Sen. Roger Wicker said Wednesday that the Navy has finally denied the application of a man who sought to become a “secular humanist” chaplain for the service.
The application of Jason Heap, who was backed by the Humanist Society, was first rejected by the Navy in 2014, but a Navy chaplain advisory board recently recommended approving it.
The possibility of an atheist chaplain set off an outcry from both sides of Capitol Hill, and 45 House members and 22 senators sent letters of opposition this month to Navy leaders.
“The Navy’s leadership has done the right thing,” said Wicker, R-Miss., who chairs the Senate Armed Services seapower subcommittee. “The appointment of an atheist to an undeniably religious position is fundamentally incompatible with atheism’s secularism. This decision preserves the distinct religious role that our chaplains carry out.”
The service already has the authority to create programs to support atheists and humanists, senators said.
The Navy Chaplain Corps is manned by officers who promote religious and spiritual well-being among sailors and Marines. It represents a variety of religions including Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism.
House lawmakers said the reconsideration of Heap’s application raised concerns that the Navy was trying to expand the Chaplain Corps beyond its intended focus of serving religious sailors by including philosophical beliefs.
“Allowing Mr. Heap to act as a chaplain would thus open the door to a host of chaplains representing many other philosophical worldviews, complicating the chaplaincy application process and over time eroding the distinct religious function of the corps to the detriment of service members,” they wrote in a March 9 letter.
Secular humanism rejects religious dogma and believes that people can find morality through science and reason.
In 2014, Heap filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Va., against the Navy and the Pentagon over the denial of his application to the Chaplain Corps. He could not be immediately reached for comment.
The wrangling became a flashpoint between conservatives who support the historical role of religion in military life and liberal groups that believe military culture should be more secular and not force religious beliefs on non-believers.
