Add your name: Chaplains Say "No" to Chaplains in Public Schools
This letter is a partnership between BJC (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty) and Interfaith Alliance, two of the nation's leading religious freedom organizations. We invite chaplains living in the United States to sign your name and join our opposition to public school chaplain programs. 

For questions about the letter, please contact BJC's Holly Hollman (hhollman@BJConline.org) or Interfaith Alliance's Maureen O'Leary (moleary@interfaithalliance.org). 

To: State legislators 

From: Trained chaplains in the United States

Re: Public school chaplain programs

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We, the undersigned chaplains, write in opposition to legislation in states across the country that would install chaplains in our public schools. Because of our training and experience, we urge you to reject public school “chaplain” legislation:  The proposals are harmful to our public schools and the students and families they serve.

Government-sanctioned chaplains make sense in some settings, but not in our public schools. We come from a diversity of faith and ethical traditions, and we proudly serve or have served in various capacities. Many of us have served in contexts in which individuals cannot access their religious services — such as the military, a prison, or hospital — which is hardly the case for children in public school. Military members may have security or language barriers in finding a house of worship while on deployment. Incarcerated individuals are not given a “religious hall pass” to leave prison and attend the corporate worship service of their own choosing. Hospitalized patients may be too sick or far away from their congregations to engage in meaningful religious exercise. Public school children do not face the barriers to religious exercise that service members, prisoners, and patients face.

We care about student mental health and safety concerns, and we believe those concerns should be addressed by the professionals most skilled to meet those concerns. As trained chaplains, we are not qualified to address the needs of public school students that these proposals purport to address. We cooperate with mental health counselors – we do not compete with them. Further, professions that help children with sensitive matters, such as therapists and police investigators, typically require special training on how to interview and treat juveniles. Few chaplains have this expertise.

As trained chaplains, we strongly caution against the government assertion of authority for the spiritual development and formation of our public school children. Families and religious institutions–not public school officials–should direct the religious education of our children. Introducing religious leaders into official school positions to serve students in schools will cause division among student bodies that are made up of many religions and nonreligious students.  

Public schools are fully funded by the government and serve people of all faith traditions and of no faith tradition. Having government-sponsored chaplains, paid or volunteer, is inappropriate and threatens to harm our public schools and the students and families they serve.

Respectfully,

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