WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., today announced that he has received confirmation from the Navy that an application submitted by a “secular humanist” to serve in the Chaplain Corps has been denied. Wicker was joined by 22 Senators last week in sending a letter to Navy Secretary Richard Spencer and Adm. John Richardson opposing the application.

“The Navy’s leadership has done the right thing,” Wicker said. “The appointment of an atheist to an undeniably religious position is fundamentally incompatible with atheism’s secularism. This decision preserves the distinct religious role that our chaplains carry out.”