Yeah, This Makes Perfect Sense
Coming soon, perhaps: Athiest Chaplains.
I suppose I’ve heard more foolish proposals. But at the moment, I can’t really say when.
From Fox News:
A source tells Fox News that the Military Association of Atheists and Free Thinkers plans to make the request on Tuesday, floating its president Jason Torpy as the proposed chaplain.
No, I’m not joking. The Fox article linked here has more details.
Somehow, I just don’t see this as making sense. I know Chaplains do far more than simply lead worship services. But I believe that there is indeed a religious component to a Chaplain’s duties. And besides, an “Atheist Chaplain” just seems like a freaking contradiction in terms to me.
However: given the way things have been going recently, I wouldn’t bet against seeing this implemented sometime in the next 2 1/2 years.
Category: Military issues, WTF?
Well, better an atheist chaplain than this one: http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/01/army-approves-first-chaplain-from-westboro-baptist-church/. 😀
An honest-to-God Atheist Chaplin?
Atheist-Chaplain, a contradiction in terms? Yeah, probably. About as much as Military Intelligence, which, having been one of those MI guys, I can say was fairly accurate sometimes.
The link given in the article has been accidentally corrupted.
It should read: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/12/group-preparing-to-press-military-for-atheist-chaplain-source-says/
gitarcarver: thanks for catching that. Source is fixed now.
Seriously?
An atheist chaplain is called a psychologist.
Stick Stickly…Thank you!
Yes, or a psychologist, marriage counselor, therapist, professional confidant, substance-abuse counselor, crisis counselor, family counselor, or best friend who is also an oh-it-just- happened-all-by-itself believer.Pick one or mix and match.
Webster’s – (just to get it out there)
chap·lain
noun \ˈcha-plən\
: a priest or other Christian religious leader who performs religious services for a military group (such as the army) or for a prison, hospital, etc.
athe·ist
noun \ˈā-thē-ist\
: a person who believes that God does not exist
Yep – while we’re looking for ways to cut the budget and screw the troops, this looks like a perfectly reasonably way to spend money. What a bunch of Pecker-Necks.
My posts are pretty obvious where I sit with relationship to religion and god….I don’t consider myself an atheist though, I tend to think I am a hardened cynical skeptic….
Having said that, atheists engaging in douchebaggery should be called out on the spot for said douchebaggery and given a swift kick in the ass to get their shit squared away.
If you don’t believe in god, you don’t need a chaplain to guide your spiritual needs because, by definition, you don’t have any you silly twats. Now quit the nonsense and get your asses back on task.
Vov Thank you and once again well said.
Well said
“We raise our voices now to Whomever may or may not be around, available, caring, apathetic, or hostile, in the hopes that You , if You do indeed exist, will hear our prayers to You and act or not act according to whatever principles You may or may not have and respond to our pleas in some manner we may or may not understand. Amen.”
and that’s just the agnostic version.
Think VoV nailed it… it’s the opposite of Pascal’s Wager – if there is no God they don’t need a chaplain, and if they need a chaplain that implies God exists. I’m betting with Pascal.
It is bizarre to think that there is a God and that there always has been a God. It is likewise bizarre to believe that God created all of the universe and the creatures of this planet. However, for some reason that truly escapes me, it is not widely regarded as bizarre to believe that there was either once nothing and then there was something or that there was always something and that the something simply developed into the universe and the complex creatures of this planet. What’s more, before the arrival of Jesus Christ, all people believed in a Creator or mystical beings to which creation was attributed. It’s not as if man believed himself to be in isolation. Rather man believed the world to have been made, though the deities’ names always differed. I have always been fascinated by that.
As an athiest and a veteran, there were times when it would have been nice to have access to a chaplain that understood athiesm. I’ve turned to chaplains for support on a few occasions. In all but one case I found it extremely helpful: the power of chaplains is less in their particular faith than in their kindness, empathy and humanity. Mostly, they listen and give comfort and advice without judgement.
Still, their default comfort mechanism was, “I’ll pray for you,” which wasn’t really helpful. I interpretted that as, “I care about you and wish there was more I could do to help,” but it would have been nice to have a chaplain that just said that. Also, I’ve become more interested in humanism and would have liked access to someone who had an understanding of humanist teachings. Athiests grieve, question their our beliefs and wrestle with right and wrong. It would be nice to get a non-religous perspective when seeking guidance or comfort on these issues. Psychologists generally don’t deal well with these topics and their time is very limited, which is why they aren’t a viable alternative to athiests seeking council.
It would also have been nice to have never met that chaplain who heavily implied that my father’s death was due to my athiesm. If nothing else, I’d like to see the chaplain corps become more sensitive to athiesm or other religions in general.
Also, would Christian troops really have such a hard time taking council from someone who doesn’t share their belief in a God? There’s already a Buddhist chaplain, and Buddhism rejects the idea of a creating diety or theological beings that are “higher” than humans. Is talking to an humanist chaplain such a large step? Plenty of Christians seem happy to ask the Dalai Lama for advice.