[Mb-civic] Military Wrestles With Disharmony Among Chaplains - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Military Wrestles With Disharmony Among Chaplains

By Alan Cooperman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 30, 2005; Page A01

The growing influence of evangelical Protestants is roiling the military 
chaplain corps, where their desire to preach their faith more openly is 
colliding with long-held military traditions of pluralism and diversity.

After accusations this summer that evangelical chaplains, faculty and 
coaches were pressuring cadets at the Air Force Academy, the Air Force 
yesterday issued new guidelines on respect for religious minorities. In 
the Navy, evangelical Protestant chaplains are fighting what they say is 
a legacy of discrimination in hiring and promotions, and they are 
bridling at suggestions they not pray publicly "in the name of Jesus."

Much of the conflict is in two areas that, until now, have been nearly 
invisible to civilians: how the military hires its ministers and how 
they word their public prayers. Evangelical chaplains -- who are rising 
in numbers and clout amid a decline in Catholic priests and mainline 
Protestant ministers -- are challenging the status quo on both 
questions, causing even some evangelical commanders to worry about the 
impact on morale.

"There is a polarization that is beginning to set up that I don't think 
is helpful. Us versus them," said Air Force Col. Richard K. Hum, an 
Evangelical Free Church minister who is the executive director of the 
Armed Forces Chaplains Board. "I don't know whether it's an overflow of 
what's happening in society. But this sort of thing is so detrimental to 
what we are trying to do in the chaplaincy."

The Rev. MeLinda S. Morton, a Lutheran minister who resigned in June as 
an Air Force chaplain after criticizing the religious atmosphere at the 
Air Force Academy, said there has been a palpable rise in evangelical 
fervor not just among chaplains but also among the officer corps in 
general since she joined the military in 1982, originally as a launch 
officer in a nuclear missile silo.

"When we were coneheads -- missile officers -- I would never, ever have 
engaged in conversations with subordinates aligning my power and 
position as an officer with my views on faith matters," she said. Today, 
"I've heard of people being made incredibly uncomfortable by certain 
wing commanders who engage in sectarian devotions at staff meetings."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/29/AR2005082902036.html?nav=hcmodule
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