What is the role of conscience?

Hogwash.

"...or use the blunt instrument of legislative power to crush conscience."

No one is telling anyone what they must believe. The law is about concepts of freedom, justice, equal treatment under the law. God has his rules for the kingdom of heaven. The law has rules about how we provide equal treatment under the law in the world of Caesar.

I don't worry much about the chaplains or how getting rid of DADT will affect them. I do worry about legal equality.

We had to learn not to discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnic origin - as long as we didn't consider black people. Then the Civil Rights Movement taught us how wrong we were and we learned not to discriminate on the basic of color. We had to learn not to discriminate on the basis of gender in jobs, promotions, pay, educational opportunities. Now we are learning not to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

I would say that we have learned how prejudice holds us back, limits us, blinds us. I think God smiles.

I think you're dodging the question. Yes, chaplains are members of established faith communities (most are Roman Catholic, followed by evangelical Protestants) prior to their entering military service. However, as a Presbyterian, I put great value on the concept of a call to ministry--both the internal call of the Spirit and the external call of the courts of the Church.

Chaplaincy--whether in the military or a hospital or a prison--is a very specific form of call. Not all pastors are called to this position. It requires an ecumenicism that some of a more fundamentalist view would find abhorrent. Denominations that encourage such a pastor into ministries that s/he is not called to are being totally irresponsible, both toward the pastor and toward his/her potential parishoners.

Again, we don't expect chaplains to check their faiths at the door. Far from it--it's their reason for being. However, the call to chaplaincy requires a lot of tolerance and forebearance and ministering to people one rabidly disagrees with. An evangelical chaplain should not tell Jewish servicemen and servicewomen that they must convert to Christianity or burn in Hell. Leave that to the teleganvelist. A Roman Catholic chaplain should not tell a remarried divorcee that he is in a state of sin and must repent. Leave that to the parish priest and the bishopric.

Here is my response to JamesK1:

Chaplains are there to support the faith of personnel in their service to our country. A soldier's faith often helps a person endure the hardships of military life. That's why chaplains are needed for the well-being of soldiers who are members of a particular faith. Over the years, the military has added chaplains representing multiple faiths (Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, etc.) and even subsets of faith (i.e. Catholic/Protestant) to support personnel of those faiths.

Chaplains are essentially a military version of a pastor/priest/imam. In order to be a pastor/priest/imam you need to adhere to the beliefs of the religion you represent. I assume that the chaplain was a member of a faith before entering the chaplaincy. If that belief says something is wrong then trying to force them to counsel in favor of something against their faith would be a violation of their core beliefs. Forcing chaplains to "water-down" their beliefs would make them ineffective to those personnel whom they are trying to support.

Jesus said:
"Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." Mark 9:50

Demanding that a chaplain must be secular (accept homosexuality as good despite their faith's teachings) is just as troubling as demanding a Jew must become a Christian. In both cases, the demand is for an adherent to give up her faith for "the greater good". Your are asking them to give up the value of their faith (i.e. lose their "saltiness").

If DADT is repealed and there are sufficient numbers of gay/lesbian soldiers then maybe chaplains would need to declare if their beliefs do or do not support homosexuality. There are denominations that are more supportive of that position and probably already have chaplains representing them already in place for homosexuals to approach.

In your example, in a relationship between people of different faiths that is going to be a potential stress point in any relationship/potential marriage unless one converts to the other's faith. In that case, if neither are going to convert to the other's faith, then they may want to seek counseling from chaplains of both faiths if they are determined to keep their relationship.

Since the military already makes room for other faiths by allowing lesser represented faiths/beliefs to be represented in the chaplaincy this would just be one more aspect they would have to look at.

JamesK1 asks a very good question, and I'd be interested to get an answer to it. I doubt one will be forthcoming.

Pardon i, but this is also recycled from another spool posted somewhere here yesterday. Thanks.

Note: [Open] Gay's soldiers can be very Dangerous to Us or very Vulnerable. Putting them in Sensitive Area or 'Top Secret' environments only will make it that more vulnerable that a Foreign GAY or a Gang of Foreign GAY Spies will infiltrate.

Note again: Even in the CORPORATE World, "GAY"s can give-up "Trade-Secrets during their Coochy Poochy "Fatal Acts" moments, besides Fatal Attraction.! includes inadvertently giving-up or divulging 'States Secrets' Or Even INFO State & or Local Gov't secrets too?

The GAYS IN THE MILITARY issue is NOt a 'damn if ye do and damn if yo don't scenario, let alone a hard rock & corner and place.

The Government(s) can STOP the "Voluntary" instead reinstate the "DRAFT" again.

Note: If they reinstate the Draft..
{which i Recommend, if yo all want to seriously SAVE the American 'Tax-Payer' MONEY or DOWN SIZE Federal Budget for 2, 3 or 4 years}.. the Military will have their "CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS" to deal with. So From experience of the last Draft, Military employers should be more lenient with draft dodgers this time.

A VOLUNTEER ARMY needs to END in America Now. Hint, LESS is BEST!

AMERICA Needs To Train the Young Un-Employed Mass's & start Building More U.S. Flag Merchant-Ships {Peaceful Army}. Like 2000 Ships To-compete in world-Philanthropy and INT'l-Commerce!

AMerica Needs to Break-Up UNiONS {Nepotis & Monopoly Labor} not Encourage them! sorry.

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Would you be using the exact same words for a chaplain whose traditions objected to interfaith relationships?

If the pastor in your story was approached by a man who is Christian and a woman who is a Jew, would he react the same way, telling them "I can't pray that you will find health in a situation that is inherently unhealthy"?

More to the point, would we accept such an attitude from a chaplain who is serving his call on the taxpayers' dime and not that of his denominational church? We wouldn't (I hope) accept the service of a chaplain who is a rabid anti-Semite, even though he is Constitutionally free to rail against the Jews all day long in his home church.