Atheist NCO Belittles Idea of Humanist Chaplain
A self-described atheist US military NCO writing at Ranger Up became only the latest non-theist to criticize the crusade to appoint a non-theist military chaplain — though he may be one of the first currently serving in the US military to do so:
[The humanist] claim is that Humanism fills the same role for atheists that Christianity fills for Christians, or Islam fills for Muslims. Here is where I (as an atheist and Humanist) come to my first objection. Christians are Christians because they believe in Christianity. One need not believe in Humanism to be an atheist. This is a false equivalency. Yes, many atheists tend to follow Humanist beliefs, but it is not a requirement or a standard.
Atheism is, again, simply a lack of belief in a god or gods. That is the sole universal unifying factor amongst non-believers. They come from a vast ocean of cultures and backgrounds and to attempt to shoehorn them all under an umbrella, no matter how many are already under it, is dishonest.
The NCO then makes an interesting point: It is his job to address the secular needs of his troops. If they need prayer or some ‘religious stuff’, then they go to the chaplain. Thus, a “humanist” chaplain would be redundant with the military chain of command:
As an NCO, a primary facet of my job is to look out for the welfare of my Soldiers. I do this regardless of the Soldier’s religious beliefs and if they happen to be religious and want to pray or something, they have chaplains available for that. What would a Humanist chaplain do for a Soldier that I could not?
He makes the greater point that remains: If non-theists cannot be “shoehorn[ed]…under an umbrella,” to combine metaphors, how can the military possibly legitimize a single representative faith system for them?
They’d have better luck commissioning a chaplain under the faith of “Other” with a question mark as his chaplain’s badge.
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The mistake that some of these very independent atheists make, and because of their extremely independent personalities, just don’t get, when they argue against Humanist chaplains is that chaplains do not provide just counseling, prayer and religious stuff that is limited to individuals, they more importantly provide a social ministry that is a wider base social psychological support. So his setting apart of all atheists from the needs that most take for granted, the smallest not being the social connection with similar minded people, is that he mistakenly knee jerks the idea of chaplain as purely religious and is blind to its social value that contributes to the mental health of the service people it serves. I guess all atheists/agnostics/Humanists must be psychologically more stolid than your average Christian Joe in not needing any social connection with like minded as the religious do. Netherlands and Belgium both have Humanist chaplains in their militaries – its not an entirely new cooked up idea by belligerent atheists with too much Sunday time on their hands (though frankly, my Humanist society meets on Sundays). Also, if I recall, until relatively recently, a good proportion of military chaplains were traditionally Catholic priests (or similar liturgical tradition such as Episcopal) because they, umbrella wise, could serve a wide range of Christians that most Protestant ministers could not as they were not acceptable to liturgical Christians such as Catholic, Episcopal and Methodist etc. But nowadays, Evangelical chaplains are represented way out of proportion to the number of military personnel who espouse their version of Christianity. This has caused alot of friction and controversy thanks to the pushy practices of some Evangelicals chaplains-something of which the more quiet Catholic priests, more dependable in their standardized training, education and ordination, would never do.
While the US military provides support for many areas in its quest for “comprehensive fitness,” it is not obligated by law, liberty, or the Constitution to provide for “social connection.” If the US military provides such connection, it is the same whether one is part of the chess club or vegetarian club.
You have misunderstood the purpose for chaplains — as have many who have called for non-religious chaplains.