SAY NO to HB514

Utah Professional Chaplains, Faith Leaders, and all those who wish to stop unqualified chaplains from entering Utah’s Public Schools

SAY NO to HB514

Attn: Utah Legislators

The intent of this letter from Professional Chaplains, Faith Leaders, School Officials, and Community Leaders, is to implore Utah Legislators to recognize the harm that this legislative action would impose on Utah’s children. HB514 opens the door for potential abuses of authority and puts vulnerable students already struggling with mental health challenges at even greater risk.

Students in public schools come from a variety of faith traditions and perspectives with vastly different notions of God. For students who do not share the same theology or religious beliefs of the school’s chaplain, seeking guidance from this chaplain in times of distress may increase students’ confusion, isolation, and stress. HB514 allows school officials to give unlicensed volunteers the title “chaplain,” and to let them have access to children in the state’s public schools. It creates opportunities for proselytizing in the school setting, and untrained and uncertified volunteer chaplains will not have the necessary skills and experience to tend to the spiritual needs of those outside of their own faith experience. We resolutely fear that this legislation will become a Trojan horse for religious activists to recruit in schools.

Unintended consequences of this legislation may deepen the state’s youth mental health crisis by providing students with lightly supervised or unsupervised chaplains counseling for common childhood problems such as anxiety, and even life-threatening emotional issues. While parental consent would be required for a student to meet with a volunteer chaplain, children may share very private and possibly harmful information with someone who is not certified and legally bound to confidentiality, nor professionally trained to recognize imminent health and safety risks for children, or their potential of danger to others.

Supporters of the Bill have been careful to de-emphasize the religious aspect, arguing it may be of help to mental health professionals in the school setting.  The First Amendment prohibits the government from making any law respecting an establishment of religion. Allowing faith-based people who use the term “chaplain” without any formal professional multifaith chaplaincy training, arguably puts the state authority and power behind these actions.