Jason Heap was a 38-year-old former youth minister with a master's degree in divinity from Texas Christian University when he applied to become a Navy chaplain.

But the sea service rejected his application last year after he revealed plans to affiliate with the Humanist Society and the American Humanist Association, which espouses a "progressive philosophy of life that, without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives," according to the group's website.

The Navy's decision to reject an "atheist chaplain" is under scrutiny by a federal judge overseeing Heap's lawsuit, in which he claims the Navy violated his constitutional rights through discrimination and denial of his right to religious freedom.

The matter was argued in detail for the first time in a federal courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia, on Thursday, as a team of attorneys representing the Navy sought a summary judgment and urged District Judge James Chacheris to declare the lawsuit without merit.

The Navy claims Heap was turned away in part because of his limited experience as a religious leader, which raised questions about his ability to handle the role of providing spiritual care for thousands of sailors aboard ships at sea.

"It's a very serious job that requires a lot of experience providing religious ministry," said Kieran Gostin, an attorney representing the Defense Department and the Navy.

"It's not that [Heap] cannot practice Humanism in his private life, it's that he is not being hired by the Navy to do it in an official capacity as a chaplain."

Ironclad wrote:The Dutch have non religious chaplains, I'm pretty certain

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Heap is applying to become the first humanist chaplain with the U.S. Navy. These chaplains are also assigned to the pastoral care of Marines. But this leads to the inevitable question: What would you do, on the eve of battle, if a grunt asked you to pray with him?

"As a pastoral caregiver, I wouldn't lead a prayer with that particular person, but I would help them with it," Heap says. "Having come from the background of Christians, I would understand what sort of things to help the person speak about. I am very familiar with the Bible as a scholar. If they are a humanist or an atheist, even Wiccan or pagan, it would be on the sort of terms where I would be able to work more with them philosophically."

Harvard, Stanford and three other universities have humanist chaplains. So does the Dutch army. But the idea of a nonbelieving chaplain in the U.S. military has provoked a backlash.

...

According to current Pentagon records, about 1 percent of active duty military in all four services checked boxes for "agnostic" and "atheist" as their religious status. That's more than 13,000 soldiers, airmen, Marines and sailors. This is, incidentally, more than all the Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims combined — and they each have their own chaplains.

But some traditional chaplains, such as Ron Crews, will have none of it. Crews, a retired Army chaplain with 28 years in uniform, is director of the advocacy group Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.

" 'For God and country.' That is the motto of the chaplain corps," he says, "and someone who comes from a humanist freethinker position could not ascribe to that motto. So it's by definition of who a chaplain is."

http://www.npr.org/2013/07/31/207320123 ... eve-in-god

The Navy claims Heap was turned away in part because of his limited experience as a religious leader, which raised questions about his ability to handle the role of providing spiritual care for thousands of sailors aboard ships at sea.

zulumoose wrote:

The Navy claims Heap was turned away in part because of his limited experience as a religious leader, which raised questions about his ability to handle the role of providing spiritual care for thousands of sailors aboard ships at sea.

If they use that term in a definition of the role, then nobody can be said to fill the role, since spiritual anything cannot even be shown to exist.

proudfootz wrote:Well, it's probably a matter of morale, as superstitious troops might not feel well served getting their magic spells from someone who's known to be skeptical.

proudfootz wrote:Well, from a practical POV I'd say it was a matter of morale, something the management might want to manage.

From the subjective POV of an individual who believes they are an immortal soul and that there are benevolent and malign spirits who need to be either mollified or defied they might not appreciate dealing with someone whom the know doesn't share the same sort of notions.

proudfootz wrote:Well, it's probably a matter of morale, as superstitious troops might not feel well served getting their magic spells from someone who's known to be skeptical.

proudfootz wrote:I can just imagine what happens when a Baptist Marine has to prepare to meet his maker with only a Muslim chaplain to act as spiritual guide to the afterlife.

Keep It Real wrote:I am an atheist of faith and belief. This is a real eye-opener for me Dolorosa and thank you. Not UK military however :nitpick:

Dolorosa wrote: I'd like to believe that the UK military is a bit more progressive when it comes to equality and diversity but that could be just my own personal bias.

I'm With Stupid wrote:

proudfootz wrote:Well, it's probably a matter of morale, as superstitious troops might not feel well served getting their magic spells from someone who's known to be skeptical.

Presumably no more so than if getting served by someone who's the wrong type of religious.