Expunging Christ from our lives: Virginia state police chaplains told Jesus is off-limits
By JR Hoeft | Thursday, September 25th, 2008 | Policy
The latest assault on Christianity and the ability of human beings to profess their faith publicly comes from the state police.
Earlier this month, Col. W. Steven Flaherty, the State Police superintendent, made a decision that is supported by the governor that state police chaplains will no longer be able to mention Christ in their public prayers.
This prompted harsh criticism from Republicans, most notably House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith who issued this release:
Kaine Administration prohibits State Police chaplains from mentioning Jesus Christ
Chaplains step down over Administration directive
House Republicans decry “misguided” action by Kaine Administration
Richmond, Virginia, 24 September 2008: Several State Police troopers who serve as chaplains for the Department have resigned those duties over a Kaine Administration directive prohibiting the troopers from referencing Jesus Christ in public prayers. The instruction to halt references to Christ was delivered by State Police Colonel W. Steven Flaherty to the chaplains at a meeting earlier this month.
“With one misguided action, the Kaine Administration has put the chaplains in an impossible position,” noted House Majority Leader H. Morgan Griffith (R-Salem). “When troopers take on the added responsibility of serving as chaplains, they reinforce their commitment to serve the public. To then require those troopers to disregard their own faith while serving violates their First Amendment rights and prevents them from serving effectively as chaplains. These men had little choice but to resign.”
Delegate Charles W. “Bill” Carrico, Sr. (R-Grayson), a former state trooper, has been leading an effort to get the Virginia State Police to reverse its decision. He is currently preparing legislation to overturn the action.
“Colonel Flaherty needs to abandon this attack on Christianity,” declared Delegate Carrico. “This decision wasn’t based on any complaints about the chaplains, because I’ve been told there haven’t been any. It aggravates me when public servants act unilaterally out of a supposed fear of getting a complaint, instead of actually having to deal with one. That ‘fear’ is being used by the Administration to justify a decision made in the name of political correctness. Instead, all they’ve achieved is another needless attack on faith, free religious expression, Christianity, and the First Amendment.”
Delegate Carrico, who has been contacted by many of his former colleagues in the Virginia State Police since the directive was issued, is now preparing a website and online petition to garner public support for the chaplains. The website, www.injesusnameipray.com, will be released this week. It includes details about the situation and an online petition calling on Governor Timothy M. Kaine to reverse the decision.
“For those of us who understand the importance of religion in American life and value the free expression of religion as one of our essential rights, the Kaine Administration’s directive is disappointing and disheartening,” Delegate Griffith remarked. “In January, House Republicans will work to right this situation, and we believe we’ll get bipartisan support for our legislation. But because of the Administration, damage has already been done to these chaplains and to free religious expression.”
“Gov. Kaine is a man of faith and has dedicated his life to that service,” Gordon Hickey, a spokesman for the governor, said in response to the criticism.
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About the author
Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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15 Responses to "Expunging Christ from our lives: Virginia state police chaplains told Jesus is off-limits"
JR,
I have to look at these Police Chaplains the same way I do Military Chaplains.
At military fuctions, during the benidictions, I politely bow my head with the rest, because 99% of the times our military Chaplains keep their invocations non-donominational. And I respect that.
As a non Christian, I would be very offended if I were required to stand at attention during an offical ceremony and listen to Chaplain invoke the name of Christ as our Savior.
Because that would mean that the followers of Christ are more important to the military than those of us who follow another path to God.
Sorry JR, but if today’s Christians feel that not being able to invoke Christ’s name during an offical police function, or even at the work place, is an assault on Christianity then life must be pretty good for you.
I’m sure Jesus would have been thrilled with right to worship in private, or to establish and build Churches and assemble with like minded Christians.
I don’t think he would have had a problem seperating worship from work.
Am I wrong?
Well said, Frenchy.
Frenchy,
You’d have a hard time supporting that last assertion based on anything spoken by the Jesus of history.
I’m not personally offended by prayers from an Imam, rabbi, or person of another faith that don’t invoke Jesus Christ but if I were a chaplain who was a Christian, I could not abide being told that I could not express my faith in my role as chaplain.
Faith is not a generic. It is faith in a God, a particular God, to whom the chaplain (or other believer) is praying. Strip it of it’s object and faith becomes sophistry, a mockery, a pretense. That is what the Kaine administration is asking of police chaplains.
So, while some want a public square devoid of faith, many of us prefer a public square in which people of all faiths are free to live their beliefs in public and private. That was the vision of most of our nation’s founders (who were not all orthodox Christians). It worked then and it could work even better now. I can (and have) been respectful during the prayer of an imam and I’m not Muslim. If a chaplain prays in Jesus name, is it too much to ask others to be respectful?
Every country that has deprived people of faith of their liberty has begun by asking them to relegate their worship to their private life. Jews in Germany could continue to celebrate their holy days – at first – as long as no one knew they were doing so. Ancient Christians were not persecuted, at first, so long as they kept a low public profile and did not speak of their faith. In China today, the primary demand of the government is that worshippers attend state sanctioned churches or none at all — to make it public that you worship according to your conscience is to risk job loss, imprisonment, or worse (whether you are Christian, Buddhist, or Falun Gong).
