Military Religion Question of the Day: Beliefs
A US Air Force Air National Guard Chaplain recently wrote what became a surprisingly controversial commentary:
Although I haven’t written any books in my time, I often refer to a book that speaks to the subject of happiness. It’s called the Bible. The Bible tells us that 2,000 years ago, God sent his son Jesus into the world so that through his death on our behalf, we could have a personal relationship with him. Lest we forget, Christmas speaks of that birth and the happiness that came from that. Whether you share this belief or not, my wish for all of us is that no matter what religion you identify with, that we genuinely recognize that there is hope for happiness. It is important to remember that we are never alone, and that life eventually, and ultimately, will get better.
It was part of a commentary published by Chaplain (LtCol) Daniel Hornok in anticipation of the upcoming holiday season, which is traditionally an emotional one for military members and their families. This is true of deployed servicemembers, certainly, but also for young troops who may be experiencing their first major holidays at a new base away from home. The Chaplain emphasized hope and the need to ‘look out for each other,’ an act that “may save a life.”
While the commentary of a Utah ANG Chaplain is probably not terribly widely read (with no offense intended to the Chaplain), and the topic (hope and support during the holidays) was one that is important to the military, it still managed to attract some negative attention. A critic responded:
An evangelical National Guard Chaplain is blatantly proselytizing, writing a commentary for the 151st Air Refueling Wing news website of the Utah ANG entitled “where do we find happiness?”, Chaplain (Lt Col) Daniel Hornock answers the question as follows:
The critic then clipped the quote, lifting the following from the article:
God sent his son Jesus into the world so that through his death on our behalf, we could have a personal relationship with him. Lest we forget, Christmas speaks of that birth and of the happiness that came from that
Others chimed in with their agreement:
Chilling how they slide personal beliefs in there as though they are supposed to be proselytizing. What are vulnerable minds to do. They use their authority to push the soldiers toward their own beliefs. We are paying them to support the troups not brainwash them. Very sneaky to apear [sic] so open, yet the reality is there is nothing open or ethical. Where does it say in the Chaplain’s Manual to push your own personal religion?
What do you think? Was the Chaplain “blatantly proselytizing?” What if it wasn’t a Chaplain, but was instead just an ordinary soldier who published an article that included his beliefs?
Finally, what do the Chaplain’s words—or the critic’s—say about the spiritual environment in the military?
Stay tuned for more.
Update: Read the answer to this Military Religion Question of the Day.
JD -I found the original article with the Chaplain’s post (through the link you provided), but I can’t find the critic’s full response. Where did the critic(s) post his comment?
The full response is actually copied into this article. However, you can see the author’s original text here. It’s a dynamic Facebook page; the referenced text is currently about the 7th “post” down on the “wall.”
JD,
I think they may have added some more to the post, as the following is now also included:
“Thank you to the many fine Chaplains who are serving our soldiers. Please help rout out those who do not uphold just standards of practice. Tax dollars are not paying salaries to further any religions. You are there to serve soldiers in faith matters, not to serve religions.”
Regardless, the critic Marty implies that personal beliefs do not belong on a Chaplain’s post. If that were the case, then the Chaplain would be restricted to communal beliefs. The next step means that the Chaplain would be faced with two choices: neglect his job and refuse to talk about spiritual matters or violate the Constitution and create communal spiritual beliefs.
I’m assuming Marty wants all Chaplains to limit their public comments to the secular communal beliefs (such as Integrity, Service and Excellence). The next step is to compare a secular-only spiritual message to the personal belief statements of an atheist. Not much different. You could make the case that secular-only messages establish atheism or popular science as a religion. The only counter to that is sharing personal beliefs and qualifying those statements as personal. The Chaplain makes it clear that he believes his statements of happiness, but allows other people to belief something other than himself.
Finally, I wonder if Weinstein and Marty used the ‘comment’ section of the base’s webpage? If so, I didn’t see it. Likewise, I’m contemplating putting a post on Weinstein’s page….
My apologies for the confusion; I intended to communicate that the original critic’s quote was completely repeated here. The “comments” to that quote were abbreviated since they were secondary to the source.
Believe it or not, you’re not the first person to see the potential for a de facto “non-sectarian state religion” replacing individual faiths in government service.
I don’t know about the other two, but if you look at Chaplain Hornok’s original commentary (linked in the article), there is a sarcastic comment from US Army Major Laurel Williams at the bottom. She provided the other comment on the original Facebook posting that is not repeated here.
For reference, she is an outspoken critic of religion in the military. She has appeared in association with the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers as well as the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, speaking on “fundamentalist Christianity” and attempts to “Christianize” the military.
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