Virginia ban on state troopers mentioning Jesus Christ in public prayers

[Ira (Chip) Lupu]

Chaplains speaking at public events are not ministering to the particular religious needs of state troopers (in that private context, chaplains can pray in ways that accommodate and facilitate the beliefs of those to whom they are ministering).  At public events, open to all (and sometimes mandatory) chaplains are the voices of the state, and should be limited to ceremonial, non-sectarian prayer. 

Bob Tuttle and I discuss this question in our paper on the military chaplaincy, 110 W. Va. L. Rev. 89, 148-159 (2007).

There is lurking here a prior question of whether the government should be free to appoint chaplains in the first place for police officers, firefighters, or public employees generally (as Indiana recently did, only to back down in the face of a lawsuit).  Police officers and firefighters, unlike prisoners and members of the armed forces, are not under the care and control of the government.  Why is government ministering to police officers and firefighters, who are free to seek their own private, spiritual counsel?


---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:21:42 -0500
>From: "Christopher Lund" <Lund at mc.edu>  
>Subject: Re: Virginia ban on state troopers mentioning Jesus Christ in public prayers  
>To: <religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu>
>
>   A necessary travesty?  More proof that religious
>   liberty and legislative prayer are like Harry Potter
>   and Voldemort - neither can live while the other
>   survives?
>   Best,
>   Chris
>    
>   ______________________
>   Christopher C. Lund
>   Assistant Professor of Law
>   Mississippi College School of Law
>   151 E. Griffith St.
>   Jackson, MS  39201
>   (601) 925-7141 (office)
>   (601) 925-7113 (fax)
>   Papers:
>   http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=363402
>   >>> stevenjamar at gmail.com 9/26/2008 10:08 AM >>>
>   Thoughts?
>
>   http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/24/AR2008092403471.html?hpid=sec-religion
>
>   --
>   Prof. Steven Jamar
>   Howard University School of Law
>   Associate Director, Institute of Intellectual
>   Property and Social Justice (IIPSJ) Inc.
>________________
>_______________________________________________
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Ira C. Lupu
F. Elwood & Eleanor Davis Professor of Law
George Washington University Law School
2000 H St., NW 
Washington, DC 20052
(202)994-7053