I respectfully disagree. He's in the military and he's obligated to follow orders. We can't have thousands of soldiers disobeying superiors whenever they feel like it.
He's a idiot. He has no right to make a political speech while wearing the uniform of the United States Navy. He was publicly protesting the rule that Chaplains are not allowed to give "denominational" prayers in public in uniform and he wore his uniform while protesting that rule in public and then deliberatly broke that rule when he offered a public prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.
That rule may be stupid, but nevertheless it is on the books and as a paid Chaplain in the Navy, he is subject to it. He has no right to wear a uniform while publicly protesting that rule. And pursuant to that rule he cannot offer a public prayer in Jesus' name while wearing his uniform, which he did.
This guy may ultimately lose his pension over this issue. If he has a family, then he is being a poor steward of that which God has entrusted him. Ultimately that uniform is going to be taken away from him. At that point he would be free to protest and pray in Jesus name all he wants. He might want to offer up a prayer for a new job, cause he's decided he's going to throw this one in the trash.
What irritates me most about all this is that our "born again" president as Commander in Chief of all military and naval services could restore the Christian chaplains' right to pray in Jesus' name with just an order to the Chiefs of Staff. Unless I miss my guess by a country mile, the "no Jesus name" policy was not the result of an injunction from some anti-Christian civilian judge. I would bet dollars to donuts that it was simply an order issued by politically correct Pentagon brasshats, and Bush could countermand that order if he wanted to. If Muslim chaplains were ordered not to pray to Allah, you can bet the farm that Bush would use his authority to make sure that the order was rescinded before the ink dried.
Why is it that of all religions practiced in the US today only Christians are treated like 2nd class citizens, or in this case 2nd class soldiers, Marines, airmen, and sailors? Would George Washington have ordered his chaplains not to pray in Jesus' name at Valley Forge just because a few pagan Indians in the Continental Army might take offense? Would Lincoln or Lee have ordered that only innocuous generic prayers be offered by chaplains before the fighting began at Gettysburg just because a handful of Union or Confederate soldiers might be atheists? I don't think so.