RICHMOND, Va. (BP) – Southern Baptist chaplaincy executive Douglas Carver has joined a Virginia National Guard member’s court fight claiming the state’s tuition assistance program discriminates against students pursuing religious degrees.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Carver (retired), executive director of chaplaincy for the North American Mission Board (NAMB), filed an amicus brief in support of Virginia Army National Guard Spc. Trace Stevens, a Liberty University Master of Divinity student preparing for military chaplaincy. Virginia’s Department of Military Affairs denied Stevens access to the Virginia National Guard State Tuition Assistance Program (VANGSTAP) for both his undergraduate and graduate studies, his attorneys at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) said, because his educational pursuits constitute “religious training or theological education.”
Carver filed the amicus brief independently of his affiliation with NAMB, and is represented by Becket, a nonprofit law firm advocating for religious liberty. Carver told Baptist Press he was inspired by the nation’s longstanding financial support of the military chaplaincy.
“We have funded chaplains and even their education as chaplains, both from the military education side and the civilian side, historically for 250 years,” Carver said of the nation, ever since Gen. George Washington declared chaplaincy an essential battlefield support in 1775. “So it was quite odd that the state of Virginia was looking at not funding or providing tuition assistance for those who were pursuing a ministry within the context of the military chaplaincy. That’s why it sort of sparked my interest.”
Carver, who retired from the Army in 2011 as the chief of chaplains, joined fellow retired chief of chaplains Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Solhjem in the friend-of-the-court brief. Carver was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2007 and continued his service during the Obama administration.
VANGSTAP is available to National Guard members with at least two years of service, but not for Guard members pursuing the very education that the state requires for military chaplaincy service, Becket Senior Counsel William Haun said in announcing the court filing.
“There is a constitutional duty to satisfy our soldiers’ free exercise of religion, one that every American generation has faithfully met by providing chaplains to meet the religious needs of our brave servicemembers,” Haun said. “This tradition is marked by religious roots, George Washington’s example, and our nation’s enduring gratitude. Virginia should remember it, not block the next generation of chaplains from answering their sacred call.”
Travis is among three plaintiffs in the case of Johnson v. Fleming, which ADF filed in May 2025 challenging Virginia’s exclusion of religious majors from VANGSTAP and the Virginia Tuition Assistance Grant Program (VTAG), two non-need based tuition assistance programs. Luke Thomas and Cameron Johnson, denied VTAG grants because of their religious degree pursuits, are also plaintiffs.
“By excluding Cameron, Luke, and Trace from grants that they are otherwise qualified for simply because they have chosen certain religious majors, Virginia officials violate the First Amendment,” ADF said of the case. “The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that religious Americans cannot be treated worse than other Americans and that the government can’t discriminate among religions.”
But in March, a federal district court dismissed the students’ claims related to VTAG, while allowing limited claims related to VANGSTAP to proceed. Carver’s brief supports the plaintiffs in the ADF appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District, as well as ADF’s emergency motion to halt the religious discrimination.
“Religious freedom is a hallmark of American society, and students shouldn’t have to fear that living out their beliefs will cause them to be treated as second-class,” ADF said of the case. “These three students should not have to abandon their chosen religious studies — something that they believe God has called them to pursue — simply to be treated equally to other students.”
Carver, who said he benefitted from the GI Bill education benefits, said the Viginia law seems nonsensical.
“My hope is that as a result of us being a friend of this case,” Carver said, “that Becket will achieve their hopes for this to be overturned.”
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