Bruce Feiler - Where God Was Born, Abraham, Walking The Bible

Aye Aye, Chaplain
Monday, December 4, 2006

When I was in Iraq in 2004 visiting biblical sites (the Garden of Eden, Ur, Babylon, Nineveh), as part of the research for Where God Was Born, I met a number of U.S. Army chaplains. I wrote about them extensively in my book. At the time, I was struck not only by their dedication and fierce commitment to serving the needs of their colleagues, but specifically by the interfaith demands of their jobs. One chaplain showed me the special kit they take into combat situations that contained a crucifix, a screw-together chalice, communion wine and wafers, a rosary, a kippah, teffilin (Jewish prayer boxes), and Muslim prayer beads. Tucked into the bottom of the kit was a mimeographed booklet that had prayers for dying soldiers, including the Apostle's Creed for Protestants, instructions for asking Catholics to make an Act of Contrition, a Prayer for Dying for Muslims, and the Shema for Jews. What I took away from those encounters was the idea that in the same way the U.S. military was at the forefront of racial integration in the 1950's, perhaps it can also be at the forefront of interfaith relations today.

Cut to this weekend: I am preparing to visit Gettysburg in a few days as part of research on a new project. I was reading Allen Guelzo's Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President when I came across a passage about Lincoln's expansion of the chaplain program during the Civil War. Chaplains had been around in limited fashion for centuries, but Lincoln poured more resources into the program, adding a number of hospital chaplains as early as 1861. But here's the passage of Guelzo's book that jumped out:

For the first year of the war, chaplaincy appointments were restricted to ordained clergy of "Christian denominations," but in December, 1861, Rabbi Arnold Fischel personally prevailed on Lincoln to open military chaplains' appointments to Jews, and he promised Fischel he would sponsor "a new law broad enough to cover what is desired by you in behalf of the Israelites." Which he did, in July, 1862, the statutory restriction of the chaplaincy to Christian clergy was dropped in favor of a blander limitation to the clergy of "religious denominations."

The interfaith roots of the chaplain corps were present at the creation

Labels: Interfaith Relations, Middle East

Posted by B Feiler at 8:36 AM
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