Chaplains Wanted For Atheists In Foxholes
This looks like aninteresting interview, unfortunately the audio file that’s available at NPR is not the correct interview and the transcript isn’t available yet. Hopefully, they’ll fix that soon.
There aren’t many comments yet, but a few people seem to be miffed that atheists would dare to ask for such a thing. I suppose that won’t come as any surprise to our atheist lizards.
Update 12/5: The correct audio & transcript is available now.
Retired Army captain and Iraqi war veteran Jason Torpy says the chaplains employed by the U.S. military can’t relate to people like him. He’s an atheist.
He’s also the president of a group that’s trying to get the armed forces to become more inclusive by hiring atheist chaplains. The Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers wants the military to provide for the estimated 40,000 atheists, agnostics and humanists who serve in U.S. forces.
Military chaplains, most of whom are Protestant Christians, are assigned many secular advising duties, including marriage, family and suicide counseling, Torpy tells weekends on All Things Considered guest host Rachel Martin. They touch so many parts of service members’ lives, he says, they can help improve what he sees as an environment of exclusion.
“That lack of connection to atheist and humanist communities, the lack of recognition or support for atheists and humanists — that implication can be solved primarily through the chaplains’ corps,” he says. […]
