It would be difficult to imagine, but someday, I believe the US military will be without chaplains, at least in the traditional sense. Now, I also assume that the overall church situation in America will, over time, begin to crumble. From an escatological point of view, it has to in order to see prophecies come true. However, I also assume this larger breakdown because I just see some empirical information that suggests it is headed that way. That is a matter for a different post. Back to the subject at hand:
Traditionally, chaplains perform regular religious services in their faith background, ensure that other faiths have the means and ability to perform their services, provide counsel to the command in matters regarding faith and crew morale, and, perhaps most frequently, provide counseling services to crew members. This is a bit simplified, but in general, it's accurate.
As faith slowly takes a back seat to a growing new reality in America, I suspect that the counseling services will take a greater role while the traditional religious services role will diminish. Already, because of manning concerns, smaller ships frequently (some always) go without a chaplain.
Yet service members on those ships, and in this future Navy that I foresee coming, hold services to maintain a core nucleus of the faith on most ships. It will not be true on every ship, or every command, but in some ships, believers will always gather. So do I see a post-chaplain Navy coming? Yes. Am I worried about it? No.
Traditionally, chaplains perform regular religious services in their faith background, ensure that other faiths have the means and ability to perform their services, provide counsel to the command in matters regarding faith and crew morale, and, perhaps most frequently, provide counseling services to crew members. This is a bit simplified, but in general, it's accurate.
As faith slowly takes a back seat to a growing new reality in America, I suspect that the counseling services will take a greater role while the traditional religious services role will diminish. Already, because of manning concerns, smaller ships frequently (some always) go without a chaplain.
Yet service members on those ships, and in this future Navy that I foresee coming, hold services to maintain a core nucleus of the faith on most ships. It will not be true on every ship, or every command, but in some ships, believers will always gather. So do I see a post-chaplain Navy coming? Yes. Am I worried about it? No.
No comments:
Post a Comment