Chaplain suit against Navy certified as class action

WASHINGTON — A U.S. District Court judge ruled Aug. 19 that a case in which nonliturgical chaplains have sued the Navy over alleged discrimination is a class action suit.

That raises the possibility that hundreds of chaplains could eventually be affected.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina agreed with the suing chaplains that the Navy incorrectly characterized their claims as relating to individual incidents rather than a common policy.

“What the plaintiffs actually allege is a pervasive pattern of religious preferences favoring liturgical Christian chaplains over nonliturgical Christian chaplains,” he wrote in a 16-page opinion.

“All the comparatively minor individual differences among the plaintiffs’ claims shoot out like spokes on a wheel from the tire’s center — the Navy’s alleged policies and practices that supposedly foster unconstitutional religious preferences.”

Urbina has yet to determine how many chaplains might be included in the class.

The lawyer for the chaplains estimates the case that has had 17 named plaintiffs could eventually total anywhere from 700 to 1,000 people.