Posted on 08/28/2018 7:05:54 PM PDT by markomalley
The military has dropped charges against a United States Army chaplain and his assistant for refusing to conduct a marriage retreat for a lesbian couple.
The women filed a discrimination complaint, which the military investigated.
The investigation led to a report charging Major Scott Squires and Sergeant Kacie Griffin with dereliction of duty.
While a chaplain at Fort Bragg, Squires reportedly told a soldier he was unable to conduct a marriage retreat that included her and her same-sex partner because of the requirements of his church.
Under the army's policies, every United States Army Special Operations Command commander is responsible for “promoting equal opportunity, diversity and inclusion in an environment free from harassment or unlawful discrimination.”
“Every soldier is entitled to equality and fair treatment regardless of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, sex, or sexual orientation,” said Loren Bymer, a spokesperson for U.S. Army Special Operations Command. “We expect our commanders to promote equal opportunity, diversity and inclusion in an environment free from harassment or unlawful discrimination.”
A guilty verdict could have resulted in up to six months in a military prison.
But First Liberty Institute, a non-profit specializing in First Amendment and religious freedom cases, decided to intervene and was successful in getting the charges dropped.
“We are grateful that the army has rejected and abandoned these baseless charges,” said Mike Berry, deputy general counsel and director of military affairs at First Liberty. “The United States military is no place for anti-religious hostility against its own military chaplains. Chaplains like Scott Squires and his assistant Kacie Griffin do not have to give up their First Amendment rights in order to serve their fellow soldiers.”
The basis of the discrimination complaint was reportedly that Squires quickly rescheduled a marriage retreat the lesbian couple was planning to attend.
Squires’ lawyer argued the military chaplain had little choice but to take that course of action. His endorsing agency is the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, which prevents its chaplains from facilitating same-sex “marriages.”
The Department of Defense's own regulations require chaplains to adhere to their endorsers’ rules and religious tenets.
“I look forward to being able to focus on continuing my career serving my fellow soldiers,” said Squires. “I am eternally grateful to First Liberty for...fighting to restore my religious liberty.”
A little bit of SANITY returns. Hopefully there will be more.
Haven’t read the whole piece (lazy,I guess) but I wonder what will become of the career of the chaplain and his assistant.
So... much... winning...
Thank God! And thank our President, Vice President, and others in this administration who pray and hold Bible studies...
Good.
Mentally disturbed lesbian lose. They will likely suicide soon.
Maybe the Army decided they didn’t want all the bad press, and backed off.
Of course, if the guy was a Methodist pastor, there would be a 50/50 chance that he would have defied the present text of the United Methodist Church's Book of Discipline.
All the Army personnel involbed in any aspect of making this charge need a general discharge...
Whoever authorized the initial prosecution (read persecution) of the chaplain should be court-martialed and sent to Leavenworth to produce very small pieces of gravel from very big boulders.
The transgenderizing of our military is probably the most damaging lasting effect of the Kenyanesian Usurpation.
Never give in to the dark side. Marriage is between one man and one woman. Period. That will never change in the eyes of God.
He should put in for retirement. His career is toast.
As a former (and disgusted) Methodist—I saw that their Marxist international policy positions would soon infect domestic policy.
Ran as fast as I could two decades ago from that madness.
Most Methodists did not, and now many or most small churches (and large I suppose) are overrun with leftist spouting lesbians as leaders. Whooeee.
He’s a Major and will very likely be promoted to LTC upon the recommendation of his sponsoring denomination, a new unbiased commander, and Congress critters looking out for him.Those who might want to deny him a deserved promotion would not likely get promoted, either.
In other words, he was commanded to put a square peg in a round hole.
On the exact date that marriage was undefined by the USSC in June 2015, a United Methodist Church in my city held its final service. Actually, they’ve all gone “out of business” but just don’t know it yet. (Yes, it was a woman “pastor.”)
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