U.S. Navy Chaplain Censured for Praying 'in the Name of Jesus'

A U.S. naval base commander reportedly told a Navy chaplain to desist from praying "in the name of Jesus," implicitly warning him that his 19-year career in the Navy may come to an abrupt end if he fails to do as told.

Captain John Fahs, the commander of the Navy Region Southeast, also reportedly told Chaplain Wesley Modder to refrain from expressing his faith-based perspectives on marriage and human sexuality.

Representing Modder, Liberty Institute wrote a letter addressed to Fahs, denying point-by-point the allegations of discrimination set out by the navy commander against Modder, who once led chaplains ministering to Navy SEALs. Liberty Institute is a law firm that specializes in religious liberty cases.

After Modder assumed his responsibilities at the training command, he was asked to say an invocation at a ceremony. As he was walking to the lectern, he allegedly was told by Fahs to toss overboard the Jesus talk, a "counsel that Chaplain Modder accepted and with which he complied," the Institute said.

Moreover, the Institute said Modder's private counseling on issues about human sexuality and same-sex marriage is consistent with the beliefs of the Assemblies of God, the chaplain's endorsing agency.

"As a result of honoring the tenets of his endorsing denomination, he now faces the loss of his employment and removal from the Navy," the Institute said.

The controversy was sparked when an openly gay officer at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in South Carolina, denounced Modder's expressed views on homosexuality.

Fahs sided with the gay officer and accused Modder of discrimination and lack of tolerance and respect, among other things.

Ironically, just a few months earlier, Fahs described Modder as the "best of the best" and a consummate professional leader," the Institute said.

"After our investigation, it is clear that the facts and law are on Chaplain Modder's side," said Liberty Institute attorney Michael Berry. "He has done nothing more than provide ministerial services in accordance with the precepts of his faith – which is completely consistent with Navy rules and federal law."

Modder admitted that he provided answers to questions from a Biblical world perspective, but denied allegations that he used improper language or gestures.

"On occasion and only when asked, he expressed his sincerely held religious belief that sexual acts outside of marriage are contrary to biblical teaching; homosexual conduct is contrary to biblical teaching and homosexual orientation or temptation as distinct from conduct is not a sin," the Liberty Institute said.

"We believe the Navy will exonerate Chaplain Modder and restore him to continue his true calling of ministering to sailors and Marines as he has done for the past 15 years," Berry said.

The Institute also noted that regulations by the Department of Defense allow the chaplain to have religious beliefs, to serve as a reminder to the Navy.

"Navy chaplains are never required to compromise the standards of their religious organization, but are required to perform in a pluralistic environment," the Institute said.

The Institute maintained that the chaplain's fate could affect every military chaplain significantly.

Taking action "would send a dangerous message that other chaplains who share his beliefs – the vast majority of military chaplains – may also suffer adverse personnel actions and would have a profound chilling effect on any chaplain who seeks to provide biblical care," it said.

If the Navy can silence chaplains, it could do the same to sailors, the Institute said. "If the Navy can remove a chaplain who expresses his religious beliefs, then service members who share those beliefs will believe that they, too, are unwelcome in the Navy."