What is the purpose of a military chaplain? Obviously, the role of a government funded chaplain should be to help soldiers and other military staffers meet their spiritual needs — even if they’re not part of some organized religion — rather than proselytizing their own views.

But Sonny Hernandez, a U.S. Air Force chaplain who works at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, disagrees. Not only does he think chaplains should promote Christianity on the clock, he believes those who don’t aren’t truly Christian.

In yet another bizarre rant on WND, Hernandez argued that Christian chaplains who aren’t promoting their personal views at every turn are cowards.

Tragically today, many military chaplains intentionally do not pray in Jesus’ name. As disgusting as this may sound, it is a very common practice today among military chaplains — among both liberal and conservative ones. These “non-sectarian” prayers are now the norm within military chaplaincy as the vast majority of chaplains have abdicated the name of Jesus due to fear and shame. … Even worse, false teachers… who masquerade as Christian military chaplains will invariably omit the name of Jesus and will argue that no chaplain should ever deliver such “sectarian” prayers publicly. Since these kinds of chaplains have not been truly born again, they will also often support homosexuality, Islam, or Mikey Weinstein and his anti-God foundation. To put it simply, a false teacher that operates under the guise of Christian chaplain will love the things that God hates while hating the things that God loves.

Yikes. Leave it to a Christian supremacist to argue that professionals doing their job must not be True Christians™ because they’re not breaking the rules in the name of Jesus. Apparently, those who do their jobs also promote LGBTQ rights (gasp), respect Muslim officers (OMG), and support the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (which is not “anti-God” as many of its members are religious).

It’s bad enough that anyone is saying this. It’s even worse because Hernandez continues to work in the Air Force. There’s a disclaimer on his article that says he “wrote this article as a civilian on his own time on an issue of public interest,” but he’s actively encouraging chaplains to break the rules, so what does it matter in what capacity he writes this?

This isn’t the first time Hernandez has said something beyond the pale either. MRFF’s Senior Research Director Chris Rodda has noted that Hernandez has claimed “women are not called to be pastors” and that “there is no such thing as transgenderism.”

If a Muslim chaplain used his platform to promote Islam, he’d be out of a job immediately — and cause FOX News to talk about Sharia Law for weeks. (I would say imagine a Humanist chaplain doing the same thing… but there are none in the military.)

MRFF’s Mikey Weinstein says he’ll be sending a letter to the Department of Defense soon, though he issued this statement to me in the meantime:

… Captain Hernandez’s hate-drenched, fundamentalist Christian supremacist screed of last evening is nothing short of a fatal cancer on our U.S. military’s ability to achieve these irreplaceable goals. … The ignoble and all too telling fact that DoD has done absolutely NOTHING to constrain this despicable religious extremist bully and hater speaks literal volumes as to how deeply fundamentalist Christianity (also known as Christian Dominionism) has become inextricably intertwined into the very fabric of our United States armed forces. DoD’s comprehensive and deliberate failure to stand up to Capt. Sonny Hernandez, and his torrent of hatred of fellow service members who do not share his weaponized version of Christianity, represents a clear and present national security threat to this nation and it must be stopped in its tracks now.

Incidentally, the Air Force’s own published standards prohibit leaders from “officially endorsing or disapproving of, or extending preferential treatment for any faith, belief, or absence of belief.” Hernandez is obviously breaking that rule. He deserves to be reprimanded for it.

Military chaplains provide a service to others; they cannot be missionaries looking for new recruits.

(Screenshot via YouTube. Portions of this article were published earlier)

