never been there

You think the military really wants Quakers and Mennonites wandering onto the bases offering spritual guidance? Better to fork over the cash and hire a chaplain or two.

fragmentsofdreams

I would say the percentage of civilians is irrelevant. What is important is the number of military personel. If the military deams that the military population is significant enough to require a chaplin, how would adding additional civilians affect this requirement?

ohwilleke

I think this is very relevant. There is no longer a compelling governmental interest in providing chaplins here, as there is in another military situation (e.g. a ship or an airborne division). I also think that an equal protection argument (i.e. they get government funded chaplins while we don't) isn't very strong. Nor do I think that the "rational basis" argument (i.e. its too much trouble to figure out where we are and are not allowed to have chaplins once we decide to have them somewhere) is particularly strong.

This said, it would still be a difficult case. Standing, the usual culprit, is particularly difficult, since the real harm is that the chaplins are paid by the treasury, and not that other people on the base are exposed to them. (If the base were to allow a certain amount of office space to be rented to private parties, and some of those parties were self-funded preachers, I think it is pretty clear that this wouldn't be a constitutional violation of the establishment clause). Thus, it is basically a taxpayer standing case. Still, it might be worth raising with someone like the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which specializes in this kind of suit. (I doubt that even the ACLU would touch it).

AdamWho

ohwilleke

My thought is just to talk to the guy and explain my concerns to him. Chances are he will be very understanding.

However, it wasn't the Chaplain that caused me to start taking notice...

About 6 months ago, someone left a MAXIM (racy mens magazine) in the breakroom of work. Well, the management got all flustered about potential charges of sexual harrassment and sent out an email strongly condeming the magazine.
I responded to the email stating the some people might find the religious pamphlets equally or more offensive then MAXIM.

The letter was forwarded on to HR and I never heard back. However, I started getting treated like a common criminal by the HR person. She was hostile, accused me of unprofessionalism, complained about me to me supervisor and even went so far as to tell me how big and tough her husband was.

I was shocked because I have had little interaction with this woman before and I believe that the note about the religious pamphlets started the whole mess.

Luckily I found a much better job somewhere else but I was thinking about giving one last push before I leave.

andy_d

Er, it's a military base, right? They run the show according to their rules.

AdamWho

andy_d

Yes it is a military base and they do run the show. However, there are military rules and then there are civilian rules. This whole tread is concerned with the gray area in between.