Top Navy JAG Judge rules Chaplain "properly punished" for sermon in optionally-attended chapel

Wed Jun 28 14:42:08 PDT 2006

The full text of the optionally-attended sermon in the base chapel (transcribed verbatim from the video) for which the chaplain was punished is here:  
  http://persuade.tv/againstgoliath/AppendixHSermonThatGotChapsFired.pdf

  The last few paragraphs of the sermon are "too controversial" because they quote John 3:36 which states "If anyone believes in the Son, he has eternal life.  If anyone does not believe in the Son, he does not have eternal life, for God's wrath remains upon him."  

  While I can't provide a link to the full ruling, I confirm this portion is accurate, and the rest wasn't substantive to the judge's argument, it only restated the chaplain's complaint...

  Can anybody comment on this portion, at least, of the judge's ruling?

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  In the ruling, Ruehe argued: 
    "In all the material Lieutenant Klingenschmitt has submitted as part of this complaint 
 he has not submitted any document that establishes he was required by his church to preach, on that occasion, the particular message he did. Presumably, if his bishop requires him to preach all the Gospels, and he's not required to deliver that particular message on that particular occasion, he was free to choose to deliver a message at the memorial service that, while being true to his own beliefs, could also have commanded the assent of the vast majority of his audience. Nevertheless, Lieutenant Klingenschmitt chose to deliver a message he knew to be, by his own description, "exclusive."  Klingenschmitt says this is proof Ruehe affirmed Carr for punishing him because of certain Bible verses he quoted during a voluntary service.       The chaplain also points out he, in fact, submitted to Ruehe a letter from his church expressing its' "grave concern" regarding Carr's
 "well-documented improprieties" toward "one of our priests."       "Our agreement with the Navy, and our understanding of the Navy's agreement with us, is that when we endorse our priest to serve in the military that they will be permitted to conduct public worship according to the manner and forms of the Evangelical Episcopal Church, and provide for the free exercise of religion for service members of diverse religious traditions," wrote Emily A. Grider, the Colorado Springs-based church's registrar.                    

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