Representative Collins Defends Pease Air National Guard

U.S. Representative Doug Collins is responding to a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation that was recently lodged against Pease Air National Guard Base.

The Base, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire serves as the 157th Air Refueling Wing of the U.S. Air Force.

Freedom From Religion Foundation officials claim that prayers led by a chaplain at the base overstepped the separation of church and state.

The complaint focused on invocations by the base chaplain at the beginning of base ceremonies.

Last month, Air Force officials announced they would continue to have the base chaplain pray at those ceremonies.

The Air Force asserted chaplains provide for the free exercise of religion and, “have consistently found the means to strike a balance between the tenants of their faith and the needs of the Airmen they serve.”

On Monday, Collins’ office announced that he and Oklahoma U.S. Senator James Lankford have issued a bicameral letter of support to the Air Force base.

Members of both the House of Representatives and Senate penned a letter to Pease ANGB acknowledging that the Air Force’s response upholds the free exercise rights of both service members and chaplains in a national context in which religious freedom is under attack.

In the letter, Collins said, “the Air Force has again acted with courage and wisdom in affirming that our service men and women have the right to observe their respective religions or no religion at all.”

Collins noted that Chaplains contribute to the holistic well-being of American troops, and to attack their role is to undermine the free exercise rights of all service members.
Collins, a member of the Air Force Reserve, is the only military chaplain currently serving in the United States Congress.