Chaplains, Wiccans, Homosexuals, and Other Odd Fellows

NOTE: While I appreciate the dialogue and feedback that I get from you, my four loyal readers, I must note that much of what I write about below is very sensitive. Accordingly, I ask that you not share this with others who do not know me.


Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Amendment I to the United States Constitution

Last month I sent out an all-hands email through our base PAO highlighting the Winter Solstice celebration that the chapel was hosting.* I have since responded to numerous emails and fielded several phone calls from concerned individuals. Obviously, the practices of Wiccans, Pagans and other nature-centered religionists are foreign to many, and their presence threatening to some. The past two days then, have been a wonderful opportunity for me and the rest of the Religious Ministries Department staff to educate and enlighten truly passionate people about the religious rights and freedoms of all, and the role of the chaplain in ensuring those rights.

*In the two years I have been at NAS Whidbey Island, I have had numerous conversations with people who identified themselves as Wiccans or Pagans in search of a group supportive of their religious practices, yet none of them wanted to help lead such a group. Recently, a couple finally stepped forward to be the Wiccan lay-leaders for the base community, and after the proper endorsement, vetting, and training, they have the official “stamp of approval” as it were of the base in support of their services.

I do so of course, as one who is explicitly Christian. I am not a Wiccan, and I don’t espouse to the oft-repeated belief of many that we’re “all on different paths, but climbing the same mountain toward the divine.” Even so, I support Wiccans because I exist within the tension of 1st Amendment, the tension between the free exercise clause and the establishment clause, the tension that we all must live in if we are to be authentically American.

It is this tension that I highlight whenever I speak at a base indoctrination for Sailors and Marines new to NASWI. I do so, because it is that tension that allows for chaplains to even exist. One could argue (as others have in court) that in creating the military chaplaincy, the federal government is violating the establishment clause. After all, tax dollars pay for my salary! Why can the federal government do this? What gives them the right to pay for a Baptist minister to be in the military? The answer lies in the free exercise clause. Whereas civilians generally have a great deal of liberty to pursue religious practices and meetings, military personnel do not.

When I was deployed to Iraq, I could not “go outside the wire” and stroll down the streets of Ramadi in search of the nearest Christian church. Likewise, a Jewish Sailor in the middle of the ocean can’t hop on a plane and catapult off the carrier every time she wants to attend synagogue, nor can the Muslim easily find a mosque outside the gate of his base in Japan. The federal government understands this and employs chaplains to facilitate for the free exercise of religion in situations where it would not otherwise be possible. Facilitate. That’s the key word. As a chaplain who is Christian, I have facilitated for the religious practices of our Wiccan/Pagan community by training, equipping and supporting our lay-leaders as they function, just as I have facilitated for Jewish personnel and others.

In the same manner, chapel facilities also support diverse religious practices. Unlike many religious buildings out in town, the base chapel is not consecrated for the use of one particular faith group to the exclusion of others. Though many Navy chapels were indeed built to meet the needs of Christians and Jews—clearly evident in their design—as the religious makeup of our Sailors and Marines has grown increasingly diverse, these chapels remain a safe place for them to host their services.

The fact that many people, even those within the Department of Defense, don’t understand the role of chaplains and chapels is another argument in favor of a professional chaplaincy. Along with facilitating, as a chaplain I advise both individuals and commands in all matters related to religion, ethics and morality. Sometimes this means explaining First Amendment rights at base indocs as I mentioned above. Sometimes it means I’m giving a brief on the meaning of Ramadan to Seabees deployed to the desert during that time of year. Sometimes it means I’m sitting down with the skipper and explaining to him what it is that one of his Sailors is asking for as a matter of religious accommodation, and why it is important for her religious beliefs. Oftentimes, it simply means having a conversation with a Sailor or Marine about a faith group that they’ve heard some “crazy stuff” about. As an advisor I work my way up-and-down the chain and across a broad spectrum of religious belief. In doing so, I have found two issues to be paramount: (1) reminding people that individuals of every religious background deserve a seat at the table, and (2) reminding people that just because they are welcome at the table, it does not follow that I have to give up my own seat at the table.

It is that latter point that causes the most heartburn for me. While it is easy to bash Christians—especially conservative evangelicals—about their close-mindedness and unwillingness to listen to other faith perspectives, I have found that far too many people are both ignorant about faith traditions other than their own and sadly unwilling to invest the time to learn about them. Indeed, I remember being at chaplain’s school and being stunned at my Jewish roommate’s ignorance about the Christian faith, and I’m sure he found my own understanding of Judaism to be simplistic. Last month, after the winter solstice celebration had ended, I sat with several of those in attendance and listened to them prattle on about other religious groups. Given that they were themselves of a minority religious group, I found their contempt and misunderstanding of other groups, especially Mormons, to be sadly ironic, yet expected.

