If history is a guide, the military’s handling of its recent religious challenges may put the rest of us to shame. Although the military has lagged behind in its response to some social concerns, the reverse has been true with others. In the second half of the 20th century, the military integrated more fully and effectively than other parts of America society, as Colin Powell’s career attests.

Blake Page had planned on graduating from West Point in the spring, but no more. Earlier this month, the cadet took to the Huffington Post to announce his resignation from the military academy and attack it for “unconstitutional proselytism, discrimination against the nonreligious and establishing formal policies to reward, encourage and even at times require sectarian religious participation.”

If this sounds familiar, it is. Seven years ago, a group of Air Force Academy cadets complained about widespread pressure to convert to Christianity. Both controversies have centered on prayers by chaplains at formal events and evangelism by officers of their subordinates.

Many Americans who identify themselves as having no religious affiliation—20% in the most recent Pew poll—are likely to applaud these dust-ups as evidence that nonbelievers are finally willing to stand up against an atmosphere of enforced faith in the military. Those who are more sympathetic to public expressions of faith see a campaign to stamp out expressions of traditional belief.

Although both sides rightly see the military controversies as a microcosm of the country’s growing debates about religious freedom, there also are radical differences. The military isn’t simply a profession—it’s a life. The line between public and private is vanishingly small. (This is one reason why the military can still punish misbehavior like adultery.) Mr. Page therefore has a powerful point when he complains that he had no way to avoid proselytizing comments and prayers by chaplains at formal West Point events. But his Christian colleagues are in a similar bind. There is nowhere else for them to take their faith.

Military chaplains are a key player in this matter. Isn’t it a First amendment-violating “establishment of religion” for the military to appoint religious officials? No, it isn’t, because if the military didn’t provide chaplains, religious believers would be cut off from public worship in many military settings. The chaplains exist not for the military or the government generally, but to give military men and women access to their religion.

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