The questions they are asking are many: Will chaplains be allowed to preach on what the Bible says about homosexuality without being accused of hate speech? Will conservative denominations pull their endorsement of chaplains?

Retired Navy chaplain Mark Jumper of Illinois has spent the last several days poring over emails from other military chaplains across the country. The tone of these messages is mostly the same: concern mixed with uncertainty.

The subject: the Senate’s vote Saturday to repeal the military’s 17-year ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the armed forces. Less than two weeks ago the Senate rejected a similar effort to strike down the law known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” That vote seemed to mark the end of debate for the year.

But pro-repeal lawmakers from both parties brought the issue back from the dead on Saturday. This time they introduced the repeal as a separate, stand-alone bill—not attached to a larger Pentagon spending measure as before—and succeeded. Now President Barack Obama plans to sign the bill into law on Wednesday.

“Many, many chaplains are writing that this will be highly problematic for our nation,” Jumper said. “To say we are just repealing a 17-year-old law is highly inaccurate. We are repealing a military practice that goes back to George Washington and the American Revolution.”

… “We are worried that they are casting freedom of religion versus civil rights,” said Jumper. “It could lead to a chilling effect on the freedom of religion.”

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