fbpx
37.6 F
Spokane
Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeBeliefsThe government doesn't provide chaplains for all traditions

The government doesn’t provide chaplains for all traditions

Date:

Related stories

Now Hiring: Freelance Reporters

Now Hiring: Freelance Reporters SpokaneFāVS.com, an online publication covering religion...

Ask A Mormon: Can you be baptized after death?

Mormons believe that “God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). He loves all of his children, regardless of when or where they were born. We also believe that baptism, and the covenants we make at baptism, are stepping stones on the path to salvation and exaltation.

Ask A Mormon: Do Mormons believe they will become gods?

Latter-day Saints believe that every life — our spirits, our souls, the essence of who we are — is eternal.

Ask A Mormon: Do Mormons stockpile goods?

Are Mormons Preppers? Why and where and for how long do they stockpile goods? Why is this, is there an eschatological reason?

Tripping to Peace at Salt Lake: Individual States or All New Kingdom?

We must, if we are to survive, see that our existence is vitally connected with the equally important existence of the other.

Our Sponsors

spot_img
spot_img

This is a more complicated question that it seems at first. If the question were, “Should the military provide chaplains for atheists?” the answer would be, “Of course, they have a constitutional and statutory duty to provide chaplains for all belief systems.”

The question of “atheist chaplains' is more complex. In most settings the government does not provide a chaplain of each tradition. The chaplains that serve are required to provide pastoral care for all traditions. (This sometimes causes problems as fundamentalist clergy in various traditions sometimes fail to comply with this requirement. But in principle, everyone has pastoral care.)

I don't know that there are quotas for how many chaplains of each tradition the military is required to have. It does raise the question of how many atheist chaplains would have to be recruited to meet a requirement for atheist chaplains — one?

There is also a credentialing problem. Are there atheist clergy? Who credentials them? What are the qualifications? This problem seems to have been worked out for such traditions as Pagan, WICCAN, and even various New Age traditions. But I'm not sure how you credential an atheist chaplain.

Just some preliminary thoughts.

Deb Conklin
Deb Conklin
Rev. Deb Conklin’s wheels are always turning. How can the church make the world a better place? How can it make Spokane better? Her passions are many, including social justice in the mainline tradition, emergence and the post-modern and missional church.

Our Sponsors

spot_img
spot_img
spot_img
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
spot_img
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x