NEWS FLASH

Senate Approves Unnecessary ‘Conscience’ Amendment For Military Chaplains | The Senate today approved an amendment to the 2012 defense authorization bill, introduced by Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), that would ensure military chaplains will not be forced to perform same-sex marriages, even though nothing was actually requiring them to. In September, the Pentagon issued a memo stating that ”a military chaplain may participate in or officiate any private ceremony” but “a chaplain is not required to participate in or officiate a private ceremony if doing so would be in variance with the tenets of his or her religion or personal beliefs.” Though the Senate’s amendment is unnecessary and redundant, it is better than the House’s amendment, which caters to conservatives’ demands to curb chaplains’ religious liberty by banning them outright from officiating same-sex marriages.