For 10 years chaplain Rusty Trubey has counseled patients and their families at the Coatesville VA Medical Center, located in southern Pennsylvania an hour west of Philadelphia.
He got in trouble last summer, however, after preaching a chapel sermon from the Book of Romans about what happens to cultures that exclude God. That sermon included a reference to homosexuality, quoted in chapter 1, and for that people got angry and some walked out in protest.
Erin Smith, associate counsel at First Liberty Institute, tells AFN the sermon topic upset people so badly a medical center police officer informed Tobey people were complaining about him.
After angering people with his sermon, Trubey was informed by a supervisor any future sermons must be pre-approved. He was also reassigned to stocking shelves while the VA threatened to reprimand him.
With a new administration in the White House, First Liberty attorneys contacted Secretary Collins in February via letter and pleaded with him to intervene on the chaplain’s behalf.
In his letter to First Liberty, Secretary Collins states the Religious Freedom Restoration Act protects statements made by VA chaplains, such as Trubey, while delivering sermons. In accordance with that, there is no local policy or national policy that inhibits their sermons, he writes.
Collins also states a Letter of Reprimand against Trubey was “made in error” and has been rescinded.
Collins is former chaplain, too
Collins, a former Georgia congressman, is himself a former church pastor and military chaplain. He served as a U.S. Navy chaplain in the 1980s and, after the 9/11 terrorist attack, joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve as a chaplain.
During his time in Congress, Collins also urged the Pentagon to respect and protect the religious liberty rights of military chaplains who were being punished for holding orthodox biblical views.
Military chaplains, such as Tubey, are sponsored by a religious denomination, such as the Southern Baptist Convention or the Catholic Church. That sponsorship is referred to as an endorsement in the chaplain corps.
In his case, Trubey is endorsed by the Assemblies of God.
Derek Jones, executive director of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, tells AFN he was also aware of Tubey’s situation and has contacted Secretary Collins to intervene. Jones specifically asked the new VA boss to re-establish a national VA Chaplain Services Office that falls under his oversight.
That office was shuttered during the Obama administration, Jones says, which allowed each VA facility to established its own rules – and to punish chaplains – without any oversight from Washington, D.C.
