Chaplain Fired for Believing in Biblical Sexuality

Lt. Commander Wes Modder has served in the US military for 19 years, first as a Marine and now as a chaplain for Navy SEALs. One day, his assistant brought him a complaint letter, and he was immediately asked to clean out his office.

What were the charges? Not being tolerant enough. Chaplain Modder’s personal beliefs, drawn from his deeply held faith, were offensive to his assistant – specifically, his views on “same-sex relationships/marriages, homosexuality, different standards of respect for men and women, pre-marital sex and masturbation.”

Modder doesn’t deny that he believes what the Bible says about those things. What else would you expect from a Christian chaplain?

He says the heart of this is the changing values of our culture: “Culture is colliding with truth.” But he’s not going to be intimidated into silence.

Every fiber in my being wants to run away from this – but if I do I’m not being obedient to the Lord. I need to stand up for righteousness and this is something I cannot walk away from.

His 14-year-old son has already seen the respect that other men on site had for his dad when he helped him pack up his office. His dad is “keeping the faith.”

Chaplain Modder’s lawyer thinks there’s something fishy going on even with the accusation. Michael Berry is a veteran himself and works on religious liberty cases with Liberty Institute. He thinks the lieutenant purposely asked Modder questions about his beliefs all the time, and may have gotten into his personal counseling file.

Chaplain Modder has been reassigned and is waiting for the Navy to review his case.

Beyond the legal questions, the case points to a disturbing trend even in our military that demands “tolerance” for any belief, except Christianity. “They want chaplains to be glorified summer camp counselors and not speak truth and love into people’s lives,” Berry said. “There are some anti-religious elements in our military. Anytime somebody wants to live their faith out – there are people who say that is offensive.”

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Photo Credit: Expert Infantry via Flickr.