Video
Twitter
RSS Feed
Don't discharge God from the military
Q: What is the proper role of religion -- and personal religious belief -- in the U.S. armed forces? Should a particular religious affiliation disqualify someone from active military service? How far should the military go to accommodate personal religious beliefs and practices?
Recent events at Fort Hood should not alter the military's policies on faith among the forces. God should be welcomed into the army, whether as Adonai, Lord Jesus, Allah, or any of the other names by which God is known. So should the presence of those who believe that God does not exist. And all should play by the same rules.
First, the individual religious beliefs of service personnel are just that, individual beliefs. Were that not the case, we would probably need to examine Christians and the role of faith among the increasing numbers of them who commit domestic abuse.
Admittedly, most of them do not invoke Jesus as they beat their wives and children, but many of them do attend church and then go home and do so. Bottom line, there is no reason to pay special attention to the practitioners of any particular faith. Especially in the most recent case, there is no evidence at this time, that Maj. Hasan was part of any larger conspiracy, religious or otherwise.
Of course, the behavior of those who invoke their faith to justify hostility to our nation or those who do not share their faith should be scrutinized even if doing so strikes some as less than politically correct. That however, is a matter for Military Police, the FBI and other federal agencies to pursue on a case by case basis, not a religion by religion basis.
Second, military chaplains should continue to serve the needs of all personnel regardless of the faith they follow, including those who follow no faith at all but turn to them in a time of need. The test of a good chaplain is NOT their ability to serve those who share there faith, but rather how effectively they can draw upon their particular faith as an effective tool to meet the spiritual needs of all personnel.
This rule assumes that proselytization is generally wrong, at least when done by chaplains taking advantage of a soldier in need by suggesting that he/she will never be really happy until sharing the chaplain's faith. And while there are certainly exceptions to the norm, the vast majority of military chaplains honor this approach with great diligence and humility.
The abuses in this area are typically found among officers who marry their religious zeal to their faith. That is an ongoing challenge to which the military could respond more effectively.
Finally, we should recall that faith continues to be an important part of life for many members of the military, sustaining them through challenges which I hope many of us never have to know. Assuming, either because of our hostility to one faith in particular, or all faith in general, that we would be better served by discharging God from the military, flies in the face of everything we know about how religious faith works in the lives of so many people serving our country.
Like all deployments, we need to move forward assuming the best about those who move with us, preparing for the worst because sometimes it happens, and creating practices and policies which nurture the former rather than giving in to our fears of the latter.
By
Brad Hirschfield
|
November 10, 2009; 1:04 PM ET
Share This: 
Technorati
| Del.icio.us | Digg | Facebook
Previous: Religion irrelevant to one's fitness to serve |
Next: Religion has no official role in our military
Posted by: DanielintheLionsDen | November 13, 2009 1:07 PM
Report Offensive Comment
"Admittedly, most of them do not invoke Jesus as they beat their wives and children...."
Sadly, many do invoke Jesus as justification for pre-emptive war, torture and gay bashing.
Posted by: coloradodog | November 13, 2009 10:07 AM
Report Offensive Comment
Brad Hirschfield,
You said:
"First, the individual religious beliefs of service personnel are just that, individual beliefs."
That is what you say, and that is what I say.
But that is not what Born-Again Fundamentalist Christians say.
That is not what Catholics say.
That is not what Mormons say.
That is not what Moslems say.
They each say that they have the one true religon, and that all other belief systems are apostasy, and heresy. They say that everyone living in darkness needs to know the truth, and that it is their responsibility to insist that everyone else make a conscious free-will choice to "convert." Otherwise, then something very, very bad may happen, and so mere tolerance is not an option.
How do you, in your cool, clear, level-headedness, get aroung that?