{"id":2226,"date":"2010-12-22T04:38:34","date_gmt":"2010-12-22T11:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2226"},"modified":"2010-12-21T16:49:03","modified_gmt":"2010-12-21T23:49:03","slug":"dadt-repeals-raises-issues-for-wiccan-chaplains-assuming-that-we-had-wiccan-chaplains-that-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2226","title":{"rendered":"DADT Repeals Raises Issues for Wiccan Chaplains–Assuming that We Had Wiccan Chaplains, That Is"},"content":{"rendered":"

Terry Mattingly <\/a>at Get Religion<\/em>, a blog about religion and journalism, looks at some of the fallout from the “don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal for military chaplains. <\/a><\/p>\n

His main question is whether a new military policy on homosexuals serving openly (they have always been there clandestinely) will affect the ability of some<\/em> chaplains to follow the dictates of their tradition.<\/p>\n

It’s a clash-of-rights issue, as he presents it.<\/p>\n

But I what notice is how, once again, Wicca becomes the “default Other” religion, the hard case that must be accommodated:<\/p>\n

How many Wiccans feel comfortable with a Pentecostal pastor, a Muslim imam, a Catholic priest, an Orthodox rabbi, an evangelical Lutheran or anyone from another faith leading their rites (if they are allowed to do so under their own vows)? Now, many forms of pagan faith do not have formal ordination procedures (while some do). Who approves the appointment of a layperson as a chaplain? How do a small circle of pagan chaplains serve believers on bases spread out around the world?<\/p>\n

…. Now, the dying soldier is a Muslim and the chaplain is Jewish, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Pentecostal, Wiccan, etc. etc.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So far, there are no Pagan chaplains of any sort in the United States military. Well-qualified applicants get nowhere<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the same time, at least some chaplains have been very supportive of military Pagans. The chaplaincy structure stood behind the Fort Hood Pagan group in 2000 all the way to the top<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mattingly sees three possible outcomes. None of them is completely satisfactory:<\/p>\n

(1) Find some way to end<\/strong> the chaplaincy program (under the assumption that if equal access is not possible, then closing down the chaplaincy program is the only legal option that is fair to all).<\/p>\n

(2) Allow clergy to serve<\/strong> without violating their ordination vows (with the knowledge that, even when working with people of good will, this imperfect system will cause tensions and accusations of \u201chate speech\u201d).<\/p>\n

(3) The establishment<\/strong> of state-mandated and government-funded religious rites and rules of conduct of chaplains, mandating that expressions of the beliefs of many clergy are acceptable and that expressions of opposing beliefs are not acceptable. Some chaplains would argue that option (3) is already in place, but it is inconsistently enforced.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Terry Mattingly at Get Religion, a blog about religion and journalism, looks at some of the fallout from the “don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal for military chaplains. His main question is whether a new military policy on homosexuals serving openly (they have always been there clandestinely) will affect the ability of some chaplains to follow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,49,6],"class_list":["post-2226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-american-religion","tag-military","tag-wicca"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-zU","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":572,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=572","url_meta":{"origin":2226,"position":0},"title":"Wiccan chaplainsThe Sacred Well Congregation,\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 8, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Wiccan chaplainsThe Sacred Well Congregation, a Texas Wiccan group with a lot of military connections, has just reached a bureaucratic milestone: As of 3 December 2005, The Sacred Well Congregation has been entered to full membership as an endorsing body in the Committee on Ministry in Specialized Settings (COMISS). COMISS\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":362,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=362","url_meta":{"origin":2226,"position":1},"title":"Wiccans in our midst, once\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 26, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Wiccans in our midst, once again WorldNetDaily, known to its readers as \"WorldNutDaily,\" headlines, \"Wiccans Meeting on Air Force Base.\" (The shock of it!) The chaplains, as usual, are outspokenly in favor of the idea. Most military chaplains do support the idea of Pagan congregations. This quote illustrates a weird\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5265,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5265","url_meta":{"origin":2226,"position":2},"title":"Appeals Court Grants Partial Victory in California Chaplain Case","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The Ninth Circuit Court has partly upheld the Wiccan challenge (headed by volunteer prison chaplain Patrick McCollum) to California's \"Five Faiths\" policy for who gets paid prison chaplains and who does not. Read this helpful blog post from FindLaw and ponder the question, was there a Jewish crime wave in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2736,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2736","url_meta":{"origin":2226,"position":3},"title":"Lawyers Comment on the Pagan Prison Chaplain Case","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Of all the discussions of the prisoner \"free exercise of religion\" issue that produced a lawsuit brought by California volunteer Pagan prison chaplain Patrick McCollum, I recommend that you read\u00a0 Wiccan lawyer Hecate Demetersdatter's explanation. The appeals court has not decided on the rightness or wrongness of the basic question,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":244,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=244","url_meta":{"origin":2226,"position":4},"title":"Pentagon turns to Wiccan chaplain\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 13, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Pentagon turns to Wiccan chaplain Patrick McCollum, Wiccan chaplain in the California state prison system and advisor to Wiccan prison chaplains in several other states, is now advising the Pentagon on Wiccan soldiers' needs, according to the Contra Costa Times in this article. The article requires registration. Why do newspapers\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1311,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1311","url_meta":{"origin":2226,"position":5},"title":"BeliefNet Article Looks at Wiccan Chaplain’s Lawsuit","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"As mentioned here previously and at The Wild Hunt, Patrick McCollum, volunteer Wiccan prison chaplain in California, has sued the state to overturn a policy of hiring paid chaplains only from certain religions. A new article at BeliefNet summarizes the case. Excerpts:Supported by interfaith scholars and church-state separationists, the Rev.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"California\"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=california"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2226"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2228,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226\/revisions\/2228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}