Army Chaplain Dismissed for Converting to Wicca

[qos]

For those of you who haven't already seen this on queenofhalves's journal:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/18/AR2007021801396_pf.html


This is a really good, thoughtful article about one man's spiritual searching and how it came up against military culture.

Comments

[professor-mom.livejournal.com]

"I'm done. . . . I will not be part of any church that unleashes its clergy to preach that particular individuals or faith groups are damned."

That quote is telling and curious. I'm not at all opposed to wiccan beliefs or rituals. I've enjoyed them in the past and hope to in the future. But I'm wondering why he didn't become an Episcopalean or a Unitarian. It would be interesting to find out what process he went through on that journey.

In attending a church or joining a faith, I don't feel compelled to identify solely with that religion. For a long time I've seen the world's religions in terms of the old story of the blind men and the elephant. You put five blind men next to an elephant and ask them to describe the elephant. One man says, "Oh, he's a long trunk that spouts water out of the end." Another says, "He's a long thick leg with rough skin." A third says "He's a long smooth tusk with a sharp point." Another says "He's a wide, flat ear that flaps." and the last says "he's a short tail." In the same way, I see each religion as portraying some aspect of truth.

If I can go to a church/synagogue/mosque and have a spiritual experience, I'm all for it. I've been attending the Episcopal Church, in part to give my son a good background in Christian mythology and an opportunity for both of us to socialize and experience excellent music. I don't believe that the Episcopal Church or the Christian religion is the be all and end all of religion. I hope to attend a mosque sometime next month and I'm open to other avenues of experiencing god/goddess that will hopefully come my way in the future.

I guess that's why I personally am confused by what the man said about being part of a church that damns others. I'll have to ponder this for some time.

[malakhgabriel.livejournal.com]

That was the part that stood out for me as well (at least aside from yet another instance of the incompetence of military leadership). It doesn't speak well of his history with or education on Christianity that he was not aware of the more inclusive strains within it. Or perhaps his own emotional scarring resulting from his observations and experiences simply made anything associated with his previous faith communities too much for him to take.

[tx-cronopio.livejournal.com]

I don't know you, so I hope you don't mind me responding to this. It took me years to leave Christianity (I converted to Judaism), but one of the major factors was the exclusivity. Yeah, Unitarians etc etc, but the fact remains that the most public face of Christianity seems to hold with the scripture that says you can only enter heaven thru a belief in Jesus. Of course, I'm in the South, so I probably get a lot more of the "saved" vernacular than some.

Not arguing, you clearly know a lot more about it than I do, but for good or for bad, this does tend to be the face of Christianity that many Americans see -- even those raised Christian. Your point that as a chaplain he should have known better is well taken. I'll have to think about that. Thanks for your insightful comment.

[professor-mom.livejournal.com]

I don't deny that this attitude exists, but I reject it and I would not want to be associated with a church that represents this as fact.

[professor-mom.livejournal.com]

I would not say that I know more about this than anyone else. I have thought about it some, but your comments are causing me to look at this a bit more deeply. I'm planning to think and post more about this. Thank you for your insights.

[tx-cronopio.livejournal.com]

Awful to see that this is still happening. And he's just down the road from me.

[athenian-abroad.livejournal.com]

was struck by a couple of things.

First, Larsen would appear to have an extraordinarily broad familiarity with many spiritual traditions (which you would think would be a requirement for service as a military chaplain in a diverse country, but apparently this is not so). Which means that the notion that he is simply unaware of, say, Unitarians or Episcopalians seems implausible.

Rather, he would seem to have made a judgement about the "main currents" present in the Abrahamic faiths as he has observed them in action on a large scale. Is he overgeneralizing from his perspective within Pentecostalism? Perhaps. Is he exaggerating the effect of doctrine on the political character of organized faiths? Probably. But the impulse to look at both the sweep of history and the state of the world today, and say "enough with the monotheism already!" is perfectly understandable.

Could he have found a more inclusive-minded but still socially mainstream faith group with which to affiliate? Certainly. But why would he want to?

Which brings me to a second observation, which is that aligning himself with a socially marginal and widely despised faith community may have been the most Christian thing -- in the best sense of the term -- that he could have done. It is literally WWJD.

Finally, I was impressed by the degree to which Larsen takes personal responsibility for his situation. He doesn't blame the Army or his endorser. He made choices, consequences ensued. And now he moves on with his life, and his spiritual work.

[amqu.livejournal.com]

Which brings me to a second observation, which is that aligning himself with a socially marginal and widely despised faith community may have been the most Christian thing -- in the best sense of the term -- that he could have done. It is literally WWJD.

Since literally Jesus was a monotheist who didn't repudiate his faith but rather started a new path that built upon what he already believed, I don't think we can say that's "literally" what Jesus would do. This fellow completely breaks with his former beliefs and joins an already extant, though marginalized, group.

I'm inclined to say it's unfair what was done to this man, though I'd like to hear the other side. Does anyone know how many practitioners of wicca there are in the military? Is there a need for a wiccan chaplain? Should I be capitalizing Wicca?

[athenian-abroad.livejournal.com]

Fair point; the over-use of "literally" is something I'd usually jump on myself. (Although, on the question of joining an existing group, I gather there is some question among historians about the exact relationship between Jesus and the "John Movement".)

Interestingly, the "other side," i.e. the position that what happened to Larsen isn't gravely unfair, is given by Larsen himself. He seems to regard what's happened as the more or less predictable outcome of Army bureaucracy: SNAFU ("Situation Normal: All F*ed Up"). His endorser did drop him with arguably unseemly haste, but that too seems not unexpected -- one can see how a Pentecostal ministry might not want to appear too helpful to conversions to fringe pagan faiths.

According to the article, there are 1,511 Wiccans in the Air Force and another 354 in the Marine Corps; figures for the Army and Navy are unavailable. The article also gives some comparative figures: "Among the nearly 2,900 clergy on active duty are 41 Mormon chaplains for 17,513 Mormons in uniform, 22 rabbis for 4,038 Jews, 11 imams for 3,386 Muslims, six teachers for 636 Christian Scientists, and one Buddhist chaplain for 4,546 Buddhists."