The House of Representatives may not need a chaplain, as Steve Chapman argues (Commentary, March 5), and it’s very probable that most Americans don’t know there is a House chaplain, have never heard him lead the House in prayer and have never read the prayers in the Congressional Record.
But Chapman’s main argument against the chaplaincy is erroneous, though it may agree with 60 years of Supreme Court decisions. He refers to the 1st Amendment but doesn’t quote it. It states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion . . . ” Like the Supreme Court, Chapman doesn’t say what an establishment of religion is.
An establishment of religion is a legal arrangement that exists today in Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Greece and other countries. By acts of national legislatures, one religion or denomination has been designated the official national religion. The head of state and certain other government officials must be an adherent of that religion. The religion is given preferential support by the government, which has a vote in the appointment of church officials.
If Congress passed legislation designating the Methodist Church, for example, as the established, official religion of the United States, that law would be unconstitutional, a violation of the 1st Amendment. As Chapman recognizes, however, military chaplains are not violating the Constitution by conducting worship services on U.S. military bases in the United States and around the world.
There are numerous other instances of collaboration between federal, state and local governments and religious denominations. Next month, citizens filing income tax returns can count on deductions for contributions made to churches and religiously affiliated charitable organizations. The government pays religiously affiliated hospitals for care given to patients covered by Medicare and Medicaid. States make grants to and contract with religious institutions to care for the elderly, orphans, the homeless, addicts and the mentally disabled. States fund religious institutions to operate reform schools, prison release programs and job-training programs. None of these forms of state-church cooperation constitutes an establishment of religion. Nor does the House chaplaincy. The chaplaincy may be unnecessary and a waste of money; but it isn’t an establishment of religion.
