Threat to Religious Liberty By Repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell - Archbishop of the Military Quoted

As this very well done Get Religion piece notes thank God for the Baptists. Because they are the only religious media raising the real issues here involved with Military Chaplains and the possible repeal of the Don't Ask Don't Tell. See Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t cover.

It is not as if a important Catholic Church does not have a position. That position was stated by the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of the Military which is quoted:


There is no easy way out of this church-state maze.
If “don’t ask, don’t tell” is repealed, “no restrictions or limitations on the teaching of Catholic morality can be accepted,” noted Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for Military Services. While Catholic chaplains must always show compassion, they “can never condone — even silently — homosexual behavior.”
A letter from Metropolitan Jonah of the Orthodox Church in America to the chaplains board was even more blunt: “If our chaplains were in any way … prohibited from denouncing such behavior as sinful and self-destructive, it would create an impediment to their service in the military. If such an attitude were regarded as ‘prejudice’ or the denunciation of homosexuality as ‘hate language,’ or the like, we would be forced to pull out our chaplains from military service.”
So be it, said Gundlach. While these chaplains “worry about being discriminated against, they openly discriminate against some of the very people they are pledged to serve and serve with. If the hate speech currently uttered by some conservative chaplains and their denominations is any indication of how they will respond in the future, we can expect this discrimination to continue.”
These chaplains need to resign, he said. The armed services “will be the better for it.”

Exactly the issues are complex and yet no one is aware of the HUGE POTENTIAL CONFLICT LOOMING. It seems this needs to be part of the discussion.

Get Religion notes:
And what happens if the conservatives are right and that any advocacy of traditional doctrines by chaplains is labeled “hate speech,” with offenders either being punished or simply denied the ability to advance in rank? If you read the views of theological liberals, there will be no problems after repeal, unless there are problems. No one is talking about “hate speech,” except for those who believe that conservatives are already guilty of “hate speech.”

Exactly!! So in other words one might he hesitant to take the words of theological liberals that say hey there will be no problem but at the same time in other venues calling this hate speech.

This needs to be looked at by Catholics. IF there is a repeal there must be some ironclad protections in protecting Lay and Cleric Catholic in the ranks.