About
289,000 military personnel – one fifth of our military forces – are either
atheist or have no religious preference. Atheists in the military are not
getting the support they need. And they have said they want the support.
The
military needs atheist and humanist chaplains. Firstly, for all those service
personnel who don’t belong to a church and don’t want to. Second, a soldier who
wants to talk privately about mental health problems must go to a chaplain,
because a mental health professional must report such conversations up the
chain of command: so a nonbeliever in that situation must choose between a
doctor who will expose his problem, or a Christian chaplain who doesn’t share
his beliefs. Third, with LGBT couples now trying to tackle the military
bureaucracy regarding benefits and fight on other issues, it would be easier
for them if they didn’t have to go to a possibly-homophobic Christian military
chaplain for support.
The
opposition to this idea is, of course, widespread. Not long ago, the Army was
caught examining soldiers for “spiritual fitness” for fear that soldiers with
insufficient religious belief would be lacking in moral values and would betray
their comrades. They actually imposed remedial training on soldiers with wobbly
faith, until they were caught. More recently, the Marines were also caught
giving extra scrutiny to the nonreligious; the Marines put atheism in the same
risk category with cowardice, mental illness and drug abuse. The existing Christian chaplains insist that
atheists make for poor warriors and they don’t want competition from the
atheists, and Tony Perkins and the far-right Family Research Council is among
the rightwing fringe groups battling to stamp out atheism in the military,
insisting, with fantastic illogic, that any measure to play nice with the
atheists is an infringement upon the religious liberty of Christians. Some argue that atheist chaplains would tell the bereaved that their loved ones are worm food; others argue that atheist chaplains would advise people to commit suicide since there is nothing in their future. 2800
chaplains, not one open atheist or humanist.
In fact, 1400
military chaplains belong to the Southern Baptist Convention, so they have been
ordered by their church not to do weddings or counseling for same-sex couples,
or take part in same-sex events, offer any kind of guidance that would even
imply acceptance of same-sex relationships. They are only allowed to offer gays
repentance, forgiveness, healing, and restoration of grace – to “fix” what’s
“broken”. Which is of course inconsistent with current military regulations. So at least half of the military chaplains are required by their church to treat gays as though they're child molesters.
The
House just approved an amendment affirming that all military chaplains must be
approved by one of two hundred religious groups on the Pentagon’s approved list
– all of them based on belief in God. The current sacrificial lamb is Jason
Heap, a graduate of the divinity school at Texas Christian University, who was
endorsed by the Humanist Society, and humanists want that society added to the
Pentagon’s list of two hundred “approvers”. Two other humanist chaplains
already serve, but only because they have endorsements from Christian groups,
and they are anonymous for fear of losing their jobs; a chaplain who tried to
openly switch from Pentecostal to Wiccan was fired. Heap doesn’t want to
pretend to be a Christian – he wants out of the closet.
The
VA has been dragged into all this stuff too. Non-Christians have succeeded in
winning rules changes for headstones in cemeteries. If you’re a pagan and die
in battle, you can actually have a headstone with the Mjolnir, the Hammer of
Thor on it. The approved headstone for an atheist veteran is the atomic symbol
of the three ellipses, with the A in the middle. In other words, Uncle Sam will
finally treat you like a human being with full equal rights, once you’re
already dead and don’t need it.
