Lawmakers Back Navy Chaplain Facing Discharge
A chaplain in trouble with the Navy for his Bible-based views is getting some help from on high.
Lt. Commander Wes Modder, a chaplain at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Goose Creek, South Carolina, is waiting for a potentially career-crushing decision from military officials.
According to The Christian Post, Modder faces possible discharge and the loss of his military retirment.
Modder's lawyer said several sailors complained about what the former Navy SEALs chaplain to the told them in private counseling sessions.
His alleged misdeeds include saying that homosexuality was wrong and premarital sex was shameful.
Those views fall well within the teachings of Modder's Assemblies of God denomination.
Now 35 lawmakers have sent the Navy a letter pointing out the U.S. Congress passed concrete protections for service members' and chaplains' free exercise of religion.
"Chaplains in the military must be allowed to fully and freely represent in word and in deed the faith communities that have endorsed them," the letter read. "Chaplain Modder should be free to counsel according to his biblical faith on the issues of sexuality, morality, and any other issue."
Michael Berry, an attorney with the Liberty Institute, described the letter as an "almost a veiled chiding by the members of Congress saying, 'We meant what we said when we said that we want you to protect religious freedom for our service members.'"
Berry points out that before these accusations, past commanders praised Modder, calling him a "national asset" and "best of the best" when it came to Navy chaplains.
***CBN News will talk exclusively with Chaplain Modder later this month.
