A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations.
Although the term chaplain originally had Christian roots, it is generally used today in military organizations to describe all professionals specially trained to serve any spiritual need, regardless of religious affiliation. In addition to offering pastoral care to individuals, and supporting their religious rights and needs, military chaplains may also advise the executive on issues of religion, ethics, morale and morals. They may also liaise with local religious leaders in an effort to understand the role of religion as both a factor in hostility and war and as a force for reconciliation and peace.
Military chaplains normally represent a religion or faith group but work with military personnel of all faiths and none. Some countries, like the Netherlands, also employ humanist chaplains who offer a non-religious approach to chaplain support. Groups such as the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, support the idea of such chaplains.
Read more about Military Chaplain: Nomination, Selection, and Commissioning, Noncombatant Status, Badges and Insignia, Expanding Role of Military Chaplains, Chief of Chaplains/Chaplain General, International Organization
Famous quotes containing the words military and/or chaplain:
“His ugliness was the stuff of legend. In an age of affordable beauty, there was something heraldic about his lack of it. The antique arm whined as he reached for another mug. It was a Russian military prosthesis, a seven-function force-feedback manipulator, cased in grubby pink plastic.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)
“Though I had not come a-hunting, and felt some compunctions about accompanying the hunters, I wished to see a moose near at hand, and was not sorry to learn how the Indian managed to kill one. I went as reporter or chaplain to the hunters,—and the chaplain has been known to carry a gun himself.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)