Much of their vitriol was directed at the Mormon Church’s opposition to same-sex marriages and their belief in the baptism of the dead, which they found highly offensive. This offense led them in turn to paint with a broad brush a picture of all Mormons as being close-minded, hateful people whose beliefs are weird (and even wicked), exactly the same charge leveled against Wiccans and Pagans by some of the concerned Christians who were calling or emailing me. In my opinion then, part of the advisement component is fostering healthy conversations among diverse peoples so that we can all learn more about each other’s religious “tribes.”

This advisement piece extends to the new policies that will soon come into play now that Congress has repealed DADT. Plenty of people have asked me my opinion as a chaplain about homosexuals and lesbians serving in the military. My response has been three-fold. First, I point out that homosexuals and lesbians are already serving in the military, just not openly. Second, I remind them that the military is not a religious organization, and that both individuals within the institution and the institution itself sometimes make choices or policies that are not consistent with my own understanding of God’s law. However, as one called to be a chaplain, I continue to serve my country in the hopes that I can be an instrument of God’s peace, grace and love in a war fighting profession where all three are often lacking. Third, I remind them that I have the freedom, as does any other Sailor, to share my religious beliefs without fear of retribution or persecution. The repeal of DADT doesn’t mean that chaplains will now have to perform same-sex weddings, nor does it mean that they can’t tell someone that is in a same-sex relationship that that they are living in sin. From the pulpit and in their office during a counseling session, chaplains have the right—indeed the responsibility—to uphold the teachings of their religious traditions, and their denominational endorser. After all, chaplains provide religious services and counseling within the context of their own tradition, and their ultimate allegiance is to their god, not the United States. The reality is that most servicemen and women recognize this. In my experience, I’ve found very few Sailors who have been offended by their chaplains and have had hundreds of young men and women seek my advice even though they do not share my faith. They do so because they know that chaplains care for all, regardless of their religious or sexual affiliation, political orientation or cultural heritage or ethnicity. If a Sailor seeks my counsel and cares not for what I have to say, I won’t try to water down my own beliefs to avoid being offensive and violate my own conscience in the process, but I will do my best to find someone better suited to be their confidant and guide. I do so while treating that individual with the utmost dignity and respect and I expect them to treat me in the same manner.

Provide. Facilitate. Care. Advise. Within these four words we find the framework for our mission as chaplains. It is not an easy task for anyone to live out his or her faith within the context of a diverse community like the Navy and the chaplain’s role is perhaps hardest because we are expected to be “all things to all people.” That most chaplains are able to figure it out for themselves is a testament to the quality of the men and women that our services recruit to be spiritual, moral and ethical guides.

In closing, I’d like to share one final vignette from the winter solstice service last night. One of the lay-leaders, though Wiccan, also clings to her Jewish heritage and has managed to work out a way to bring together such two disparate religious practices. Along with hosting Wiccan services, she has come to our monthly Jewish Shabbat (Sabbath) service. Though she doesn’t keep kosher in her own home, she recently complained that the candles we used for the Shabbat service were not kosher, and though she is ecumenical in her role as a Wiccan lay-leader, inviting all in the circle to invoke the god and goddess as they see fit, she complained about the religious statuary and decorations in the back of the small chapel where we hold the Jewish service.* As someone who has devoted my life both to the personal practice of my faith, and the professional study of Christianity (and more broadly, the study of religion), my mind has a hard time understanding how such a bundle of paradoxes could exist within one person. I am insanely curious as to how she works out all the contradictions, but doubt that I could ever follow them logically. Indeed, one’s personal faith is hardly logical to another, and we all have areas of our lives where we have adapted our religious beliefs to make us feel comfortable. I don’t highlight this woman to condemn her, but to hold her up as an example of how ridiculously complicated matters of faith can be within one human being, much less one congregation, much less one naval air station, much less one country, much less one world we call home.

*I of course remove all Christian items from the alter and hide all the religious symbolism at the front of the chapel, but have not done so throughout the room—which is small—because the rest of the Jewish congregation deemed it unnecessary. Personally, I think this woman just has a problem with Christianity, perhaps not surprising as the Christian tradition is not affirming of the magic arts.