The American Humanist Association took their request for atheist military chaplains to Congress on Tuesday.
The atheist group met with congressional staffers and others to discuss the possibility of nontheistic persons serving as chaplains in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers President Jason Torpy said that the secular chaplains would still have to minister to military personnel who believe in God, and would be qualified to do so.
"Humanist chaplains would be expected to have Bibles, to have prayer books, to have the ability to guide others in prayer, according to the beliefs of their tradition," Torpy said, according to the Navy Times.
The humanist chaplains would also be able to minister to other nontheistic persons, something that Torpy and former chaplain Rev. Stephen Boyd said is lacking.
"I believe that we have failed to train and to make resources available to the current [chaplain] corps for the ministry to the growing population as well as those who are marking 'no religious preference,'" Boyd said.
The American Humanist Association meeting comes just months after the House of Representatives rejected an amendment to the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act that sought to recognize humanism in the Chaplain Corps, and a humanist chaplain applicant was rejected by the Navy.
Openly Secular wrote to the U.S. Navy's Chaplain Chief, Rear Adm. Mark Tidd, on June 21, asking that they reconsider their rejection of Jason Heap.
Heap was a minister in various Methodist and Baptist churches in the United States before becoming a humanist and moving to Europe. He has a Master's degree in religious history from Oxford University, and teaches religion in schools across Europe. He has no military service.
Torpy told the Navy Times that Heap has hired an attorney, and will be filing an Equal Opportunity lawsuit against the Navy, who declined to specify the reason for his rejection.
Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty Executive Director Ron Crews applauded the Navy's decision to reject Heap.
"Chaplains, historically and by definition, are people of faith," Crews said in a statement.
"You can't have an 'atheist chaplain' any more than you can have a 'tiny giant' or a 'poor millionaire.'
"I am grateful that, in this decision, the Navy has honored our long tradition of providing for the spiritual needs of the men and women who serve our nation in the military."
