Military ministry isn’t for everyone. It requires playing well with others, sharing space in the sandbox. That is to say, while chaplains represent their own faith tradition – their organizations that ordain and endorse them – they uphold every Service Member’s constitutional right to the free exercise of religion.
At least once a month I have someone comment on one of my social media posts, “How can you be true to Jesus if you support other religions?” This brings up an interesting discussion on the topic of pluralism and being able to serve everyone while still holding on to your own religious convictions.
In the Navy Chaplain Corps, we use the phrase “perform or provide.” It means that, as a chaplain, I will perform all of the religious services and traditions according to the form and manner of my religious organization. Everything that falls outside of my faith I will not perform personally, BUT I will provide a way for Service Members of those other faith traditions to practice their faith.
In my current assignment as a Training Command chaplain who runs the chapel in Courthouse Bay, Camp Lejeune, Perform or Provide looks like this: I conduct divine services (church service) regularly according to my tradition (I’m a nondenominational Protestant chaplain). I’m not a Rabbi, Imam, Catholic Priest, or LDS chaplain, so I don’t perform any services for those traditions myself.
Yet I do provide ways for Sailors and Marines within those traditions to exercise their faith.
I connect Marines to religious leaders from their own traditions. I provide space for other faith traditions to hold services every week. I make sure the chapel is stocked with things like prayer rugs, copies of the Qur’an, Jewish prayer books, rosaries, and Books of Mormon. In this way I can help facilitate the religious needs of all.
The inevitable follow up question I get is, “But are you ever asked to do anything that goes against your religious beliefs?”
And the answer is always, “No.” If there is something that a chaplain, in good conscience, feels they cannot do themselves, the chaplain will help the Service Member find a chaplain who CAN provide the appropriate support. A real-life example is the issue of baptisms. A friend had a Marine who wanted his baby baptized. The chaplain’s faith tradition does not baptize infants, so he reached out to another chaplain that does and connect the Marine to a suitable chaplain.
At the end of the day, military chaplains are here to support ALL Service Members, not just those who agree with us. I personally have never felt my own faith diminished because I helped facilitate the needs of someone from another faith tradition. In fact, from my own faith background, caring for people who are not like me is actually faith AFFIRMING – it’s part of who I feel my God calls me to be and what God calls me to do.
We don’t have to agree on faith and religion, but I will care for you.
And my faith is stronger because of it.
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To read the newest book on chaplaincy from Linzey, Travis, and Linzey, check out Military Ministry: Chaplains in the Twenty-First Century on Amazon and all major book retailers.
Military Chaplain Guide 