Saturday, July 26, 2008

Do we need Atheist Chaplains in the military?

Do we need Atheist Chaplain's in the military? My answer is no. Greg Epstein, the Humanist chaplain at Harvard University, has a more well developed answer.

Military chaplains exist because military life, by its nature, involves dealing with death. When people are about to die, in danger of dying, or even when they are merely contemplating death as we all do from time to time, they ask questions. Who am I? Where did I come from? What is the meaning of my life? What do I value most deeply and what will become of it—and of me—when I am gone?

Non-coincidentally, the world’s religions are built around providing systematic answers to such questions. Religions may not always be the best answers. But our society is founded upon the principle that people can decide that for themselves, and many, including many soldiers, decide to be religious. So we provide chaplains to help recruits, who must cope on a daily basis with a huge range of incredibly painful scenarios, make sense of them all.

Source: Greg M. Epstein: Military Needs Chaplains for Humanists, Atheists - On Faith at washingtonpost.com

Epstein answers the question with a "maybe yes". What do you think?

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7 comments:

Patti said...

I doubt there would be any need to create a formal "atheist chaplain" job description, buy why not identify certain people that atheists could turn to in moments of philosophical uncertainty? Of course atheists question Life, the Universe and Everything, just like believers do, especially in life-threatening situations. I don't have to suddenly become a believer to wonder what is the meaning of my life, or what I value deeply, or if I lived well.

Dromedary Hump said...

I recently posted to my blog an experience I had in the army, as an atheist forced to contend with christian prostelytizing by NCOs.

Here's the link to that post: http://atheistcamel.blogspot.com/

Lets not confuse the idea by calling the concept "Chaplan", which has religious connotation.
I would have welcomed an "Advisor" or "Counselor" who was atheist / humanist to go to for direction and support as to how to handle the issue, or to just draw general support from for any reason.

Having "been there, done that" I can't even imagine how this could be a bad thing.

Anonymous said...

On first thinking about it sounds absurd. The implication that a non-believer needs someone to tell them how not to believe seems stupid. So, I tend to agree with you.

However, dromedaryhump raises the point that a counsellor who wasn't pushing a religion might be welcomed by a lot of soldiers, if the alternative is evangelising counsellors.

I think this is an issue where the rest of us can't really contribute much of an opinion.

Mojoey said...

I am not at all for an Atheist Chaplains. It sends the wrong message and the Christians will jump all over it as proof Atheism is a religion. On the other and, somebody trained to deal with secular humanist troops would be fine.

Johnny C said...

Eh, I would say no.. but Atheists need someone to talk to without giving them the same bullshit. I would say, the chaplain/ministers job would essentially be a counselor or psychologist, but the negative connotation that comes with that would keep people away. So MAYBE having a humanist or atheist "chaplain" would be ok. If I was an atheist in combat, I would want someone to talk to as well.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I know I'm becoming part of the old school here, but since when did we need to start using religious terminology to describe non-religious positions... After all, wouldn't an atheist advisor about dealing with death be... *gasp*... A counselor?

Too be honest, and with minimal disrespect to the original author intended, this starts to smack of someone looking desperatly for an issue where there isn't one. Am I missing something? I realize I have let my dues to both the United Atheist Church of Whosiwhatsit and the Grand Atheist Conspiracy lapse, but I thought I was still eligible for recorving the newsletter and upcoming agenda booklet. Did I miss the meeting where we voted on Atheist doctrine? ;)

Seriously, I thought we were above turning ourselves into some pseudo-religious organization of the non-religious... "organized religion is wrong! Now make sure you drop some cash into the collection plate, in Hawking's name, amen".

-olly

Stardust said...

The word "chaplain" defines a religious person who is to assist and serve the religious of an organization such as the military, club, school, etc. Therefore, I have a problem with the wording "atheist chaplain". However, a secular counselor would be more appropriate. Atheist soldiers in the military need someone to talk to just as much as the god believers need a chaplain when their imaginary friend doesn't help them out.