Book Review: Military Chaplains & Religious Diversity

• Author: Richard D. Rosen
• Published date: 01 April 2014
• Date: 01 April 2014
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X13480938
• Subject Matter: Book Review

Book Review

Book Review

Kim Philip Hansen

Military Chaplains & Religious Diversity. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. 236 pp. $68.00 (hardback)

Reviewed by: Richard D. Rosen, Texas Tech University School of Law, Lubbock, TX, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0095327X13480938

The First Amendment’s religion clauses prohibit the establishment of a religion and

guarantee the free exercise of religion. While the clauses are often compatible, as

both prohibit government-compelled religion, an inherent tension frequently exists

between the two. Perhaps nowhere is this friction more obvious than in the armed

forces’ chaplaincy. Congress appropriates money to support a military cha-

plaincy—expenditures seemingly at odds with the prohibition against establishing

a religion. On the other hand, absent a military chaplaincy, servicemembers would

be unable to exercise their religions freely, given their assignments to isolated, often

hostile, locations where access to civilian clergy is impossible. Thus, the armed

services justify their chaplaincies as promoting the free exercise of religion. This

tension is also evident in military chaplains themselves: they must walk a fine

line between their personal beliefs and their responsibility to serve a religiously

diverse military.

In her recent book Military Chaplains & Religious Diversity, Professor Kim

Hansen examines these divergent and sometimes conflicting responsibilities from

the perspective of military chaplains themselves. Using interviews of thirty-four

active duty chaplains representing the major denominations represented in the

military, Professor Hansen ably describes the challenges military chaplains in an

increasingly pluralistic religious environment and provides an illuminating depic-

tion of religion in today’s armed forces.

Especially on remote installations or during deployments, the military cannot

possibly furnish chaplains representing every religious denomination. Thus, military

chaplains provide more than religious support to members of their own faith group:

they minister to servicemembers of other faiths or at least facilitate the exercise of

their religious beliefs. While the mission of supporting multiple religious denomina-

tions was not particularly problematic when virtually all servicemembers adhered to

‘‘traditional’’ American religions, i.e., variations of Christianity and Judaism, the

proliferation of religious denominations represented in the military has made the

Armed Forces & Society

2014, Vol. 40(2) 397-399

ªThe Author(s) 2013

Reprints and permission:

sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav

afs.sagepub.com