Navy to chaplain: You can't comfort dead sailor's family
An embattled Navy chaplain with a stellar 19-year career continues to take a beating from his superiors, who say his counseling isn't "inclusive" enough.
Wes Modder has been a long-term Navy chaplain, a former Marine, and has received high praise for his performance. But he ran into problems with superiors when he expressed faith-based views on marriage and human sexuality in private counseling sessions. Modder, who is endorsed by the Assemblies of God, asked for a religious accommodation – but his commander denied that request and reassigned him.
Liberty Institute attorney Mike Berry tells OneNewsNow the commander issued a No Contact Order, the basic equivalent of a restraining order. Berry says when Modder received word of the death of someone in his previous unit, he got into action doing what chaplains do.
"He was told that he's not allowed to do that because of this 'no-contact' order," Berry shares. "And in fact, the unit was planning to have a memorial service coming up on Thursday and they've actually asked [Chaplain Modder] to leave the base for that day. They don't even want him in the vicinity or on the same base."
Berry describes it as "a stunning move" by the commanding officer to deny Modder "the ability to minister and provide comfort and care to the grieving." Liberty Institute CEO Kelly Shackleford considers it "a reprehensible violation of religious freedom and common human decency."
Or as Fox News' Todd Starnes puts it: "It really takes a special kind of lowlife to stop a chaplain from ministering to the family and colleagues of a dead sailor."
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Posts
March 25, 2015 @ 12:20 pm
the onslaught to remove god and jesus from america has to be stopped.
March 25, 2015 @ 3:40 pm
When he said we are no longer a Christian Nation, he meant it. When he said he was going to fundamentally transform America, he meant it. When he slumped on hope and change, the hope is gone, the change has, and is, taking place in this Country, but that change he offered, is nothing at all what the voting public believed it to be.
How can ANYONE, especially a Christian, stand behind this unpatriotic, Muslim, Racist, Anti Judeo-Christianity man, who has lied, deceived, and used us and this Country to further his agendas of complete destruction of us?.
I try very hard, as a born again Christian, to see this man as just one more persecution Christians must face, but it goes so very far beyond that. He hates this Country, every white, and every American Citizen, with a burning hate, which I believe cannot possibly be quenched, IF, AND UNTIL, he is finally out of office.
Even then, unless we get the right man in the seat, it could take tens of years, to bring this Country back, even close, to what it was before he took the reins. His destructive laws, and agendas have made a impact that will likely last far past his Presidency.
March 25, 2015 @ 6:31 pm
March 26, 2015 @ 2:18 am
March 26, 2015 @ 5:03 am
March 25, 2015 @ 1:20 pm
March 25, 2015 @ 3:04 pm
March 25, 2015 @ 4:17 pm
March 26, 2015 @ 2:20 am
March 25, 2015 @ 1:52 pm
March 26, 2015 @ 2:21 am
March 25, 2015 @ 2:12 pm
March 25, 2015 @ 3:39 pm
March 25, 2015 @ 3:24 pm
I do recall Chaplains telling me that they had to remove their lapel crosses when in Saudi Arabia. I have heard that some Chaplains have been told to not have Bibles on their desks and I know that proselyting is a no-no.
Here’s my take on the chaplaincy, from which I am retired:
A Chaplain provides moral, ethical, and religious counsel to the troops, officers and command. As a Chaplain, I provided worship opportunities, pastoral counseling opportunities, personal counseling opportunities, professional counseling opportunities, and, many times, just a shoulder to cry on or an attentive ear to listen. I was a special staff officer to the command and was often positioned as a liaison.
I have no idea what the Chaplain in question did to invoke the ire of his command, but the Chaplain can always seek redress up his chain. If necessary, his denominational board can attempt to intervene.
It sounds to me as if this Chaplain got himself involved in something the command did not appreciate. Even if the Chaplain is 100% correct, he is in deep trouble.
I was at Ft. Bragg when a German officer died while making a parachute jump. When we Chaplains discovered that he was a Roman Catholic, the Catholic Chaplain was tasked with working directly with the family while the Protestant Chaplains were indirectly involved.
My commander did not understand why, being that I was senior to the Catholic Chaplain, I was more involved. It took a lengthy discussion between my commander and the Chaplains to explain why the Catholic Priest ministered to the Catholic family and why the Protestant Chaplains were ancillary. Fortunately, after explaining the situation, my commander decided that it was the proper thing to do. But, she still didn’t really understand.
March 25, 2015 @ 4:04 pm
March 25, 2015 @ 6:46 pm
March 25, 2015 @ 7:44 pm
March 26, 2015 @ 3:06 am
“A Pentecostal chaplain once assigned to elite Navy SEAL units may be kicked out of the Navy for allegedly scolding sailors for homosexuality and premarital sex.
•Told another student that homosexuality was wrong and that “the penis was meant for the vagina and not for the anus.”
•Suggested to a student that he, Modder, had the ability to “save” gay people.
March 26, 2015 @ 3:09 am
March 26, 2015 @ 6:20 am
March 26, 2015 @ 2:16 pm