Jason
Heap, a graduate of Texas Christian University's Brite Divinity School and
Oxford, has applied to the U.S. Navy for commissioning as a chaplain. What
makes Heap unique is that the faith group
endorsing him is the Humanist Society. A former Christian minister who no
longer believes in God, Heap is now an atheist and a humanist. By every standard,
except possibly believing in God, Heap appears an exceptionally well-qualified
chaplain candidate. (For more, cf. the NPR feature, "Should
Military Chaplains Have to Believe in God?")
Should
military chaplains believe in God?
Prominent
universities, including Harvard and Stanford, have concluded that faith in God
is not essential for a chaplain and now, in addition to chaplains from traditional
religions, have humanist chaplains on their chaplaincy staffs.
On
the other side, the U.S. House of Representatives last week approved
legislation requiring military chaplains to believe in a higher power. The bill
seems problematic because it appears to legislate the establishment of religion
and because some Buddhists deny believing in a higher power. Banning some Buddhist
chaplains is perhaps (or not, depending upon how influential one believes
evangelical Christians to be) an unintended consequence of the proposed bill.
Who
is right? Should military chaplains believe in God?
The
larger issue, it seems to me, entails defining the chaplain's role. If the
chaplain's role is to be a caring friend, relied upon by commanders and troops
alike, to render assistance to personnel in cases that one might typically
refer in a civilian context to a psychologist or social worker, then allowing
humanists to serve as chaplains makes sense.
I
object to this understanding of the chaplain's role on two grounds. First, this
shortchanges our military personnel. They deserve the best. Too many chaplains
lack the skills that social work and counseling require. Commanders sometimes
prefer chaplains to trained professionals because commanders believe that
chaplains are more susceptible to command influence than are social workers and
psychologists. Sadly, that assessment, in my experience, was all too often
correct. Troops sometimes prefer chaplains because conversations with a
chaplain are completely confidential. Conversations with social workers and
psychologists are most confidential, though these professionals must report individuals
who pose a threat to themselves or others, or who have a medical problem that
may affect unit readiness. Confidentiality, in either situation, imposes a
threat to well-being or contributes to ill health.
Second,
the Constitutional justification for funding military chaplaincy is to ensure
military personnel the ability to practice their religion in the absence of
civilian religious resources. Troops assigned overseas are generally distant
from English faith communities and personnel in boot camps, military hospitals,
and some other settings may not have ready access, for good military reasons,
to local faith communities. Chaplains provide religious ministry for personnel
of their own faith community, for as many others as the chaplain can accommodate
with integrity, and facilitate free exercise for others.
For
example, the Bishop for Federal Ministries instructed Episcopal military
chaplains that any non-Eucharistic Christian worship was acceptable as a form
of morning or evening prayer. This permitted Episcopal chaplains to lead services
in rotation with other chaplains without having to impose Episcopal formats or
wording. When stationed on Adak, a remote Aleutian island with no civilian
community, a Jewish sailor asked me to conduct a Passover Seder for him. I
declined. If I conducted the Seder, the Seder would be, by definition, a Christian
Seder. However, I told him that if he led the Seder, I would provide the space,
the food, advertise the event, and ensure that we had at least a dozen attend. He
was grateful; I was simply doing my job, facilitating for someone for whom I could
not directly provide.
Buddhist
chaplains, similarly, conduct religious rituals according to the teachings of
their school of Buddhism. Anyone who has visited a Buddhist temple in the
States or abroad may have seen one or more of these rituals. Buddhist chaplains
would, as I did, facilitate for people of other religions (helping a Jew
organize a Seder, a Roman Catholic to find a priest or lay Eucharistic minister,
etc.).
What
would a humanist chaplain do? Do humanists have any distinctive rituals or
practices? If not, why do atheist and agnostic military personnel (who
certainly number more than the 1% of the force who have self-identified as
agnostic or atheist) need a chaplain?
Requiring
chaplains to believe in God unnecessarily and inappropriately entangles the
government with religion. Equally important, the current practice of military
chaplaincy shortchanges the nation, its military personnel, and their family members.
Perhaps Jason Heap's vital contribution to the military chaplaincy is to be the
catalyst for restoring the chaplaincy to its real mission of providing
religious ministry so that armed forces personnel can exercise, when and as militarily
feasible, their right to religious freedom.
2 comments:
As we detest the leanings of Al Qaeda, we Americans keep trying to promote Christianity as a law. We do this as we say the government should stay out of religion and the first amendment rights.
I listened to talk show yesterday where the person was upset with the IRS about taxing religious property; although he was for letting clergy direct the congregation in how to vote and what to believe.
We always want it both ways.
Here is an example of what one religion says about Chaplains and their role in the military.
https://www.lds.org/callings/military-relations/military-chaplains
Role of Military Chaplains
As a member of the commander's staff, chaplains serve as moral, ethical, and spiritual advisers to their commanders. They ensure the free exercise of religion and oversee the unit and base religious programs. Much of the work they do is one-on-one with the soldiers and their families. Chaplains go where the troops go. They are in the barracks, in the offices, and in the training areas, as well as in combat zones ministering to men and women of all faiths, denominations, and persuasions. They must be able to work in a pluralistic religious environment, respecting and accommodating members of all faiths without compromising their own beliefs. Chaplains serve full-time in the active-duty Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. In addition, they can serve part-time in the Reserve and National Guard while pursuing other forms of civilian employment. As with all Reserve and National Guard members, if the unit is activated, they may have to deploy for extended periods of time.
So an agnostic can do the same job. The role of Chaplains does more than promote religion.
I find the concept of "believing in a higher power" as a litmus test unhelpful. It does not really distinguish between theism and nontheism - as "believing in God" does.
It's already been mentioned that (many) Buddhists don't believe in God. But Buddhists (all of them, I think) believe in higher powers - personal (example: bodhisattvas) or impersonal (karma). Thus, Buddhism is clearly a religion.
Even among atheists, we must distinguish. All of them by definition don't believe in God, but many would scruple to say they don't believe in a higher power.
I think the phenomenon of an atheist chaplain could be in one way beneficial to Christians. To be admitted as a chaplain, a candidate needs an endorsing "faith group" (or equivalently, "religion"). And it is certainly reasonable to think of modern atheism as a sort of "faith" - a belief in propositions beyond any possible evidence of the senses.
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