WP: Military Wrestles With Disharmony Among Chaplains

[Pirate Smile]

Military Wrestles With Disharmony Among Chaplains

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 30, 2005; Page A01

The growing influence of evangelical Protestants is roiling the military chaplain corps, where their desire to preach their faith more openly is colliding with long-held military traditions of pluralism and diversity.

After accusations this summer that evangelical chaplains, faculty and coaches were pressuring cadets at the Air Force Academy, the Air Force yesterday issued new guidelines on respect for religious minorities. In the Navy, evangelical Protestant chaplains are fighting what they say is a legacy of discrimination in hiring and promotions, and they are bridling at suggestions they not pray publicly "in the name of Jesus."

-snip-
"There is a polarization that is beginning to set up that I don't think is helpful. Us versus them," said Air Force Col. Richard K. Hum, an Evangelical Free Church minister who is the executive director of the Armed Forces Chaplains Board. "I don't know whether it's an overflow of what's happening in society. But this sort of thing is so detrimental to what we are trying to do in the chaplaincy."

The Rev. MeLinda S. Morton, a Lutheran minister who resigned in June as an Air Force chaplain after criticizing the religious atmosphere at the Air Force Academy, said there has been a palpable rise in evangelical fervor not just among chaplains but also among the officer corps in general since she joined the military in 1982, originally as a launch officer in a nuclear missile silo.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/29/AR2005082902036.html

[countmyvote4real]

1. Onward Christian soldiers.

At least for the ones that see Iraq as more important than business school.

[me b zola]

2. A reflection of the larger society

"I don't know whether it's an overflow of what's happening in society. But this sort of thing is so detrimental to what we are trying to do in the chaplaincy.""

I think Col. Hum has it right. It is a reflection of what is happening in society----and it is detrimental to society!

Evangelicals are proving themselves to be unwilling/unable to live peacefully with others. I wish there was an easy answer to this problem, but I don't see one.

[OneBlueSky]

3. the result of one group trying to impose their religious beliefs on others

never a good idea, and seldom successful . . .

[leftchick]

4. this is certainly getting out of hand....

<snip>

In July 2004, he was reprimanded for a sermon at the memorial service of a sailor who died in a motorcycle accident. The sailor, Klingenschmitt said in a recent interview, was a Catholic, "and I had led him to a born-again experience before he died." In the sermon, he said, he emphasized that the sailor was certainly in heaven and "mentioned in passing" that according to John 3:36, those who do not accept Jesus are doomed for eternity.

<snip>

"Could there possibly be a worse time for this fundamentalist Christianity to be pushed in our military, when we're in a war and the people we are fighting are recruiting their members by saying we're Christian crusaders?" asked Mikey Weinstein, a 1977 Air Force Academy graduate and former Reagan White House official.


<snip>

Among other incidents, the academy commandant had urged cadets to use the "J for Jesus" hand signal with the thumb and index finger, the head football coach had told players that he expected to see them in church, and Jewish cadets had experienced anti-Semitic slurs after students were urged to see the Mel Gibson film "The Passion of the Christ."

:wow:

[Judi Lynn]

5. It's not acceptable that the chaplains are actually trying to gain

so much control over the personal lives of the soldiers. Trying to control their personal behavior is wrong. Goading them into flashing "Jesus" signs is childish, and stupid. They are trying to create their own little kingdom, a world within a world, with themselves as the little gods ruling over their captives who simply can't escape their clutches.

It looks godawful. Someone should tell them to leave these people alone: they've got far more important things to think about.

[Orsino]

6. *This* is the controversy?

And here I thought that maybe some of the chaplains were conflicted over leading troops into an unprovoked war of conquest and occupation.

[Mairead]

7. Yes.

Isn't it amazing how seldom real life-and-death ethical issues are a problem for them.

But, religions have always been on the side of the bosses. There'll be pie in the sky when we die, so we're to shut up and obey our betters.