Tony Perkins: Repealing DADT Will Mean The End Of Religious Freedom

According to the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, repealing DADT will stomp the religious freedom of military chaplains to tell soldiers that they are sinners who will suffer in an eternal hellfire.

In their counseling role, military chaplains assist all service members who come to them, even if they are of other faith traditions. But if a homosexual seeks counseling regarding his personal relationships, will the chaplain be free to recommend therapy to overcome homosexual attractions? Or will he be forced to affirm a lifestyle that his faith condemns? While chaplains are members of the military, they must be “endorsed” by a sponsoring religious body. Denominations that are unequivocal in holding to a biblical standard of sexual morality may stop endorsing military chaplains rather than allow them to compromise their principles. This may result in a chaplain corps that has plenty of Unitarian ministers and homosexual Episcopal priests, but a shortage of clergy to minister to the largest religious groups in America, such as Roman Catholics (whose catechism declares that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered”) or Southern Baptists (whose Baptist Faith and Message declares that “Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography”).

According to the wingnuts, repealing DADT will cause soldier rapes, AIDS for everybody, Islamic retribution, and the return of the draft. Not being able to falsely tell people they will burn in a mythical fire seems almost petty by comparison.