By Bob Smietana - The (Nashville)
Tennessean
Posted to the Air Force Times
- online edition: Thursday Sep 10, 2009 21:17:47 EDT
When Thomas Dyer heads to Afghanistan in December, the former Marine
and one-time Southern Baptist pastor won’t take a rifle with him. He
won’t take a Bible, either.
Instead, Dyer, a Tennessee National Guardsman from Memphis and the
first Buddhist chaplain in the history of the Army, hopes to bring
serenity
and calm, honed by months of intensive meditation.
That preparation, he says, will help him bring spiritual care amid a
war zone.
“We’re going to put it to the test,” Dyer said.
Dyer’s deployment is another step in the U.S. military’s attempt to
meet the diverse spiritual needs of America’s fighting forces. It’s no
easy
task.
For one thing, the military chaplaincy is facing all the
complications
that have affected American religion over the past 40 years. The
decline of
mainline Protestants and their aging clergy. The ongoing Catholic
priest
shortage. The explosion of religious diversity. The emergence of people
with no
faith. The ease with which people move from one faith to another.
The military is trying to adapt to these changes, while trying to
find
ministers willing to serve in a war zone, and who can minister to
American troops
without offending Muslim allies.
Chaplains say they are up to it, saying their “cooperate without
compromise” approach allows them to serve soldiers of any faith. But
critics wonder
if the whole enterprise is doomed to fail.
Military chaplains have cared for the souls of American troops since
at
least the 1700s. In 1775, the Continental Congress agreed to pay
chaplains $20 a
month. Gen. George Washington told his commanders to find chaplains of
good
character and exemplary lives to care for the souls of their troops.
The first chaplains served a mostly Protestant military. Chaplains
today serve in a remarkably diverse environment.
The latest report from the Defense Department tracks 101 faiths for
active-duty personnel, from 285,763 Roman Catholics to the one member
of the Tioga
River Christian conference. In between are Baptists, Jews, Buddhists,
Bahai’s, Mormons and Wiccans. About a half a million active personnel
are evangelicals.
Almost 281,710 claim no religion.
No military has ever tried to meet such diverse spiritual needs,
says
Doris Bergen, a history professor at the University of Toronto. In
World War II, the
British army had thousands of Hindus and Muslims in its ranks, but only
Christian
and Jewish chaplains. “To build a military chaplaincy that reflects the
incredible religious
diversity of Americans, and that supports that diversity in a
meaningful way — it’s
uncharted
terrain,” Bergen said. “It’s completely brand new. You don’t really
have any models to look to.” t really have any models to look to.”
That means chaplains such as Maj. Darin Olson at Fort Campbell
maintain
a delicate balance.
In chapel services, he’s a Nazarene minister. That means preaching
about Jesus. Once services are over, he becomes an advocate for every
faith group.
“I am here to guarantee the religious freedom of every soldier,”
Olson
said.
NO EVANGELIZING ALLOWED
To help meet with the religious needs at Fort Campbell, which
straddles
the Kentucky-Tennessee border, a new multi-faith chapel is under
construction, to be used by smaller groups such as Jews and Wiccans.
Funding is pending for
another $15 million, 1,200-seat chapel also in the works. There are now
seven
chapels at the base — six at least 50 years old, the other built in
1990.
Staff Sgt. Clayton Wilhelm works as a chaplain assistant at Fort
Campbell. A reservist, he spent parts of 2007 and 2008 in Iraq, and is
now doing
another year of active duty. He and other chaplain assistants set the
chapels for
worship services and order equipment for a variety of groups on base.
Those
include Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, Muslim, pagans, Greek Orthodox and
other Protestants.
Wilhelm, a Southern Baptist, says he’s just doing his job. “There
are some things I don’t agree with, but in my position, I am not
allowed to not support someone because of my own beliefs,” he said.
Chaplains and their assistants also serve as a listening ear for
soldiers, as they deal with stress.
Sometimes soldiers’ concerns are spiritual; other times they are
more
mundane.
Those small concerns become heavier to bear when soldiers are in war
zones. If they are distracted by worries about their family back home
or by
religious concerns, then they can’t keep focused on their mission,
Olson said.
“A soldier’s soul in combat is important,” he said. “A soldier who
is
not right with the Lord, or maybe the soldier is having marriage
troubles back home, a
soldier who feels that they are not able to talk to anyone — if they
can talk
to a chaplain, they are going to be a better soldier.”
