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 of Romans he read for the service in question, Paul teaches against homosexual relations.
The sermon prompted his supervisor, Chaplain Brynn White, to order Trubey not to work at the Coatesville Facility, according to the letter. The incident also prompted the change in the SOP for chaplains, which the legal groups allege violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by restricting sermons on “divisive, cultural, or political issues.”
“The punishment and censorship of Chaplain Trubey is clearly unconstitutional and violates [the Religious Freedom Restoration Act]. We ask that you correct the discrimination against Chaplain Trubey by compensating him for the overtime he lost due to the investigation and LOR and protecting him from continued censorship by reprimanding Chaplain White and rescinding the new SOP,” the letter reads. “Chaplains should be free to preach according to their religious convictions and denominational teachings without fear of censorship, retribution, or retaliation. This is exactly what the U.S. Constitution and federal law demand, and it’s what the veterans at the Coatesville Facility deserve.”
Before Trump’s return to office, the Biden administration targeted Christians in the government, such as the Department of Justice’s repeated prosecutions of pro-life activists under the FACE act who protested outside abortion clinics during his tenure.
Additionally, the Biden administration pushed numerous LGBT causes domestically and abroad during his four years. Biden has expressed pride with his legacy on LGBT rights.
The VA did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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