Mikey Weinstein makes another appearance.
Via Army Times:
An Army chaplain is fighting back against an investigator’s recommendation that he should be disciplined after refusing to facilitate a marriage retreat that includes same-sex couples.
Earlier this year, Army Maj. Scott Squires was serving as a chaplain at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. There, he told a soldier he was unable to conduct a marriage retreat that included the soldier and the soldier’s same-sex partner due to his church’s restrictions.
An Army investigator later concluded Squires discriminated against the service member.
But Squires was following the requirements of his chaplain endorsing agency, the North American Mission Board (NAMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention, according to Mike Berry, an attorney at First Liberty Institute, the religious liberties group representing Squires in his appeal.
First Liberty sent a letter to the Army urging it to reverse the investigator’s decision.
Chaplain Squires is a Southern Baptist chaplain, so he has to follow the teachings of the Southern Baptist Convention,” Berry said. “NAMB, just like many other endorsing organizations, prohibits their chaplains from facilitating or providing religious services that include same sex couples, such as a marriage retreat like this.”
Berry argued that Squires followed his Army training by providing an alternative for the soldier. Squires rescheduled the event and found another chaplain to provide the service.
Squires said he feared bringing the same-sex couple on the retreat would cause him to lose his chaplain endorsement.
The Army has training guidance — although not an official policy — telling chaplains to adhere to their endorsers’ religious tenets in order to keep their endorsement, while also finding alternative solutions for situations like this, Berry said.
However, the religious tenets of Squires’ church are the real problem in this situation, according to Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group dedicated to upholding service members’ constitutional right of religious freedom.
He said the Southern Baptist Convention’s board should be reviewed as an approved endorsing agency in light of these beliefs. […]
“In this instance, Squires did exactly what Army regulations tell him to do, which is to reschedule the event,” Berry said. “In fact, the event was rescheduled at the detriment of other couples who could not attend the new event.”