Findings

Congress makes the following findings: (1) Religion and religious liberty have always served an essential role in society, culture, and military service, making them necessary for good democratic governance and a strong military. (2) George Washington, as a young colonel, recognized the importance of religious practice for his soldiers, repeatedly requesting chaplains for his troops and periodically performing religious duties himself. (3) When the Second Continental Congress established the Continental Army in June 1775, it recommended all officers and soldiers diligently to attend Divine Service. (4) In 1775, at the behest of George Washington, then General of the Continental Army, the Second Continental Congress established the Federal chaplaincy that is in existence to this day, making it one of the oldest military services provided for American troops. (5) From their earliest days, military chaplains have existed to provide pastoral care, meeting the religious needs of members of the Armed Forces and their families. (6) In 1775, the Continental Congress, understanding the significance of chaplaincy, similarly instructed its fledgling navy that, The commanders of the ships of the Thirteen United Colonies are to take care that divine services be performed twice a day on board, and a sermon preached on Sundays, unless bad weather or other extraordinary accidents prevent it.. (7) John Adams instructed his Secretary of the Navy on the influence of a Navy chaplaincy, stating, I know not whether the commanders of our ships have given much attention to this subject [chaplains], but in my humble opinion, we shall be very unskillful politicians as well as bad Christians and unwise men if we neglect this important office in our infant Navy.. (8) In 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt also acknowledged the importance of the chaplaincy by vowing to never fail to provide for the spiritual needs of our officers and men under the Chaplains of our armed forces, and during World War II, President Roosevelt had Bibles printed and provided to troops in the field. (9) Understanding the importance of religion not only to the members of the United States military, but also to the United States as a whole, the Founders ratified the First Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1791. (10) Under the First Amendment, which applies to the Armed Forces, the Federal Government has a constitutional duty to provide for the religious exercise of members of the Armed Forces, an obligation to which the chaplain corps is essential. (11) The Supreme Court stated, in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, 597 U.S. 507 (2022), that the court is aware of no historically sound understanding of the Establishment Clause that begins to mak[e] it necessary for government to be hostile to religion * * *. (12) In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, the Supreme Court further explained that the Establishment Clause does not include anything like a modified heckler's veto, in which * * * religious activity can be proscribed based on perceptions or discomfort and that the Clause does not compel the government to purge from the public sphere anything an objective observer could reasonably infer endorses or partakes of the religious. (13) The Supreme Court made clear in Parker v. Levy, 417 U.S. 733 (1974) that chaplains in the Armed Forces do not forfeit their First Amendment rights by virtue of their military service. (14) Section 6 of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 2000bb–3) specifies that that Act (42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.) applies to all Federal law, and the implementation of that law, whether statutory or otherwise, and whether adopted before or after [November 16, 1993].