The Navy on Thursday ended a ban on indoor religious services after religious freedom advocates threatened to take legal action, alleging that the military branch had violated the First Amendment.
“This is a major victory for the Constitution and for religious freedom within our military,” said Mike Berry, general counsel at the religious liberty group the First Liberty Institute.
The ban, issued in late June, stated that “service members are prohibited from visiting, patronizing, or engaging in … indoor religious services” outside of naval facilities because of concerns about spreading the coronavirus. At the same time, however, the order stated that service members were allowed to use public transit, laundromats, and shop at retail stores.
The Navy’s discrepancy in its treatment of churches and commercial centers raised an outcry, as have other church bans issued by state and local governments during the pandemic. On June 29, Maj. Daniel Schultz, an Air Force officer assigned to a Navy command, sent a letter, via First Liberty, to Naval Lt. Col. Matthew Garvin, demanding that he rescind the order.
In the letter, attorneys at First Liberty, which has represented a number of churches in coronavirus-related cases, said that the order violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a federal law that prohibits government entities from placing undue burdens on the free exercise of religious practice. The RFRA states that to restrict religious practice, a government entity must show a “compelling interest” that is “narrowly tailored” to achieve its goal by the “least restrictive” means. The letter cited the Navy’s lack of “compelling interest” in issuing the order as one of its chief concerns.
“Even if the Navy can establish that its order is necessary to advance a compelling government interest, it cannot satisfy RFRA by proving that an outright ban on religious service attendance is the least restrictive means of advancing that interest,” the letter stated. “The Navy has the burden of proving that the action it seeks to take — prohibiting in-person religious services — would be the least restrictive means of furthering the compelling interest.”
Schultz requested that order be revised within the week, or he would take further legal action against the Navy. A day before that occurred, Berry told the Washington Examiner that the group was prepared to take “whatever legal action is necessary” to get it changed.
The updated policy, issued in a memo by acting Undersecretary of the Navy Gregory Slavonic, states that service members may attend off-base services “where attendees are able to appropriately apply COVID-19 transmission measures, specifically social distancing and use of face covering.” Furthermore, it asks that officers “incorporate this clarification allowing attendance at religious services where COVID-19 transition mitigation measures may be appropriately applied.”
