Religious Liberty Orgs Call On Doug Collins To Unwind VA’s ‘Unconstitutional’ ‘Censorship’ Of Chaplain

Two religious liberty legal groups sent a letter Tuesday demanding the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) stop the “censorship” of a chaplain who was reprimanded for preaching Christian doctrine in a sermon he gave in June 2024.

Independence Law Center and First Liberty Institute sent a letter Tuesday urging VA Secretary Douglas Collins to ensure Army Reserve Chaplain Russell Trubey can preach unimpeded after he faced reprimands from the VA for giving a sermon in June 2024 on the book of Romans, according to the letter. The legal groups allege the VA violated his constitutional rights by not allowing Trubey to preach after the sermon.

Collins, who was confirmed as President Donald Trump’s VA Secretary last Tuesday, formerly served as an Air Force Reserve chaplain.

“We’re hopeful that we’ll get a good outcome of this case because religious liberty is important, religious speech is important,” Randall Wagner, chief counsel at Independence Law Center, told the 🏢Daily Caller News Foundation. “This is America, chaplains should just be free to be chaplains, not punished because they preach from the Bible. So we’re hopeful that this could be resolved amicably.”

Trubey served as the chaplain for the Coatesville VA Medical Center for a decade, where one of his duties was to lead a Protestant chapel service, according to the letter. The sermon in question was one of a two-part series on the first chapter of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans titled, “When a Culture Excludes God.” In the section