(WASHINGTON, D.C., 2/8/22) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro to determine whether the Navy’s new Deputy Chief of Chaplains, Carey Cash, can effectively serve in a role that impacts sailors of all faith, including American Muslims, in light of allegations that the chaplain has expressed extreme anti-Muslim views.
CAIR’s call on the Navy secretary follows an editorial published on Daily Kos by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) documenting Cash’s long history of hostile and factually incorrect statements about Islam and Muslims, as well as extreme statements about the role of religion in the military.
In a statement, CAIR Government Affairs Department Director Robert S. McCaw said:
“We call on Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro to investigate evidence that the Navy’s new Deputy Chief of Chaplains Carey Cash has expressed extremist views and determine whether or not those comments would prevent him from effectively serving in this important role, which impacts sailors of all faiths.
“Chaplain Cash has every right to hold his own personal religious convictions, but he also has a civic duty and legal responsibility to ensure that all sailors who practice Islam – and sailors who follow other faiths – receive religiously-required services, resources and accommodations.”
In his 2004 book “A Table in the Presence,” Cash makes several inaccurate and biased statements about Islam and Muslims.
In one passage, Cash calls Islam a violent faith that “from its very birth has used the edge of the sword as a means to convert or conquer those with different religious convictions.”
Cash falsely asserts that in Islam the concept of “grace” or the blessings freely given by Allah (God) is “often absent.”
Cash also incorrectly states that Islam as a religion inherently promotes extremism among Muslims, as he writes: “A religion that emerges from the soil of strict adherence to law as a means of gaining God’s favor will always tend toward extreme self-sacrifice.”
In 2005, while addressing the Congregation of Grace Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, during an Independence Day weekend service, Cash stated that “First we get the military, then we get the nation.”
According to a 2013 statement by the Department of Defense, “Service members can share their faith (evangelize), but must not force unwanted, intrusive attempts to convert others of any faith or no faith to one’s beliefs (proselytization).”
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com