’s faithfulness on the other side of those 400 years of silence, it is challenging–often exasperatingly so–to have to wait on the fulfillment of God’s promises in real time. How do we maintain our faith in the midst of deafening silence? How do we keep following God when it’s not clear where he’s leading us?
Heather continues: “In the first chapter of John’s Gospel, when the disciples are approached by Jesus, they say to him, ‘Rabbi, where are we going?’ Come, he replies, and you will see. I think of this often. Even the disciples who walked with Jesus in the flesh often didn't know where they were going. Apparently, that is what it means to follow Jesus.”
Listen to Heather’s thought-provoking message right now. And if it encourages you, please share it with others.
Host Bio
Heather Thompson Day is an associate professor of communication at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. She is the author of eight books, including I’ll See You Tomorrow and It’s Not Your Turn. Reach out to Heather on X, the app formerly known as Twitter at @HeatherTDay and on Instagram @heatherthompsonday. Get Heather’s weekly inspirational email delivered to your inbox every Friday night at 7 PM EST. Sign up now at: www.heatherthompsonday.com/links.
The memo to Navy chaplains posted on the FRC website states that chaplains are not being trained on how to conduct marriages, nor will they be forced to conduct weddings. Instead, the training on DADT now allows chaplains to conduct same-sex weddings if the chaplain serves in a state where same-sex marriages are legal. In addition, military facilities (that allow weddings on base) must be open to same-sex weddings.
“Call it what you will, but that’s not a change to ‘training’–that’s a circumvention of U.S. law,” said FRC’s Perkins.
Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) and 62 other Members of Congress also object to the new policy. They sent a letter to the Secretary of the Navy accusing the Navy of violating federal law.
“We find it difficult to understand how the military is somehow exempt from abiding by federal law. Not only does this document imply recognition and support of same-sex marriage in opposition to DOMA, it also implies that the Navy will now perform these marriages so long as they do not violate state statutes,” Akin wrote.
The Navy has responded by saying that the new policy does not violate DOMA. Defense Department spokeswoman Eileen Lainez sent an e-mail stating that DOMA only defines federal marriage; it does not make any policy regarding religious ceremonies, which would include weddings.
“DOMA does not limit the type of religious ceremonies a chaplain may perform in a chapel on a military installation,” Lainez said, according to the Navy Times. “Chaplains are authorized to perform religious ceremonies consistent with the practices of the chaplain’s faith group in chapels on military installations.”
In training for changes in DADT, chaplains are being told that they are not being asked to compromise their beliefs or practices because of DADT. “Chaplains who preach at base chapels that homosexuality is a sin are entitled to express their beliefs during worship,” the Associated Press reports. Col. Matthew Goff, a Southern Baptist Convention army chaplain, recently told CBN that the SBC is encouraging its chaplains to stay in the military.
“[Chaplains] are a protected group among all other soldiers, if you will, and there’s really no pressure point to make us violate who we are how we understand Scripture to be and the practice of that in our own lives,” Goff said. “Once we’re in a chapel setting and I’m the chaplain in charge, we’re free to preach as God leads us to preach.”
Update (5/11): The Washington Postreports that the Navy is reversing course.
The Navy is revoking guidance to its chaplains about conducting same-sex marriages at military chapels following an uproar by Republican lawmakers and social conservatives claiming the move would violate a law prohibiting federal recognition of gay marriage.
Despite the decision, military officials said Tuesday night that the Defense Department may still eventually permit gay troops to use military chapels in states that recognize homosexual marriages for same-sex weddings after President Obama lifts the ban on openly gay service members known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
