To Reaffirm LCMS Military Chaplains’ Right 2 for Free Exercise of Religion in Face of LGBT Inclusion in Armed Forces
RESOLUTION 2-04
President’s Report, Part 2 (TB, p. 21–31)
WHEREAS, The LCMS has a longstanding history of providing pastoral care and counsel through the calling of pastors into the Armed Forces, beginning with Rev. Chaplain Friedrich W. Richmann who was called on April 3, 1862, to serve as chaplain in the Ohio Regiment during the Civil War; and
WHEREAS, For the past 154 years, the LCMS has continued to provide the Armed Forces with qualified, called clergymen to serve all servicemen, servicewomen, spouses, and children during wartime and peace; and
WHEREAS, The LCMS has defined military chaplains as missionaries to this unique community who have a distinctive culture and customs; and
WHEREAS, Christ prays to His heavenly Father, “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:15–16); and
WHEREAS, The Department of Defense and the Armed Forces recognizes that all military chaplains, as service members, are guaranteed the right to express their sincerely held religious and moral beliefs in accordance with section 533 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 (Public Law 112-239) as amended by section 532 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 113-66); and
WHEREAS, LCMS military chaplains are never forced to preach, teach, or act contrary to their conscience and confession of faith; and
WHEREAS, Recent Department of Defense and Armed Forces policies and procedures promoting LGBT rights, recognition, and celebration have the potential for placing LCMS chaplains into situations in which they could be asked to compromise their own preaching and teaching or even act contrary to their confession of faith; therefore be it
Resolved, That the Synod in convention give thanks to God for the calling of LCMS clergy into the Armed Forces; and be it further
Resolved, That the Synod in convention reaffirm her willingness to continue to call able bodied clergy within the Chaplain Corps to act as faithful missionaries to the men, women, and children of the Armed Forces; and be it further
Resolved, That the Synod in convention support section 533 of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 (Public Law 112-239) as amended by section 532 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 (Public Law 113-66) that no member of the Armed Forces may
1. require a chaplain to perform any rite, ritual, or ceremony that is contrary to the conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the chaplain; or 2. discriminate or take any adverse personnel action against a chaplain, including denial of promotion, schooling, training, or assignment, on the basis of the refusal by the chaplain to comply with a prohibited requirement;
and be it finally
Resolved, That this 2016 LCMS convention re-affirm the Synod’s stance against the espousing or promoting of LGBT matters so that chaplains might be free either to “perform or provide” pastoral care to all servicemen, servicewomen, and children in accordance with their own religious and moral beliefs and in accordance with the publicly stated doctrinal positions of The Lutheran Church—1 Missouri Synod.