National Secular Society & Military Chaplins

[The Riff-Raff Element]

I don't know why this has so annoyed me, but it has.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15318614

In summary, the NSS have objected to the MOD spending money on military chaplins, saying that the various churches that provide them (for the most part the CoE) should pay instead.

Now, I'm a faithless agnostic and no great fan of the military, but even I recognise that military chaplins are often pretty brave, exposing themselves - unarmed except by their faith - to considerable personal danger while ministering to the terrified, wounded and dying, whoever they might be. My wife's grandfather spent WWII being shot at in the swamps of Burma as a Methodist chaplin.

However, NSS spokesman Stephan Evans said his organisation was not necessarily calling for an outright ban on all spiritual support to personnel. "There could be a diminished role for religion, for example, taking some religious services."


Well, isn't that just big & generous of them!

Lately, the more I read about the NSS, the more I incline away from the point of view that they are a level-headed group whose opinions deserve to be heard and the more I incline to the idea that they might be a bunch of t*****s.

Sorry. Just needed to get that off my chest.

[MKG]

Well yes - it's a bit like saying that forces' food should be subsidised by the gastronomic society (if there is such a thing). I've looked, but I can't yet discover if chaplains were originally insisted upon by the church or by the armed forces themselves. Obviously, if it's the latter, the NSS argument would be historically stooooopid.

I must admit, though, that the concept of a military Chaplin is a highly amusing one - but I think it's been done

Mike

[snapdragon]

the support from chaplains (all faiths not just CofE) is important to serving military

Like food, pay, equipment and accomodation, chaplains are a part of the crown's pact with those they send to war