To ask believers to keep their faith to themselves while secularists are free to advertise their lack of belief in the marketplace is to deny believers fundamental human rights to speak, to follow their conscience, to worship. And it does no good to say that the chaplains should be silenced because they are paid by taxpayers. Receiving a government salary should never abridge your constitutional – and fundamental – human rights. The state should not refuse to hire someone as a chaplain based on their religious beliefs (be they of any or no faith) but neither should the state deny to their chaplains the free exercise of those beliefs.
Am I wrong?
Prayer is fine as long as we don’t mention God? Are they serious?
The country where “Give me liberty or give me death” was spoken in a church? The country where the founders held church services in government buildings?
What’s next? Change the Declaration of Independence to “Endowed by some non-denominational concept” ?
DHC,
I guess it depends on what those Chaplains are employed to do. If they were hired in the same function as in the military, then no, they don’t have the freedom of speech.
Military members sure don’t when wearing our uniforms.
Military Chaplains come in all denominations, Christian, Chatholic, Jewish, Muslim, etc… And they provide services for each of those denomintions and are free to speak the word of god as they believe it.
But while conducting official functions of a non-religious nature, they limit their remarks to a general blessing for all, not promoting one religion over another.
Do you find that such an unreasonable compromise?
“To ask believers to keep their faith to themselves while secularists are free to advertise their lack of belief in the marketplace is to deny believers fundamental human rights to speak, to follow their conscience, to worship.”
No one is asking them to keep their beliefs to themselves (I love the opportunity to have heated debates on the reality of God
and judging from the numerous religious programming I see on television and the number of churches I see accross the country I think that a number of religions have their fair share of the market place (Organized religion is a mulit-billion dollar industry).
Once again, I really don’t know in what capacity they were hired. Until that’s answered we could go at this all night (I’m sitting in a hotel room and I’ve got nothing else to do, so…. sweet).
Brian, your right. It does say “so help me God.”
It just doesn’t say what God.
“Do you find that such an unreasonable compromise?”
I think government shouldn’t be telling anyone how they can pray.
Separation of church and state, right? That means the Governor is trampling on ground he shouldn’t be.
So, if the local police chief was a Satanist and he hired a Satanist Chaplain to conduct “worship” during official functions, we’d still be having this conversation?
Like I said at the beginning of this post, I don’t mind a general “blessing” while performing my duties.
But the minute some religious expert, who achieved his position by getting a degree at a seminary school, starts telling me that I’m going to hell until I join his club, I’m going to exercise my freedom of speach, and disrupt that offical function very loudly, with a lot of profanity.
Which is why, everyone’s free to attend the Church of their choice, just don’t subject it on people who aren’t interested or believe otherwise while the are working.
Until some atheist sues and appointed judges erase everyone else’s rights that have existed throughout this nation’s history.
[...] “blasting” Gov. Tim Kaine for the policy. I found a copy of the press release here. “With one misguided action, the Kaine Administration has put the chaplains in an impossible [...]
The bill of rights was put in as a recognition of our basic God given rights. Some people didn’t even feel it necessary to put them in the constitution, because they were recognized as the rights of free men and some didn’t want to be giving the impression that those rights were granted to us by government. Hearing the arguments against putting the bill of rights into the constitution would provide valuable insight into whether or not government should be doing anything at all to limit “the free exercise thereof.” This should, in my opinion be brought to the supreme court.
What i find so incredible is that in all the talk that is thrown at us regarding “tolerance,” there is no provision made for Christ. This country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, sorry if that offends you. The fact is, there is one God. Only one God, and our rights are derived from our position as creatures of God, “endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights.” This loud MINORITY that is clamoring for God and Christ to be removed from public life is akin to a man who, riding a bus at full capacity, wants to remove the steering wheel because it doesn’t suit him. What I mean is that when God is removed from the picture of American life, where then will our rights come from? Government. This is what is happening today! And since the government has no ability to impart rights to man, all they can do is take rights away from man. Man derives his dignity, and his rights from a sovereign God. America will soon see what it is to live a life without God. Christ is true, even if all men are liars!
You do realize that the phrase endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights was written and conceived by a man who did not believe in the divinity of Jesus? God obviously yes, but not Christ. Like him, there are a good many people in this world and this nation who have no qualms believing in one but not the other. Like, oh, those folks represented by the Judeo part of Judeo-Christian. Remember them?
I pray in “JESUS” name for a Governor that cares about our State Troopers and our children in Virginia. These are Chaplins in Virginia! Whose name should they pray in? I pray “In Jesus’ Name” when I pray for the Governor and for our police officers, our police officers and our secret sevice that protect this Country. I pray “In Jesus’ Name” for the United States of America and I want our Chaplains to be able to do the same!Don’t take this right away. We are a nation “Under God”.
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