I posted the following elsewhere. It offers only a brief introduction of my thoughts on public ceremonial prayer in Jesus’ name by military chaplains.
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At the schoolhouse [Army Chaplain School], my class was told repeatedly not to pray in Jesus’ name. When I was a chaplain candidate, a supervisory chaplain asked me to write a prayer for a graduation; he scolded me for inserting Christ’s name in an “ecumenical setting”. I know of similar incidents secondhand.
I have also run into supervisory chaplains who would go to the wall for their chaplains who prayed according to the forms of their faith.
If the Army didn’t want me to minister according to my faith, it wouldn’t require me to have an ecclesiastical endorsement. If the Army prefers that I be deity-indifferent, it should have not required me to have an ecclesiastical endorsement. I can’t pray to a civic god because no such god exists; I can’t pray to an unknown god. My faith is in a specific (the specific) God, and to pray to anyone or anything else–or no one else–is only meaningless babble. If a commander bars me from praying at a ceremony because I do so in the name of Jesus, then he doesn’t understand prayer and only wants it for show–not to pray in Jesus name would be mere ceremonial blather. Meaningless prayer is no prayer at all.
I should expect clergy of other religions to feel the same about their own prayers.
There is no need, in prayer at a public civic ceremony, to have an “altar call”. After all, the prayer is directed to God, not to the crowd. The crowd is afforded the opportunity to listen in on the prayer, as a means of encouragement, reflection, and–if they desire–agreement. At a change of command, for example, the goal of the ceremony is not spiritual revival but recognition of the staff change; so, I should be offering a prayer that focuses on that topic. However, I will certainly direct the prayer to Almighty God; I will not invoke the favor of some nameless deity. I do not profess faith in a nameless god, and the Army knew that when I came in and wanted it that way.
Provide or perform? A ceremonial prayer is not an issue of providing. Since chaplains are called on to pray (to God), they are performing religious services according to their faith tradition. It is impossible to pray to an atheistic god because, in an atheistic worldview, no god exists. The fact that chaplains are called on to pray implies belief in God.
Excellent post.
Thanks.
Very Well Said!! The military wanted your service according to your faith. How strict is the service on this issue? Is praying in Jesus name a commander preference, or is it something directed from higher? How much liberty does a chaplain actually have in practicing their faith?
I pray that God bless you. In Jesus name. Amen
So what kind of resolution has there been to this issue? I have not really seen much that says if any new policy has been established or not.
Thanks,
Corey
Corey, there has been less of a problem with this issue in the Army than in the Air Force and Navy. The unwritten policy in the Army is that chaplains may pray in the name of whatever god they serve. I have never experienced a problem from anyone in the chain of command asking me to restrict my religious speech. However, I have heard complaints from other chaplains, as noted in my commentary above.
The previous Army Chief of Chaplains published a statement about this matter in one of his newsletters. I thought I had posted it somewhere, but can’t find it at the moment; I will dig it up and post it here.
I did post an excerpt from the former Chief’s statement. Look at comment number 1 on this post: http://armychaplaincy.com/2006.....-military/
Chaplain Hicks had some other things to say on this subject. However, the gist seemed to be that supervisory chaplains should teach junior chaplains that it’s wrong to pray in the name of a specific deity.
Frankly, I am always frustrated when a chaplain ends a prayer in “your name” or even “thy name”. To whom is he praying and why is the name unmentionable? Even the Hebrews, who valued the name of the Lord so greatly that they wouldn’t even say or completely write out his personal name, had more specific ways of referring to God. We should learn from their example.
I am presently a reservist on active orders for the summer to teach at the schoolhouse (USACHCS). While there are those who feel that appealing to any specific object of faith in prayer is not required, most of my peers support prayer given in Jesus name. For the record, I always pray in Jesus name.
These guidelines have kept me out of trouble on this issue (trouble being defined as controversy). When I stand to offer prayer, I say something in the spirit of the following, “I invite any who are willing to join me in Christian prayer to bow your heads…” and at the conclusion I say, “I pray in Jesus name” rather than “we pray in Jesus name”. These minor adjustments to the way we present ourselves in leading prayer will give us the opportunity to remain faithful while keeping us clear of being accused of presuming upon others faith.
I know some will not appreciate my approach because they desire to make a statement over this issue but I feel that a time of prayer is not the time to make our statement. We can argue the case “offline” as it were but we need to preserve the dignity of public prayer while recognizing that only those who love Christ enter into the prayer anyway.