The Institute of full-time military chaplains has been operating in the USA for many years, which is a return to centuries-old traditions. And today, divine services and spiritual conversations on historical and other topics bring to light and generate a high state of mind. Chaplains go to the troops and ships and give the soul of warrior support: they determine the coordinate system and spiritual and moral criteria. They also have a significant impact on the development of the religious situation in the country, the dynamics of relations between confessions, and their relationship with the state in the context of the rapid spread of religious pluralism.
The duties of military chaplains include not only the performance of divine services and rituals on the territory of military and law enforcement formations. They also organize work with servicemen of different faiths and members of their families on the principles of voluntariness and taking into account the specifics of their religious affiliation (Odierno 2015). Military chaplains are engaged in spiritual and educational work and participate in events held by the command for patriotic and moral education of servicemen and their family members. Priests in the army assist the command in carrying out preventive work to strengthen law, order, and discipline. Thus, they participate in the prevention of offenses, non-statutory relationships, and suicidal incidents. All these duties are universal and can be applied to representatives of any religion.
The chaplain can still provide when they can not actually perform because a soldier has a different faith or religious belief. This is due to the fact that religious values are usually associated with universal values that model correct attitudes and behavior in society. Most religions share this type of moral principle (National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces 2015). Although each religion has certain differences, they all strive for the same goal. Any religious teaching instructs the correct behavior of people, which will lead to a life in harmony and the attainment of God. Thus, a chaplain can be guided by universal moral principles when instructing a person from another religion. Then they will be able to help a serviceman as a spiritual mentor.
For the same reason, a chaplain can help soldiers with their spiritual needs without compromising their own faith. Any religious values are associated with universal, ethical, moral values and all those that are considered correct in society. For example, values such as respect, honesty, and kindness are likely to be shared by both the chaplain’s religion and the employee’s religion. An army priest, in his instruction, may seek to support the importance of love, kindness, respect, and solidarity in order to achieve greater closeness to God. If they adhere to this principle, they will be able to help a soldier of another faith while not compromising their own religious beliefs.
The army is an integral part of the rapidly globalizing world, and the processes taking place in it cannot bypass it. The growth of religious pluralism is one of the most important of these phenomena. The world is divided by fundamental differences – ideas, so the institution of military priests seriously affects the unity of representatives of different religions. Chaplains act not only as religious abbots but also as advisers on issues of morality and morality in relation to the personnel of the unit. Thanks to this, they are able to help representatives of any religion, including the one to which they do not belong.
References
National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces. 2015. The Covenant and Code of Ethics for Chaplains of the Armed Forces. Web.
Odierno, Raymond. 2015. Army Chaplain Corps Activities. Washington: Department of the Army.