Tag Archives: chapel

West Point Chapel Hosts Homosexual Ceremony

Multiple news outlets carried the Associated Press report on a homosexual ceremony conducted in the Cadet Chapel at the US Military Academy at West Point (though the Stars and Stripes probably wins for the most interesting comments).

Penelope Gnesin and Brenda Sue Fulton, a West Point graduate, exchanged vows in the regal church in an afternoon ceremony, attended by about 250 guests and conducted by a senior Army chaplain…

It was not the first such service at West Point, though Read more

Fort Bragg’s $13.5M Chapel to be Dedicated in Time for Holidays

Construction is complete on the US Army’s newest chapel facility on Fort Bragg, and the chapel will open in time for holiday services.  The complex, billed as the first chapel built on the base since Vietnam, has a sprawling campus and a main sanctuary that has double the capacity of the Division Memorial Chapel it is intended to replace:

At 22,600 square-feet, the complex includes a worship and activity center, expansion area, gathering area, lobby, clergy and staff offices, baptistery and sacristy suites, meditation and reconciliation room, kitchen, choir room, nursery, and vestibules. With a seating capacity of 629, the new facility is twice as large as the old chapel, which only seats 300. The facility spans 9 acres located off Ardennes Road next to the 82nd Airborne Division Memorial Museum.

The chapel also boasts some significant historical content:

One of the most distinguishing features of the chapel is Read more

Unitarian Chaplains Multiply in US Military

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

USAFA Building Secret Underground Bunker for Christians

Seriously.

Rick Baker, representing Michael Weinstein’s Military Religious Freedom Foundation, recently expressed incredulity that the $40 million dollar “Center for Character and Leadership Development” being constructed at the US Air Force Academy was really for the stated purpose.  He thinks it is really for the forcible promotion of Christianity:

The 40,000 or so square foot subterranean building soon to be under construction  near the AFA Chapel…seems a bit over-sized for the project and more likely a place where Chrisitan  Dominionist Catachism Read more

Wiccan Service Packed at Air Force Basic Training

 Cauldrons, spell books, brooms, and swords in a military witchcraft ceremony.
Photo credit: Katrina Gutierrez

A local paper — in an article briefly titled “No Hocus Pocus” — noted that “hundreds” of basic trainees have attended Wiccan services at Lackland AFB, Texas:

[There is] a curious multiplication of Wiccans at Lackland. Hundreds of basic military trainees have chosen to study witchcraft at the base.
 
“When we come over here on a Sunday, often times, there are 300 to 400 (trainees),” Tony Gatlin said.
 
Gatlin is the coven’s high priest. His wife Read more

USAFA Inspires Religious Respect, MRFF Inspires Cadet Disrespect

The US Air Force Academy is holding a Religious Respect Conference this week, inviting “religious and First Amendment advocacy groups” to meet with cadets and chaplains on the topics of religious tolerance and dignity.

On the topic of training in religious respect, the Academy had a noble goal for its future officers:

“The…goal is teaching an ethic of respect regardless of who people are, whether they follow one faith or another faith or no faith at all,” said Chaplain (Col.) Robert Bruno…”What we are trying to teach is a fundamental ethic of respect. We recognize the inherent dignity of every human being…”
 
“We agree to disagree agreeably, civilly, respectfully, professionally,” he said.

On accommodation, Jewish Chaplain (Maj) Joshua Narrowe made an Read more

Military Chaplains Serve, Suffer, Innovate

A few recent articles highlight the service of US military chaplains around the globe, doing far more than the stereotypical Sunday morning chapel service:

As the Army begins to open certain career fields to women, chaplains are affected:  The 101st Airborne just received its first female chaplain in Chaplain (Capt) Delana Small.  In so doing, she became a part of the “legendary Band of Brothers.”  Her assignment was a result of the Department of Defense “Women in the Service Review.”  The DoD article is full of praise for the new chaplain.

In Africa, US chaplains met with their military counterparts from nine East African nations for the “third annual…African Military Chaplain Conference” in Djibouti.

While Africa isn’t in the news too much, save a few isolated mentions, it is noteworthy that US military chaplains are engaging at the rate they have.

Another article covers the touching, yet surprising, story of the service of military chaplains at Arlington National Cemetery:

Led by senior chaplains Read more

Fort Benning Names Reserve Center for Chaplain

It is a little known fact that US Army regulations prohibit the naming of chapel facilities for persons (“living or dead”).  That’s why, absent one or two chapels that carry centuries-old names, most military chapels are known by their location (East Gate, Family Housing, etc) or simply a number (Chapel 1, Chapel 2).  There are a few “memorial” chapels, though they are generically named, not dedicated for individuals.

This prohibition does not extend to non-chapel facilities, so it is common to see buildings dedicated to honor individuals in the military service.  Chaplains, though, are often first associated with chapels (at least one chapel was, for a couple of years, dedicated to its chaplain) — so they aren’t often honored with Read more

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