Baptist Group Sues Veterans Agency to Reinstate Chaplains

A conservative Christian group filed suit Friday in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., to demand the reinstatement of two chaplains expelled for citing Jesus and the Bible during a class at Department of Veterans Affairs-run Clinical Pastoral Education Center,  Breitbart News reported.

The lawsuit – Conservative Baptist Association v. Shinseki – alleges that a liberal Christian instructor teaching the course for the Veterans Department discriminated against Dan Klender and Steven Firtko, the Evangelical chaplains, because of their beliefs related to the nature of God, the Darwinian theory of evolution, and such theological issues as whether salvation is through faith in Jesus.

The chaplains allege their faith was disparaged while attending the Clinical Pastoral Education Center. Only persons who have completed the course can work as VA chaplains, according to NBC News.

The suit states that the instructor repeatedly told the plaintiffs not to quote Scripture in class.
The lawsuit asks for their reinstatement as VA chaplains, a declaration that their religious liberty had been violated, and a commitment that the VA will not again act in a similar fashion against chaplains who hold fundamentalist views.

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