50 Reps Vote for Nontheistic Military Chaplains

After an amendment offered by Robert Andrews (D-NJ) to allow nontheistic chaplains in the U.S. Armed Forces was defeated last week 43-18 in the House Armed Services Committee, the issue got a second chance on June 14. Following an outpouring of support from the secular community via action alerts from the Secular Coalition [here and here], Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) introduced his own amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act [H.R. 1960] to the full House, which would have allowed nontheistic chaplains for the 23 percent of service members who are "nones".  Both amendments were introduced at the suggestion of the Secular Coalition. While the issue of nontheistic chaplains may seem ironic, they are extremely important for service members whose careers may be negatively impacted by seeking the help of a counselor or psychiatrist—a relationship that is not confidential as in the civilian world.

Polis' bill was defeated on June 14 in a 274-150 vote. Every Republican voted against it, and they were joined by 44 Democrats.

While we are extremely disappointed the amendments failed, we were heartened to see the show of support today's amendment received from a full third of the U.S. House of Representatives. We are proud that our  issues are being more widely supported and that we are being heard and our issues taken seriously. While we still have a long way to go, we are continuing to make significant inroads.

Please use this link to send a letter to your representative now—the Secular Coalition's system will automatically generate a thank you letter if your representative supported the amendment and a letter of disappointment if they did not. You can also view the final voting record for this amendment here.

In other news, Secular Coalition Executive Director, Edwina Rogers, was a guest on the Melissa Harris-Perry Show on Saturday on MSNBC. Rogers was joined by a panel of experts which included Ezra Klein from The Washington Post, University of Pennsylvania Professor Anthea Butler, and President of Voto Latino Maria Teresa Kumar. The panel discussed issues of the day, including President Obama's political strategy, critical functions of the Affordable Care Act and LGBT issues. The episode is available on our website or at MSNBC here.