U.S. Senators Katie Britt, James Lankford, Colleagues Introduce Legislation Protecting Military Chaplains

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) joined Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) and colleagues in introducing the Military Chaplains Modernization Act of 2026 (MCMA) to codify the purpose, role, duties, and professional qualifications of military chaplains and to protect chaplains from being forced to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.

"Military chaplains serve a unique and important role in our armed forces, providing spiritual guidance to our men and women in uniform. That is why it is imperative that their deeply held religious beliefs must be protected throughout their time in the military. I'm proud to support this legislation and the faith leaders who serve in our armed forces," said Senator Britt.

"For our country's 250-year history, military chaplains have walked alongside our service members through the hardest moments of their lives, offering prayer, counsel, and hope in isolated posts and combat zones alike," said Senator Lankford. "Chaplains serve because they are called to it. Congress has a responsibility to make sure they can carry out that calling faithfully, without being forced to violate the tenets of their faith and without fear of retaliation for holding to what they believe. This bill honors the men and women who minister to our heroes who defend our nation."

Joining Senators Britt and Lankford in cosponsoring the legislation are Senators Mike Rounds (R-S. Dak.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Kevin Cramer (R-N. Dak.). The bill is also supported by the Armed Forces Chaplains Board, which provides advice and recommendations to Department of War (DOW) officials on matters of religious exercise.

The Military Chaplains Modernization Act codifies the purpose, role, duties, and professional qualifications of chaplains across the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force and guarantee that chaplains may conduct worship, provide counseling, teach, deliver sermons, minister, and offer prayer in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs and the tenets of their religious-endorsing organization, free from censorship, undue restriction, or fear of retribution. It would prohibit any member of the armed forces from requiring or assigning a chaplain to perform any rite, ritual, ceremony, sermon, speech, task, or action contrary to the chaplain's sincerely held religious beliefs and protects chaplains from retaliation or adverse personnel actions, including denial of promotion, letters of reprimand, and negative entries in the chaplain's record, for refusing to violate their beliefs.

Senator Britt is a fierce advocate of religious freedom, previously introducing the Reaffirming Every Servicemember's Trust Over Religious Exemptions (RESTORE) Act, which would build upon the Allowing Military Exemptions, Recognizing Individual Concerns About New Shots (AMERICANS) Act of 2025, which would provide remedies to military servicemembers harmed by the DoD's COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

You can read the full text of the bill here.

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