Lee Responds to Updated Religious Freedom Regulations in the Air Force

Press Release

Today, Senator Mike Lee released the following statement in response to the recent decision by the Air Force to strengthen its rules protecting religious expression. The updated regulations clarify policy language in the Air Force Instruction 1-1 in order to accommodate for all Airmen the individual expression of religious belief. The revised rules were the result of an internal review of Air Force policy, following revised language on religious freedom in the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act, which Senator Lee had encouraged earlier this year as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee:

"Congress made it clear in the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act that the Department of Defense needs to do more to protect the freedom of our service-members to practice and express their religious beliefs while serving our country. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who has worked for these protections, I am encouraged to see the Air Force reassessing their own standards to bring them closer to current law. I hope that these new regulations will be implemented with adherence to Congress's intent of protecting the constitutional rights of Airmen.

Protecting our service-members' God-given freedom of religion is more than a constitutional requirement -- it is critical to maintaining a strong and ready force. I have spoken to many active-duty members and veterans whose strongly held religious beliefs have been essential to dealing with the intense pressures they face in the armed services. I am afraid that recent trends towards restricting religious freedom in the military will weaken troop morale and impair the efforts of the military to recruit and retain quality service-members. The Department of Defense and Congress have a responsibility to continue engaging on this issue so we can ensure that Americans in uniform are able to enjoy during their time of service the very liberties they are putting their lives at risk to defend for the rest of us."

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