A federal court judge has ruled that a two-year-old class-action lawsuit alleging discrimination by the U.S. Navy against evangelical chaplains can proceed. The case includes five current or former Southern Baptist chaplains.
In a lengthy ruling announced Jan. 10, U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina said the plaintiffs in the class action suit, Full Gospel Churches, have raised valid constitutional issues.
In a 62-page order, the judge denied the Navy’s motion to dismiss the cases, saying the plaintiffs had successfully stated a claim that the military’s policies violate the First Amendment.
He also applied a “strict scrutiny” standard to the cases, which refers to a prior Supreme Court ruling that the government cannot favor one religion over another.
“The court holds that the plaintiffs have stated a claim that the [Navy] defendants’ policies and practices relating to the hiring and retention of its chaplains are not justified by a compelling government objective and are not narrowly tailored to accomplish that objective,” Urbina wrote.
In summarizing claims related to alleged First Amendment violations, the judge noted a string of allegations. Among them are:
Forcing non-liturgical churches to hold services off base in inadequate, substandard facilities while Catholics and liturgical Protestants enjoyed spacious facilities on post.
Senior Catholic and liturgical chaplains intentionally giving non-liturgical chaplains lower ratings solely because of their religious identification.
Using a two-tiered system of discipline, with liturgical chaplains receiving lighter punishment than non-liturgicals for similar offenses.
Requiring non-liturgical chaplains to officiate at liturgical Protestant services, but not requiring liturgicals to officiate at non-liturgical services.
Despite the ruling, no trial date or pre-trial hearings have been set. The court must still determine whether to consolidate the class-action lawsuit and the Full Gospel case for trial.
(BP)
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