There should be a
definite line between a person’s personal belief in a higher power and what the military
believes a person should believe in right? Should there be a specific religion
used in military training to teach young officers and leaders in matters regarding
ethical decisions and internal conflicts that are no doubt associated with war?
I don’t believe there should be, but this is happening and has been happening
for more than 20 years. I have served in the both the Marine Corps and the
United States Army for 21 ½ years and during this time have attended numerous
schools of leadership. These leadership schools used religious quotes and
biblical examples to raise discussions in ethical behavior as it applies to
leading Soldiers in combat. Until I read an article titled “Air Force yanks nuke ethics course.” By
Markeshia Ricks did I really begin to
reflect back on these days in class and I realized that there had been many
times religion had made its way into the course curriculum. So how is it that
certain religious texts or fundamentals make it into the everyday lives of
service members and what is being done about it? These are the key questions I
hope to answer in this paper.
Soldiers deployed in combat struggle with many internal
conflicts and these conflicts center on religion. I remember vividly praying
before going out on combat patrols that “our faith (Christian) would prove to
stronger than our enemies (Islam) and our fight for justice and what was right
would help us kill them.” In 2009 an
email circulated through the Air Force command and staff officers at Creech Air
Force Base in Nevada inviting them to attend a Bible study class in which the
topic of discussion referred to Jews as “whiners”. Not that this could get any
worse but the email was sent from a staff Captain at the behest of the base
Chaplain. In another instance 5,000 service members stationed at RAF
Lakenheath, the largest Air Force base in England received a presentation
titled “Purpose Driven Airmen” which
incorporated the teachings of mega church leader Rick Warren and creationism as
a means of suicide prevention (Leopold, 2011) .
This training was sent out from a commander’s official email. The problem with
doing this is that any email from an “official” government account implies that
the service branch condones the training or information. Many commanders in the
zealous to promote spiritual fitness as much as they promote physical fitness
unintentionally push one religion (usually their own) over others when getting
information out to the troops. It is vital that commanders remain neutral when
speaking about religious activities being put on by the base or unit chaplain,
as well as allow the Soldier’s the opportunity to attend services even though
they may conflict with patrols or operations. This was one of the hardest
things I had to do as a First Sergeant in Afghanistan. I had 166 Soldiers in
four platoons; each of these platoons would be responsible for patrolling every
day for about eight hours. The patrols took place in a 24 hour, but no matter
what time a platoon went it was imperative that each Soldier had the
opportunity to attend a religious service they wanted to. He time for
fellowship and worship is a very important activity in the day or week of a
combat Soldier, because it allows them the opportunity to release stress and
decompress after some trying times in the field.
Understanding that the
possibility of American Soldiers turning the war in Afghanistan and Iraq into a
war of “bad Muslims” and the righteous “Christians of America’ and whose God is
stronger definitely holds its possibilities. So how is the military trying to
change this perception? In his policy memorandum dated September 1, but sent
Tuesday to all major commands, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz
said, "Leaders ... must balance Constitutional protections for an
individuals free exercise of religion or other personal beliefs and its
prohibition against governmental establishment of religion." (Leopold, 2011)
So how did the Air Force respond to the fact that religion had made its way
into a training curriculum for Nuclear Missile Officer’s “The Air Force
suspended the mandatory Nuclear Ethics and Nuclear Warfare training immediately
following the publication of Truthout's report. David Smith, a spokesman for
the Air Education and Training Command told Truthout last month the ethics
training "has been taken out of the curriculum and is being
reviewed." And in an even more knee jerk reaction it “pulled all of its
training materials "that address morals, ethics, core values and related
character development issues" pending a "comprehensive review,"
Smith told the Air Force Times. That decision was made after a Reserve Officers
Training Corps (ROTC) instructor, who read Truthout's report, sent the Military
Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a civil rights organization,
copies of ROTC leadership training materials, which also contained
Christian-themed citations from the Bible. The PowerPoint slides in that
presentation the unnamed instructor sent MRFF are used in all colleges and
universities that have an ROTC program. (Leopold, 2011)
This
is not to say that religion has no place in war I am sure everyone has heard
the adage” there is no atheist in war” in a movie or a book. What does the
church say a just war is? In the Just War in the Catechism of the Catholic
Church it is described that All citizens and all governments are obliged to
work for the avoidance of war. Despite this admonition of the Church, it
sometimes becomes necessary to use force to obtain the end of justice. This is
the right, and the duty, of those who have responsibilities for others, such as
civil leaders and police forces. While individuals may renounce all violence
those who must preserve justice may not do so, though it should be the last
resort, "once all peace efforts have failed." [Cf. Vatican II, Gaudium
et spes 79, 4] As with all moral acts the use of force to obtain justice
must comply with three conditions to be morally good. First, the act must be
good in itself. The use of force to obtain justice is morally licit in itself.
Second, it must be done with a good intention, which as noted earlier must be
to correct vice, to restore justice or to restrain evil, and not to inflict
evil for its own sake. Thirdly, it must be appropriate in the circumstances. An
act which may otherwise be good and well-motivated can be sinful by reason of
imprudent judgment and execution.” (What is Just War?, 2011)
I
am a Soldier and my obligation is to fight for those who can’t fight against
injustice, I may have to use violence to right a wrong, and I may have to kill.
But this must be done in a manner which is ethical and moral. The determination
of whether war is right or wrong is not ours to make, only those actions we
choose take while engaged in combat are.
Works Cited
Leopold, J. (2011, September 14). Top Air Force
Official Issues Religious Neutrality Policy in Wake of Truthout's "Jesus
Loves Nukes" Exposé. Retrieved September 23, 2011, from Truthout:
http://www.truth-out.org/aftermath-jesus-loves-nukes-scandal/1316010154
Ricks,
M. (2011, 09 01). Air Force Yanks nuke Ethics Course. Air Force Times ,
p. 45.
What is Just War? (2011, September
1). Retrieved September 23, 2011, from Global Catholic Network:
http://www.ewtn.com/expert/answers/just_war.htm
