This was in today’s Northern Virginia Daily. This is a sad day in the Commonwealth of Virginia…
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Chaplains resign from duties in protest of order
Public prayers to Jesus prohibited
By Garren Shipley — Daily Staff Writer
Six of 17 Virginia State Police chaplains have resigned their clerical duties in protest of a directive effectively forbidding them from invoking the name of Jesus during prayers at public events.
The half-dozen troopers, who perform their chaplain’s duties in addition to being sworn law enforcement officers, resigned following an order from Superintendent Col. Steven Flaherty requiring chaplains to offer only nonsectarian prayers at public events.
Flaherty cited a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit earlier this year, in which the court upheld restrictions on sectarian prayer the Fredericksburg City Council placed on its own members for invocations.
“The Colonel respects those chaplains whose convictions and beliefs are in conflict with his request, and is affording those Department chaplains the opportunity to decline participation at Department-sanctioned, public events,” Flaherty wrote.
But the rule doesn’t cover chaplains during private ceremonies or meetings, such as funerals or counseling sessions with colleagues or families, he added.
House Majority Leader Del. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, laid the resignation at the desk of Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.
“With one misguided action, the Kaine administration has put the chaplains in an impossible position,” Griffith wrote in an e-mail to reporters.
“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,” Griffith wrote. “These men had little choice but to resign.”
“To adopt that policy is a disappointing break with tradition,” said Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, who had been in communication with both groups in recent weeks over the issue.
While Obenshain said he hadn’t seen the specific order banning sectarian prayer, the Fredericksburg case would apparently have little impact on chaplains’ prayers.
“It was clear to me that absent a state police policy that there was no First Amendment prohibition against state police chaplains engaging in that,” said Obenshain, whose district includes Shenandoah and Warren counties.
The decision to move to nonsectarian prayers was made by Flaherty alone, according to Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey, but “Gov. Kaine does support it.”
“Gov. Kaine is a man of faith and has dedicated his life to that service. It’s disappointing that Del. Griffith would make such a a political attack on Gov. Kaine’s faith,” Hickey said.
Del. Bill Carrico, R-Independence, a former state trooper, said the policy amounted to no less than “an attack on Christianity.”
“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,” Carrico said.
* Contact Garren Shipley at gshipley@nvdaily.com61
Tags: Prayer, Virginia
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Hudson Taylor was a Baptist missionary to China in the 19th Century. He founded the China Inland Mission. His life is a testimony to perseverance, faithfulness and devotion to God.
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