George Washington founded the Army Chaplain Corps 250 years ago because he knew it was wrong to ask his troops to give the ultimate sacrifice while depriving them of the religious support they needed. Recently, War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced renewed attention to the Chaplain Corps, giving the Trump administration and Congress an opportunity to reinforce its strength for the next 250 years.
The Justice Department, through the Religious Liberty Commission, has already taken a first step in a similar direction, recently holding a hearing on religious liberty in the military. I was honored to be invited to outline for the commission what military chaplains do and how their role is supported by the Constitution and federal law. As Hegseth and senior military leadership take a closer look at this matter, there are several structural and legal principles they should keep in mind.
First, the chaplaincy is necessary to fulfill the government’s constitutional duty of respecting the religious freedom of our men and women in uniform. Religious liberty is core to what makes America a great nation. In the context of military service, the First Amendment’s promise creates an additional duty to provide for religious exercise.
That’s because those who answer the call to defend our nation leave their families and faith communities to be deployed to new and foreign places. They are asked to take on challenging, stressful, and grueling duties far from the support structures the rest of us take for granted. And that’s why the chaplaincy exists: to bring God to soldiers on the front lines, where no one else can. We can not ask them to give up their religious liberties that they are defending for the nation.
Second, the role of a chaplain is inherently religious. Of course, the government is not qualified to decide what makes a good Catholic priest, baptist pastor, Jewish rabbi, or Muslim imam. Thus, all chaplains are endorsed or certified by their own faith groups, who are best fit to judge their religious qualifications. These chaplains then perform two roles: They are both commissioned officers in the U.S. military and religious leaders. But, at all times, they represent the faith groups that send them to serve.
When chaplains perform their duties, which involve pastoral counseling and leading congregational worship, they do so as pastors, priests, rabbis, or imams of their own faith groups. This means that a chaplain’s counsel is inherently religious and protected by the First Amendment, which places a structural protection around chaplains’ performance of religious duties. Because military chaplains serve members of all faiths, if there is a need that a chaplain cannot meet, he or she provides for that need by connecting the service member with another chaplain or lay leader who can meet it.
Chaplains, along with all service members, are additionally protected by multiple federal statutes, including the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and conscience protections in the National Defense Authorization Act. Collectively, these laws ensure that chaplains are not forced to abandon the very religious beliefs that animate their service.
For example, in the mid-1990s, after former President Bill Clinton vetoed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, the Pentagon issued a gag order forbidding military chaplains of any faith to speak about important moral issues in legislation. It was RFRA that protected the ability of a Catholic priest, Father Vincent Rigdon, and a Jewish rabbi, Rabbi David Kaye, to speak to their congregations about protecting life, ensuring that military orders did not censor sermons.
Third, chaplains are an essential part of advising commanders. Chaplains help commanding officers ensure they meet the military’s legal obligations to provide for troops’ religious exercise. A chaplain can advise, for instance, on the sincerity of a Jewish or Sikh service member’s need for a neat and conservative beard, help commanders understand the importance of providing such accommodations, and help troops navigate the protections and processes in place to provide for this modest and reasonable accommodation. And they can help ensure the military brass does not run roughshod over religious conscience, as federal courts found occurred all too often in the COVID-19 vaccine context.
Chaplains best fulfill this advisory role when they are fully integrated into decision-making processes by the officers they serve. Chaplains are able to help provide advice that both protects the rights of service members and ensures we are able to maintain the best and brightest recruits of the highest moral character.
With all of this in mind, there are several actions Hegseth and Congress should consider to maintain the chaplaincy’s effectiveness. The executive and legislative branches can ensure the role of chaplain remains a fundamentally religious role. Chaplains are pastoral and should not be diluted to something less than that.
The president can support, and Congress can maintain, full application of RFRA to protect religion in the military. More than anywhere else in the federal government, culture matters in the military. Proactive support for RFRA’s consistent application from the highest levels of the secretary’s office will cultivate a culture that protects religious liberty for all.
RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATIONS HELP MAKE OUR MILITARY GREAT
Congress can work with Hegseth to integrate chaplains better as advisers in the chain of command and to implement training for commanding officers, military lawyers, and chaplains on constitutional and statutory protections for religious freedom. And Congress can ensure an adequate number of chaplains and the necessary supporting commissioned and contract staffing are maintained.
Finally, as we celebrate America’s 250th birthday, national leaders can help us remember the sacrificial heroism of military chaplains throughout our history. From the four chaplains on the SS Dorchester, who gave their life vests and lives to save others on a sinking ship, to Chaplain Dale Goetz, who gave his life to serve beside his men in Afghanistan, military chaplains have been the recipients of our nation’s highest honors of valor and sacrifice. They reflect the best of what America has to offer — laying down your life for a higher cause to serve others. We must honor their service and inspire virtue in future generations by telling their stories.
Amy Vitale is a government affairs counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.