US Army Reserve Chaplain Christopher Antal submitted his resignation “in protest” in April due, according to Antal, to the American policies regarding drones, nuclear weapons, and “preventive war, permanent military supremacy and global power projection.”
Antal publicly submitted his letter directly to his Commander-in-Chief, President Obama.
Reached for comment, the Army somewhat subtly said Antal had submitted his resignation, but Read more
An article at the Unitarian Universalist website notes an increase in Unitarian military chaplains and chaplain applicants after decades of under-representation. The article reports the denomination now has 10 chaplains, with 7 more applying. While a significant increase from the “one or two” chaplains before (including Army Chaplain Rebekah Montgomery), it still isn’t a high number. The reason for the low interest?
It’s no secret that for many years after the Vietnam War many UUs harbored some hostility toward the war and the politicians who promoted it. In some cases veterans themselves were treated distantly in our congregations, even shunned.
One UU chaplain said they are needed to balance out “evangelicals”: Read more
An article from the homosexual advocacy magazine Dallas Voice indicated the repeal of the policy known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” presented an opportunity to “rebalance” the chaplaincy.
The article relied largely on an interview with Chaplain Candidate (1Lt) Chris Antal, a Unitarian Universalist. Interestingly, Antal gives some credence to the “change” that occurred in the military after most chaplains (and the rest of the military, frankly) enlisted:
Antal said that chaplains who enlisted knew what they were getting into — to some extent. But none of them really expected the repeal of the military’s anti-gay “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. And for many, that repeal was a game changer.
To date, the position of the military leadership has been members of the military signed up to serve, regardless of any change in the moral culture. For that reason, applications for dismissal due to moral opposition to the policy change were not permitted. (Only chaplains could do so, by virtue of having their sending body rescind their endorsement.) The rest of the article references the Forum on the Military Chaplaincy, a group of active and retired chaplains and others who advocated for repeal of DADT. (A member of that group previously called religious opposition to the homosexual lifestyle “bigotry.”) The group was reportedly started by those Read more