How does the military decide which relgions to appoint chaplains from? I know there are Catholic, Protetsant, Jewish, Muslim chaplains. What about Wiccans and Buddhists? If a soldier(sailor, marine, airman) dies and there’s no chaplain from their faith availible does that mean one that is has to? Could a Catholic priest be forced to perform a Muslim or Hindu funeral? What if the servicemember is an Atheist or Agnostic? The Royal Navy enlisted their first Satanist . Ih he’s killed in action he’ll get a free Church of Satan funeral. Are US military allowed too do that?
Here is a link to the US Army Chaplain school. I know there is an insignia for Buddist chaplains but I have never seen one. Of course the vast majority of chaplains are Christian. Chaplains are there to meet the soldier’s spirtual needs. Sometimes this means performing ceremonies from outside their faith.
What kind of religious service would they need? Chaplains are also trained as counselors and will try and help with problems in a secular way if they are needed. Some are better than others at this.
Funerals. Would an Atheist servicemember be able to get a completly secular funeral with no generic refernces to faith or religion? Can they get atheist listed on their dog tags? So a Christian chaplain would be forced to perform a neo-pagan ceremonies?
I was reading about world war two ,and how marines were issued a religion if they were not a practicing member of what ever faith, I don’t know if they are able to do that today ,but I have heard that some new soldiers have been counceled by other more worldly troopers to place an x in the box of some of the more obscure religions , for the mercenary purpose of not having extra duties when the rest of the troops are getting their G-rats.
Declan
What do you mean they were issued a religion? And what are G-rats?
You were required to list a religion. No exceptions were permitted. If you put down something obscure, you could get time off while others were at chapel getting their ration of God. G-rats. 
In WWII GIs were buried overseas. That does not happen anymore. The body is given to the family for burial. There would be no need to force anyone to perform a funeral. The family would get there own priest or whatever. As far as I know the Army does not recognize pagan religions. They can not interfere with your religious beliefs (if there is no conflict with your duties) but they will not necessarily perform any rites. I guess it would be up to the chaplain.
Does Wicca qualify?
I was unclear. I meant there are no pagan chaplains or services. I didn’t mean they don’t recognize the religion as in they are pretending it doesn’t exist. Chaplains must have at least a passing knowledge of whatever religion he might come in contact with. If a commander goes to the chaplain and says,“PVT Snuffy says he can’t eat MREs because he is a Wiccan.” the chaplain can look it up in his reference material and tell the commander that PVT Snuffy is full of shit.
Military Wiccan services are available on Sundays just like the others. Chaplains are cross trained in a variety of religions, so yes, a Catholic chaplain can/may perform whatever prayers/actions are appropriate for a dying Muslim or Jew.
If it ever was, religion is no longer required. Some people will put “NO REL PREF” (No Religious Preference) on their dog tags. Or they could put “NON DENOM” which would be a Christian of non-denomination. Personally, I have a different word on each tag. One of my dog tags always says “Libertas” and the other says “Veritas”.
In Basic, the Drill Sergeants would get all the privates lined up and ready to attend their respective services. They would call out “Catholics” and all the Catholics would get in that line. Then “Pentacostal”, then “Protestant”, etc. No one EVER got in the Wicca line. And everyone laughed when they called it out. The Drill Sergeants always had comments to make about it too. Like, “Wiccans! You guys can just run your ass over there and hug those trees if you want” or some crap like that. They weren’t known for being very culturally aware or sensitive. . .
Oh, and people like me who didn’t attend a service on Sunday just stayed back and took care of other crap.
Even when they send the body home the military still pays for the funeral. What about the insignia on military gravestones? I know Atheists get one. Would a Satanist get to have a Church of Satan funeral and burial in a vetrans cemetary with an unpside-down pentagram in his/her gravestone?
Which does not mean they get to tell the family what to do, including what kind of rites to have. In the case of a combat casualty, the Army pays for transportation, body prep, casket, and burial plus $12,000 for any other expenses; and partial expenses (of as little as $300) for other eligible persons; will provide free of charge a grave marker and funerary flag, and interment in a National Cemetery if applicable; and if asked for and available will provide the military honors (pallbearers, volleys, Taps). They do not require a religious rite to be performed on-site. Among the Military Funeral Benefits there is no mention of the rites as part of the benefits.
I suppose as long as it will not involve any disturbing of the good order of the cemetery or of the other visitors or any demands for an unusual expenditure of resources or manpower on the VA’s side (e.g. hold it at midnight and have a bonfire), the cemetery administrator may try to reach an accommodation – the military ceremony could happen before the religious ceremony, or not even happen at all. Or, most of the religious ceremony could happen off-site.
As late as 2000 there was no standard symbol for satanist (or Wicca) headsotnes at Arlington. Notice however that they mention 3 denominations (Christian Science, UCC and one Islamic denomination) that have copyrighted emblems so they cannot show them on the page but apparently will be placed on the stones if the respective congregation gives the go-ahead. So who knows.
Which is why my agnostic brother went to the generic Protestant services in AF basic. It also meant a couple of hours where the TIs weren’t yelling at them. His recruiter told him he probably should go because of that, but he didn’t believe it until he got there. Suddenly, for a few weeks, my baby brother went to church.
I’ll have to ask him what he has on his dog tags.
Military Pagan Network includes information on how to sponsor a chaplian into the military. This sponsorship is done by a “faith group” (church , synogogue, coven, etc.). In order to qualify:
This page has the requirements for both the faith group and the proposed appointee.
The hurdle for pagan chaplains at the moment seems to be the educational requirements. Finding graduate level coursework in pagan religions is tough, which means to fufill the educational requirements, many pagan ministers are taking Christian coursework.
Here’s the excerpt on Wicca from the US Army Chaplain’s Handbook. Note that they (incorrectly) list other earth based religions, including druidism and shamanism as being “other names” for Wicca. There is certainly enough information in here for a Christian chaplain to determine if the Wiccan private can eat the MRE.
Witchvox lists 1552 self-described “Military Pagans, Witches, Wiccans, & Heathens” who have signed up at their site. There is also a list of Military Pagan Groups and another group listing here. Given that there are undoubtedly more who don’t know about Witchvox, or don’t care to post their information, or are not “out of the broomcloset,” I suspect there are a significant number of soldiers who consider themselves pagan.
My husband just participated in an initiation ceremony for a young soldier who went back to Iraq last month. She wanted to be given a “charge” and ordination so she could serve as a Priestess for others in her division. Many pagan paths are often solitary or community ones, a chaplain or priest is not strictly speaking neccesary. I suspect that rather than asking a Christian chaplain to perform Wiccan ceremony, most Wiccans simply do it for themselves or work with other Wiccans in their vicinity.
Which is also what I have seen happen with Mormons that are away from any organized Temple. They form there own group and worship on their own but do not use any chaplain. The chaplain’s office provides a place for them to gather but thats about it.