WASHINGTON — House lawmakers concerned that proposed military guidelines will restrict chaplains' ability to pray to Jesus Christ opened a news conference with a prayer last week and promised to deliver a six-inch-thick petition to President Bush asking him to intervene.

The Pentagon is finalizing guidelines on appropriate religious expression after an internal investigation found instances of religious insensitivity at the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, Colo.

But conservative lawmakers and others say they fear the guidelines, which urge sensitivity to religious diversity, go too far. They want Bush to issue an executive order protecting chaplains' right to pray according to their faith.

"I truly believe the president of the United States — if he understands the realities of this situation — will respond in a decisive manner," said Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz.

Franks said the new guidelines "just seem so counter to everything that America is."

Franks and three colleagues — who were among 70 lawmakers who wrote Bush about the subject — said they have a petition signed by more than 150,000 people nationwide.

Wednesday's announcement was the latest move in a debate over how the military should handle the growing influence of evangelical Christians in the armed services, and the constitutional requirement that the government not endorse a religious view.

Pentagon investigators this year looked into complaints that evangelical Christians at the Air Force Academy bullied Jews and cadets of other faiths. The investigators recommended academy leaders and the Air Force clarify appropriate religious expression so religious minorities don't feel discriminated against.

Several conservative lawmakers have said Christian chaplains in all branches of the military fear they will not be allowed to pray publicly in the name of Jesus.

Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., said the problem could be solved if the president would "pick up the phone and call the secretary of defense (Donald Rumsfeld) and say, 'Donald, I want my chaplains to have their First Amendment rights protected no matter whether they're in the church or outside of the church.' "

But the Rev. Barry Lynn, a United Church of Christ minister and director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, said the free-speech argument was "completely bogus."

"Congressman Jones wants ... there to be an unfettered right for chaplains to essentially be able to convert people to their religious viewpoint," Lynn said. "That's never been the purpose of chaplains."