Chaplain Steve Blackwell, a Tennessee native who now serves as an
Army
chaplain recruiter in Los Angeles, said a chaplain’s job is not to
evangelize.
“The doctrine of the chaplain corps is to nurture the living, care
for
the wounded and honor the dead,” he said.
While they can share their faith with the willing, they are not
allowed
to push their faith on those who are not interested.
That’s important because the military can’t always match the
denominations of chaplains with those of the troops they serve.
DIVERSITY IS A CHALLENGE
For example, Catholics make up 20 percent of the Army, but there is
a
shortage of Catholic chaplains. Only 7 percent of chaplains are
priests.
So Catholic chaplains are constantly being deployed overseas, with
little downtime. And servicemen and women don’t always have access to a
priest
when they need one. chaplains are constantly being deployed overseas,
with little downtime. And servicemen and women don’t always have access
to a priest
when they need one.
“They come face to face with who they are and what they believe,”
said
Lt. Col. Carleton Birch, spokesman for the Army Chief of Chaplains
Office. “And sometimes, often, they choose to become very serious about
their faith.
And if there is not a priest to service them, then a priest won’t be
there at
a critical time in their lives.”
By contrast, some faith groups are overrepresented among chaplains.
For
example, there are 54 members of the Independent Fundamental
Churches
of America in the military, and 22 chaplains from the denomination.
That’s
one chaplain for every 2.5 church members. By contrast, there’s one
imam
per 353.5 Muslims, and one priest for every 1,086 Catholics. And there
are no
chaplains to serve the 3,214 Wiccans in the military.
Recruiting chaplains from diverse faiths is a challenge, in part
because the recruiting system favors Christians and Jews.
A potential chaplain must have a master’s degree in religion. But
some
faiths, such as Buddhism and Wicca, don’t have seminaries, so they
struggle to find
chaplain candidates. Dyer qualified as a chaplain because already he
had earned
a master’s degree as a Baptist pastor before converting to Buddhism.
Chaplains also need to be endorsed by a civilian religious group.
The
Department of Defense has approved few non-Christian endorsement
groups.
In the end, Bergen, the Toronto professor, wonders if creating a
diverse chaplain corps is possible
“You need to have chaplains who can minister to everyone who is
under
their care,” she said. “So if you are injured or dying and you need
counseling or you want to pray, there has got to be someone there. And
whether they are
Jewish or Buddhist or Catholic, or Wiccan, you have got to feel
comfortable with
them.”
Then there’s the E-word. Military regulations place strict limits on
evangelism. Chaplains can’t try to persuade people to change their
faith. But they
can try to convert the unchurched, provided that a soldier lends them a
willing
ear.
Things get tricky when chaplains push their faith. Blackwell, the
Army chaplain recruiter in Los Angeles, said a chaplain
who pushes his faith too hard will eventually fail.
“I am as evangelical as they come,” he said. “And I am not going to
shy
away from the chance to lead someone to Jesus. But if someone comes in
and they
see every soldier as a potential convert, they are not going to last
long as a
chaplain.”
COMPASSION IS THE KEY
Back in Memphis, Dyer meditates and prepares to be deployed.
He’s already been in contact with soldiers overseas. Once word got
out
about the new Buddhist chaplain, he was bombarded with e-mails. He’s
already done
one wedding for a Buddhist soldier who has returned home, and offered
spiritual direction over the phone with an overseas soldier.
Dyer said he’s ready for whatever comes. And he believes being
knowledgeable about Christianity and Buddhism will make him a better
chaplain. Most
of all, he wants to be there.
“If I have a Church of Christ or more conservative soldier, he
certainly does not need to know about dharma or things like that,” he
said. “But if he is
in pain, or his child back home is sick, I need to be compassionate and
help him
through that moment. We both need to forget at that moment that I am a
Buddhist.” Church of Christ or more conservative soldier, he certainly
does not need to know about dharma or things like that,” he said. “But
if he is
in pain, or his child back home is sick, I need to be compassionate and
help him
through that moment. We both need to forget at that moment that I am a
Buddhist.”
Air Force Times, "Former Marine is First Buddhist Army Chaplain", retrieved September 11, 2009.
Two women in this photo from Iraq are wearing a hijab.
