(WNS) -- Delegates crafting the Republican Party’s platform this week took a strong stance on military issues — including vowing to protect chaplains’ conscience rights and enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act on military installations.
The platform committee also said the party opposes “anything that might weaken team cohesion, including intra-military special interest demonstrations” — such as wearing uniforms in gay pride events.
Those resolutions echo what the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty has been calling on the federal government to do since the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” became official earlier this year.
“The Republican National Committee rejects the use of the military as a social platform. We again call upon our nation’s leaders to restore policies about sexual behavior within the military that will maximize troop readiness,” said Col. Ron Crews, the group’s executive director.
“Every American, especially those who wear the uniform, should be allowed the religious liberties given by God and protected by our Constitution. We want to see dignity restored to our military personnel and no longer see the military used to promote social agendas. We hope the Democratic Party Platform Committee will take similar actions.”
The platform committee also made strong statements supporting women’s right to advance in the military, while also saying they should be exempt from direct ground combat units.
Center for Military Readiness (CMR) President Elaine Donnelly, who served on the platform committee, told CitizenLink before the group met that studies have shown allowing women to serve on the front lines is another form of social experimentation that has negatively affected cohesion.
“In the military, unity is what counts,” she said. “Diversity, the paradigm being promoted by the Pentagon right now, is very different. That is about group rights — they say if we end up discriminating against someone in the name of diversity, that’s OK. That paradigm, the American people do not support.”
The resolutions, which will be voted on when the Republican National Convention kicks off on Monday, also affirm that members of the party “will not tolerate attempts to ban Bibles or religious symbols from military facilities.”
According to drafts of the resolution CMR showed the media, “the spiritual welfare of our troops and retired service members should be a priority of our national leadership … there is an urgent need for the kind of counseling that faith-based institutions can best provide. We support rights of conscience and religious freedom for military chaplains and people of faith.”
c. 2012 WORLD News Service. Used with permission.
