Tag Archives: Religion

US Military’s First Hindu Chaplain

A Stars and Stripes article indicates US Army Chaplain (Capt) Pratima Dharm has become the first US military Hindu Chaplain.  Dharm is a Chaplain at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Dharm did not enter as a Hindu Chaplain — she has simply changed endorsers.  She was originally endorsed by the Pentecostal Church of God, but is now sent by Chinmaya Mission West.  (In 2007 an Army Chaplain previously tried to convert to Wicca, but was discharged after he lost his endorsement and was unable to find an approved Wiccan endorsing agency.) 

The article is unofficial, and doesn’t indicate what insignia Dharm now wears (only that she wore the Christian cross “until this year”).  There is no official Hindu Chaplain emblem (at least not publicly), and public images still show Dharm wearing the cross.

Think someone will spin this as evidence of a Christian takeover of the military?

US Marines Share Faith Together

Each Tuesday morning a group of Marines meets at Camp Pendleton’s Del Mar mess hall to discuss a book chapter applying their faith to their lives.  The informal group is an excellent example of military members simply choosing to meet, encourage and challenge each other, and fellowship together with those of like mind.

The group is made up of all ranks, including a Master Gunnery Sgt and a Colonel.

Master Gunnery Sgt. Isaac T. Black…[said] “Wanting to study something with a spiritual aspect is what brought us together.”

Currently the group is studying the book Read more

Atheist Chaplains and Independent Ideology, or Lack Thereof

Christianity Today re-covered the prior discussion on “atheist Chaplains,” asking the same question others had previously:

All religious groups make absolutist claims of one kind or another. But how can a belief system — or is it a lack of belief system? — championed by figures like Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens support Christian soldiers in any meaningful sense? When considering chaplains who support Hitchens’s rather broad contention that “religion poisons everything,” how can such leaders “provide the means for others to observe their own faith”? If Christians are indeed suffering from a “God delusion,” as Dawkins has suggested, how can a chaplain who promotes Dawkins’s ideas offer belief-respecting encouragement to a Christian soldier?

The author acknowledges a similar accusation can be made against exclusive religions, but there is a positive response in the Christian faith and historical precedent (something Chaplains are already doing):

One might counter by suggesting that Christians themselves Read more

Army Chaplain Receives 2011 Hoeing Memorial Award

US Army Chaplain (Col) Nosson Sachs received the 2011 Chaplain Joseph I. Hoeing Memorial award in May from the Rabbinical Council of America.

The award, according to the RCA, recognizes an individual chaplain who, “through his unselfish concern for the spiritual needs and welfare of all military personnel, embodies the dignity of Judaism and brings honor to the Torah and glory to his people.”

According to the article, Sachs was specifically honored Read more

Honor Their Memory this Memorial Day, 2011

American citizens enjoy freedoms those in some other countries can only imagine.  These freedoms are protected by the sacrifices of US service men and women, many of whom have given their lives in that service.  Members of the US military have protected people they don’t know, rights they often can’t practice, and the freedom of others to advocate ideologies with which they disagree.

They have fought, and died, for something greater than themselves.

Remember their sacrifice this Memorial Day.

Naval Academy Noon Meal Prayer at Issue. Again.

The US Naval Academy practice of conducting a noon-meal prayer is making its near-annual trek through the media.  This time, Talbot Manvel, an “adjunct instructor” at Annapolis, wrote an article in the Baltimore Sun saying the USNA puts “tradition ahead of the Constitution.”

So how is the academy defying the Constitution? It has established a religious practice: prayer at its mandatory noon meal for its midshipmen (students). They are marched into the mess hall, called to attention to listen to announcements, and then to prayer by a chaplain before sitting to eat. They are not permitted to leave, and thus they are forced to listen.

(Manvel becomes the latest Naval Academy instructor to publicly malign his employer.)  Manvel’s article is rife with error.  He cites Mellen v. Bunting, in which the 4th District Court held mealtime prayers at VMI were unConstitutional — a ruling the Supreme Court declined to review.  However, he ignores the ruling’s own qualifier:  Read more

Air Force Report: Cadets “Content” with Religious Freedom

The Air Force Times reports that the recent team led by General (ret) Patrick Gamble to assess the religious climate at the Air Force Academy found cadets were actually more fed up with bad press than they were at issue with their religious freedoms:

Air Force Academy cadets are happy overall with their level of religious freedom there but are distressed by the “constant negative press” the academy receives…

The AFTimes cited the MRFF as the source of the report, as it has not been publicly released; however, the AFTimes appears to have come to quite a different conclusion Read more

A Clash of Integrities: Homosexuality, Religion, and the Military

Chuck Donovan of the Heritage Foundation has a lengthy but thorough discussion entitled “A Clash of Integrities: Moral and Religious Liberty in the Armed Forces.”  The article discusses the controversy over homosexuality in the military, from the initial creation of the policy most commonly known as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to its current state.  His analysis is thorough, and he doesn’t mince words:

The repeal of the 1993 law prohibiting open homosexuality in the military poses significant risk for military service members and chaplains who, as matters of religious or moral conviction, hold to traditional values regarding marriage and sexual behavior. The [Pentagon] report…[does] not allay concerns that the religious liberty and free speech rights of these service members and chaplains will be compromised to the detriment of their military careers.

Donovan notes the controversy that resulted in Rigdon v Perry (noted here) is precedent for the current repeal plan to cause conflict in the military.

Perhaps out of pragmatism, Read more

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