Pagan Chaplains, Pagan Elected Officials

This is the recent question in the On Faith section of The Washington Post:

"This July 4, Pagans rallied outside the White House. They want the military to add a Pagan chaplain. Should they get one? Would you vote for a Pagan for public office?"

Answers from some of the panelists follow. I've selected sections from the responses:

Cal Thomas

Still, I wonder about a person's judgment if he, or she, has embraced paganism with all of the evidence available concerning an orderly universe and the creative mind behind such order. Having judged incorrectly concerning the great "I Am," would a pagan be considered wise enough to judge temporal things?

Susan Jacoby

By all means, bring on the pagans with their gods and goddesses. The more the merrier. If my tax dollars must be used (and it seems that in America, they must) to pay the salaries of military chaplains who believe in just one god, I have no objection to paying chaplains who believe in more than one god.

Bob Edgar

If there are growing numbers in the military who list "pagan" as a religion, then it would seem appropriate for the military to have chaplains available to minister to their members. While such a step will challenge the structure that defines "chaplain" I see no harm if there is a demonstrated need. That begs the question, "What is a pagan?"

As for voting for a "pagan" for public office, again that begs the question, "What is a pagan?"

The religion or belief system of a candidate becomes relevant as a criterion for public office only if the candidate has a record of trying to impose that belief system on others.

Wendy Doniger

Sure I’d vote for a Pagan (I think I probably already have, quite often), but I don’t think there should be a Pagan chaplain. There are two different issues here, complicated by the fact that there are two very different sorts of people that have been called Pagans.

As for pagans in public office, there, too, I think, it is time to give up the untenable and hurtful pretense of being one nation under one god. A pagan, and an atheist, and an agnostic, and anyone of any other creed has the right to hold public office—as long as they all restrict their religious views to the privacy of their place of worship, even if that place is simply a clearing in the woods under a full moon.

Willis S. Elliot

No, I do not think the military should “add a Pagan chaplain.” A military’s function is to support a nation’s spirit, not only its body. And America’s originating and continuing spirit locates the sacred in Biblical religion coordinate with reason. In that it locates the sacred elsewhere, Paganism is un-American. But un-Biblical religions, at their own rather than at public expense, should have access, for spiritual support, to their adherents in the U.S. military.

Chuck Colson

The more difficult question is whether I would vote for a pagan for public office. The answer is that on one hand I fully respect the fact that there should be no religious test for public office; on the other hand, I would have great difficulty supporting an explicit Wiccan or pagan for high public office. There are tenets of their belief that, I think, are incompatible with the requirements of American democratic governance.

Starhawk

I’m cheering for my Pagan sisters and brothers who are demonstrating on this Fourth of July for the right to have a Pagan chaplain in the military. Our constitution, which they have volunteered to defend, grants us the freedom of religion. That doesn’t mean “freedom of any religion we approve of but not those that make us uncomfortable or that we’ve never heard of.” It means freedom to follow the calling of one’s own faith and conscience.

Pamela K. Taylor

If he had been a socially conservative, pro-big business, Republican Muslim, I would not have been proud of him, and I would have voted for his socially liberal, pro-worker, Democratic contender, even though that person most likely would not have been Muslim. Religion, really, has nothing to do with it.

As for whether the army should hire a pagan chaplain (or many pagan chaplains), that really comes down to numbers. If there are enough pagans in the military to warrant a chaplain, then by all means, they deserve one. If on the other hand there are only a handful, then I can see that army may have a case that the good derived will not merit the expense.

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Well, I think there is a lot of nuttyness going on in some of those comments, and I can't help but think that Religious belief aids and abets that nuttyness. At the same time, I think we ought to pay attention to the religious beliefs of candidates for public office. Really, look deeply into the various religious myths and ask them tough questions about just what they believe, to what extent, and how such beliefs influence their public policy thinking. What are the implications, and complications, of religious beliefs for those running for public office? Yes, we should ask the tough questions on this issue. We usually don't ask tough questions about religion. Go ahead and ask about fiscal philosophy, and feel free to ask about religious thought. It should rightfully matter to us if the candidate believes in "trickle down economics," or increasing taxes. It should also matter if they believe in Xenu, in multiple deities, in the notion that some invisible being will provide in times of need, etc. Spend your beliefs wisely I say, and ask the pointed questions about just what belief system this or that candidate has "given their hearts and minds to."

A Pagan Chaplain? It is a shame that we should even have to ask that question. Of course we should have them, if we truly want to live up to the ideal of religious freedom. However, we also ought to ask tough questions about the religious justification that religion (any religion) might lend to war and such efforts, and the hypocrisy that creeps in when we mix both.

Comments

[Huw]

Argh.

"Wonder about a person's judgment"? "Tenets of their belief that, I think, are incompatible with the requirements of American democratic governance."? Paganism is un-American? "At their own rather than at public expense"?

One notes, that "Biblical religions" would include Islam as well as Buddhism, Hinduism, etc...

There are some times when the words of my coreligionists make me want to go back to my days as a gnostic pagan.

[Huw]

(sorry... that should be "un-Biblical religions". so much for my cut-and-paste skills.)

[Eric Quinn]

I am currently going through the commission process to become a U.S. Army Pagan Chaplain. I truly believe that those that refuse our fighting men and women the opportunity to worship as they see fit, especially with a religion that is recognized by the federal government as a valid one, is unconstitutional, and these men and women are dieing, just as the Christian soldiers are. I don't care what religion you are, if you are serving in the U.S. Military then you deserve, spiritual guidance and leadership. Many of the reasons listed her would preclude the existence of Jewish, and Islamic chaplains. The question of what is pagan can be reversed. What is Christianity? Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, etc. Most of the arguments listed here are just bigoted and religocentric.