Gordon “Chaps” Klingenschmitt, a former U.S. Navy chaplain removed from his post over his prayers “In Jesus Name,” is asking that President Donald Trump review his case and provide justice.
However, he charges that top Navy lawyers “are hiding” his dispute from Trump and Pete Hegseth, Trump’s secretary of war.
WND has reported on Klingenschmitt’s case since its beginning back around 2006 and its move into the courts shortly later.
Now he’s seeking a presidential pardon that could return him to his military status, restore back pay and more.
Klingenschmitt told WND he submitted a request for the consideration months ago, and then again after there was no response. More recently, he filed Freedom of Information Act requests to find out the status of his filing, and only recently has been told its being reviewed.
In Klingenschmitt’s own announcement about the origins of the fight, he explains it was 20 years ago when he challenged a “bad Navy prayer policy” that barred Christian chaplains from using the name of Jesus in public prayers.
The demand was for “non-sectarian” prayers which presumably could reference a deity to which no one objected.
Klingenschmitt then stood near the White House, in uniform, to prayer “in Jesus’ name.”
The result was a misdemeanor court-martial.
“In a trial at Naval Station Norfolk in September 2006, Navy Judge Lewis Booker then ruled that ‘public worship’ had been re-defined by the same policy as only safe inside a Sunday chapel, but now ‘worshiping in public’ could be punished as a crime, finding the chaplain guilty of disobeying ‘lawful’ orders,” he reported.
“But then God intervened. One week later, after much public outrage and two polls showing 85% to 94% public approval for the Chaplain, after he submitted 300,000 petitions to Congress (with Dr. Jay Sekulow, Dr. Alan Keyes, Dr. D. James Kennedy), so many Christian telephone callers melted Capitol Hill switchboards, that Armed Services Chairman Senator John Warner (R-VA) made a speech on the U.S. Senate floor on 19 Sep 2006 stating he was overwhelmed by calls, and ordering the Navy to repent,” Klingenschmitt’s announcement said.
Congress then amended the NDAA to order the Navy to rescind the same bad prayer policy for which Klingenschmitt had been punished. That was done by Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter and while religious freedom “was restored,” no action was taken to restore Klingenschmitt’s career.
“A subsequent lawsuit was denied by an Obama-appointed lesbian judge,” his report said.
The Supreme Court did not accept his case, but ruled in 2015 that others may pray in Jesus’ name.
His request for presidential action has been prepared and submitted but according to military procedures first must be processed by Navy officials, and he told WND they have declined to do their duty including consideration and response.
WND reported in 2017 on Klingenschmitt said in an interview on “Revealing the Truth” how he opposed a demand for Christians to limit themselves to generic “prayer.”
He later founded The Pray in Jesus’ Name Project, and released a book on “How to Liberate the World in 30 Days,” a manual for engaging in activism.
The message he’s prepared for the president notes that he’s seeking “a Presidential Pardon and reinstatement (with back pay) for my 2006 court-martial and involuntary discharge from the U.S. Navy, which would: A) Correct past injustices that violated religious freedom of military chaplains. B) Keep a specific broken promise by former SecDef Donald Rumsfeld to Congress. C) Overturn a bad ruling by an Obama-appointed openly lesbian judge. D) Restore my lost $1,000,000 pension and benefits, sacrificed when I took a stand. E) Allow military chaplains to pray publicly “in Jesus’ name” in uniform.”
Klingenschmitt in recent years has been a frequent target of online commentators who object to and oppose the Christian faith.
