No More Activist Chaplains

Today's New York Times has a front page article that everyone should read. Once again, the Times addresses on their front page an issue I have been railing about for years, to the point of getting downright apoplectic at times. I like vindication, but really, I wish I could be wrong about some of this stuff some of the time. Still-unjailed Times reporter Laurie Goodstein does an excellent job in her latest chapter in her series on evangelical Christians in the Military. Today she examines the Chaplain ranks and the growing influence of Evangelicals. I am not going to regurgitate her data, I am going to offer perspective and analysis, and a challenge to the Catholic Bishops of America, and my Friends, the Quakers. Please go read the article. (Two links, no excuses!)

It's a safe bet that I will tie it to the issue of the Honor Code too. It isn't that I am obsessed, it is that I have life experience that gives me a pretty good insight into what is heading down the pike, and I don't like it. I've seen it before, and it is not a pretty sight. I will not rest until someone else is as concerned about the diminishing Honor Code as I am. Either get aboard, tune it out, or stop reading what I post. My husband, who served honorably and proudly, reassured me today that I am not becoming obsessed, it really is as important as I keep saying. Indeed, I will quote him here, "The Honor Code is all there is." I understand this on a deep and profound level, and for that reason I can't just let it go and hope for the best, and distract myself with the lates about Tom n Katie. (Whoever the hell she is.)

The last decade has seen a doubling in the number of ultra-conservative Evangelical Christians in the Chaplain ranks. This coincides with a sharp drop in the number Chaplains representing Liturgical, moderate, and liberal denominations. Case in point: Currently the United States Air Force has less than 100 Catholic priests to serve an Air Force of 280,000 individuals (and their families in many cases) 60,000 of which are Roman Catholic.

Military Chaplains are just that. They are Chaplains, or spiritual advisers first, and they are priests, rabbis, and preachers second. They are (supposed to be) benevolent, tolerant, and most importantly, ecumenical. Every Chaplain of every denomination needs to be reminded first and foremost that no matter what creed they espouse, they are ultimately in a minority position. No one denomination makes up over 50% of the Air Force, or any branch of service for that matter.

Go back and re-read that. Mull the words and say them out loud. See a light? If not it was already on. Either that, or you are one of the people I fear.

Religious bigotry is a slippery slope, to drag out a tired cliche. It drives a wedge between the ranks, and that ultimately undermines the honor code. I want troops who feel a call to service, not a call to arms in a holy war. I don't want Evangelical jihadi's in American khaki.

My husband put it very well: "Evangelical says it all for me. The minute someone gets born again, they start telling other people they need to change."

It is the job of the Chaplain to provide spiritual guidance and comfort to all who ask, not to proselytize, or even evangelize, to those who come to them for counsel. It is their job to comfort and aid all, not render judgments about the faith of the person coming to them for assistance. Chaplains need to be especially cognizant and tolerant of other belief systems. The people who come to them for help are in pain and distress. They come for help because they need it. It is not helpful to be judged negatively on the basis of your beliefs by a person of authority. (All Chaplains are officers, and therefore in positions of authority above all enlisted personnel.) Bottom line: Persons seeking out the Chaplain are vulnerable.

It is the job of the Chaplain, no matter what creed he or she follows, when a comrade-at-arms is lost, to offer words of comfort to all, not only those of the Chaplains belief system. Judgments about the fate of the dead because he or she was the "wrong" faith are most certainly inappropriate. For a military Chaplain to stand before a diverse assembly of troops, most likely including Catholics and Jews, and possibly a few Buddhists, Hindus and a couple of people with traditional beliefs, and offer a memorial service that implies that all who have not been "born again" and "washed in the blood of the lamb" are doomed to face the wrath of God and burn in hell forever. This is especially inappropriate when the person being memorialized is of a liturgical or a non-christian faith. This is an affront to the dead and an insult to the living. Any Chaplain who does not see that does not deserve to be the spiritual adviser of one, let alone many.

And I promised two challenges at the start of this post. First, I challenge the American Bishops of the Catholic church to take the steps with the Vatican that would allow women to say Mass. Make it an exception that only Sisters serving in Uniform can say mass...this would be a huge step toward appeasing American Catholics who favor women priests anyway.

My second challenge is to my Friends in the Quaker community. Get some Friends in uniform! Many Quakers have served in non-combat roles in every branch of the military, and a Chaplain serves in a non-combat role. An influx of Quakers into the Chaplain corps would immediately offer a balance to the ultra-conservative evangelicals in the ranks. And if the military found Quaker Chaplains unacceptable because they are too liberal, then conversely the evangelicals in the Chaplain ranks should be booted from the service as unacceptable in the opposite degree.