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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (55967)	8/30/2002 7:07:21 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

I just saw something about this on Fox and checked it out. It seems that there is a class action suit against the Navy that makes a "class" out of chaplains from "non-liturgical" Christian denominations as opposed to liturgical denominations. The non-liturgicals claim that they are being discriminated against in promotions and retention. One of the claims in the lawsuit is that the Navy practice of having only "general Protestant" services as opposed to services particularly for Evangelicals violates the Establishment Clause. (I got that from Findlaw.) Fox had an interview with a non-liturgical chaplain who said they don't want to include liturgical material in their services and implied that a liturgical service cannot meet the needs of a non-liturgical seaman. Judge Allows Class Action Suit by Navy Chaplains By Neely Tucker Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, August 21, 2002; Page A15 A federal judge has ruled that as many as 1,000 current or former Navy chaplains may take part in a religious-discrimination suit against the military service. U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina ruled this week that a suit filed by 25 Baptist, Evangelical and Pentecostal chaplains -- claiming that the Navy illegally favors Catholics, Episcopalians and other liturgical chaplains over their nonliturgical peers -- had cleared the legal hurdles to be certified as a class action. The ruling means that the case now includes all current or former Navy chaplains who served between 1988 and 2002, not just the named plaintiffs. The judge's decision is based not on the merits of the case, but on the plaintiffs' ability to demonstrate they could represent all other similarly situated chaplains. The stakes are now much higher for the Navy because the pool of plaintiffs, and therefore the potential damages, has multiplied greatly. The plaintiffs are arguing that they have been passed up for promotion, forced to retire early or otherwise unfairly treated because of their faith. Arthur A. Schulcz Sr., the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said the Navy for years has employed a far higher percentage of Catholic and liturgical priests than of the faiths represented in the Navy's enlisted ranks. "Nonliturgicals are at least four times the size of liturgicals in the ranks . . . but the liturgical chaplains have at times been almost two-thirds of the number of chaplains," he said. "It's an arbitrary and capricious system. That's not acceptable under the First Amendment." The Navy, which has denied the allegations and filed a 40-page brief urging the judge to deny class certification, declined to comment on Urbina's ruling. "It's inappropriate for us to comment on pending litigation," said Lt. Jon Spiers, public affairs officer for the chief of Navy chaplains. © 2002 The Washington Post Company