# Tyson Chicken has 125 on-site Chaplains ministering to it's processing plant workers **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 6, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558 "2006-08-06T14:44:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558/21 "2006-08-07T05:20:27Z")
Well, it’s probably cheaper than decent health insurance and pensions. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558/22 "2006-08-07T05:41:25Z")
[QUOTE=Unregistered Bull] Boy, y’all are sure hostile towards religion. It’s not like employees are required to attend services or say the Lord’s Prayer before the shift starts. It’s just someone there who can be utilized by employees working a hard job and often living hard lives if they so choose. [/QUOTE] Tyson is a private business and as long as employees aren’t forced to meet with chaplains or attend service I don’t see a problem. I just think it’s weird that they’d need 125 of them. Also are all the chaplains of the same denomination or are multiple religions represented? ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558/23 "2006-08-07T11:36:25Z")
[QUOTE=Unregistered Bull] Boy, y’all are sure hostile towards religion. It’s not like employees are required to attend services or say the Lord’s Prayer before the shift starts. It’s just someone there who can be utilized by employees working a hard job and often living hard lives if they so choose. [/QUOTE] I haven’t seen any hostility here, just comments on the strageness of it all. I mean, honestly, you can’t get through the day without a minister? I think at that stage you have more problems than God might be able to assist with. Cheers, G ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558/24 "2006-08-07T21:44:48Z")
Jesus, help me to submit this post. Thank you in advance, Lord Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558/25 "2006-08-07T21:46:49Z")
[QUOTE=bluethree] Jesus, help me to submit this post. Thank you in advance, Lord Jesus. [/QUOTE] You see? Prayer does work. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558/26 "2006-08-07T21:55:49Z")
[QUOTE=Zeldar] You see? Prayer does work. [/QUOTE] Well …, that could’ve been Satan transforming himself into an angel of light so as to deceive the poor woman as he did Eve. 😛 > [@DtC](#): > > It would be bad enough to have to work at a chicken processing plant without having to get harrangued about the Lord while you’re doing it. Especially if God turns out to be a supernatural chicken. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558/27 "2006-08-07T22:40:16Z")
. . . One more reason to become a vegetarian . . . ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558/28 "2006-08-07T23:31:04Z")
It does shed new light on an age-old question, though: "Why did the chicken cross the road? To ‘cross over’ to the other side. . ." Tripler Ahh, the spirituality of buffalo wings ‘n’ beer. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558/29 "2006-08-07T23:41:17Z")
Hmm not sure if I want my chicken contaminated with the beliefs of others. Me at the KFC: That’s two pieces of unblessed breast please. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558/30 "2006-08-07T23:42:29Z")
Of course I’d have to order something else after a few beers - it becomes impossible to say! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558/31 "2006-08-08T02:45:05Z")
> [@](#): > > that could’ve been Satan transforming himself into an angel of light so as to deceive the poor woman as he did Eve. > [@](#): > > One more reason to become a vegetarian It’s your life, Eve, but I hope the other reasons were better than that one. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558/32 "2006-08-08T05:03:45Z")
Chaplains aren’t necessarily religious entities. In the armed forces, chaplains also serve as sounding boards, non-spiritual guides (“Can you help me find a place to stay?” etc.), therapists and all-around listeners, and the vast majority of a chaplain’s duty has _nothing at all_ to do with religion. Chaplains are extremely important even to atheists in the military, because they do all of the above jobs and they have a totally unbreachable confidentiality agreement. I would imagine that’s what Tyson is going for here; trying to increase their workers’ productivity by giving them people they can talk to in confidence about anything at all. This atheist wishes every office had a chaplain or two. > [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > When they say they’re “faith friendly,” does that include all faiths or just Christianity? Would they provide chaplains to minister to Wiccans or Buddhists? Just wondering. I’ve never worked at a meat processing plant, but military chaplains have it in their basic job description to be “friendly” and provide their services equally to everyone, regardless of their faith or lack thereof. For example, my squadron had a Jewish chaplain and a Muslim chaplain before him, even though we had only one Muslim and a small handful of Jews the whole time I was there. They provided the above-mentioned services to everyone regardless of their faith, and actually their jobs as the official chaplain of the squadron had nothing to do with actual religious practice at all, although they also led unrelated religious services on the base. > [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > Do they proselytize the workers? I have this image of a bunch of lay-preachers roaming around the plant trying to badger people into accepting Christ. That would suck. It would be bad enough to have to work at a chicken processing plant without having to get harrangued about the Lord while you’re doing it. That’s not my experience of what having a chaplain in the workplace means. Again, I’ve never worked at a meat processing plant, but from one atheist to another I’m trying to tell you that “chaplain” doesn’t mean “office preacher”, although chaplains usually have an unrelated pastor-type job as well. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558/33 "2006-08-08T05:16:17Z")
[QUOTE=fetus] Chaplains aren’t necessarily religious entities. In the armed forces, chaplains also serve as sounding boards, non-spiritual guides (“Can you help me find a place to stay?” etc.), therapists and all-around listeners, and the vast majority of a chaplain’s duty has _nothing at all_ to do with religion. Chaplains are extremely important even to atheists in the military, because they do all of the above jobs and they have a totally unbreachable confidentiality agreement. I would imagine that’s what Tyson is going for here; trying to increase their workers’ productivity by giving them people they can talk to in confidence about anything at all. This atheist wishes every office had a chaplain or two. I’ve never worked at a meat processing plant, but military chaplains have it in their basic job description to be “friendly” and provide their services equally to everyone, regardless of their faith or lack thereof. For example, my squadron had a Jewish chaplain and a Muslim chaplain before him, even though we had only one Muslim and a small handful of Jews the whole time I was there. They provided the above-mentioned services to everyone regardless of their faith, and actually their jobs as the official chaplain of the squadron had nothing to do with actual religious practice at all, although they also led unrelated religious services on the base. That’s not my experience of what having a chaplain in the workplace means. Again, I’ve never worked at a meat processing plant, but from one atheist to another I’m trying to tell you that “chaplain” doesn’t mean “office preacher”, although chaplains usually have an unrelated pastor-type job as well. [/QUOTE] Thanks. I actually was honestly asking for information and not just denigrating the idea. As long as the services are equitable and non-coercive I don’t see anything wrong with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tyson-chicken-has-125-on-site-chaplains-ministering-to-its-processing-plant-workers/367558.md?page=1)