Free speech for chaplains

Wed Jul 13 14:01:30 PDT 2005

He could tell me I was unsaved and needed to make a different choice (Baal or whatever) if I wanted to be saved. I would say thanks but no thanks, I've got Jesus.

 Indeed, if he truly thought I was on the road to Hell and didn't tell me, he would not be showing me respect and love; he would be saying: "I don't care that you are damned. I will just make you feel good about what you believe." This is not love; it is indifference.

Cheers, Rick

bortd at aol.com wrote:
Suppose you were religiously as you are, and in the service today.  What standard of conduct should there be for a chaplin of another denomination who sincerely believed you were utterly lost without conversion to his religious view?

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Duncan <nebraskalawprof at yahoo.com>
To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics <religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu>
Sent: Tue, 12 Jul 2005 16:37:07 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: RE: Free speech for chaplains

.AOLPlainTextBody {    margin: 0px;    font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif;    font-size: 12px;     color: #000;     background-color: #fff; }.AOLPlainTextBody pre {    font-size: 9pt;}.AOLInlineAttachment {    margin: 10px;}.AOLAttachmentHeader {    border-bottom: 2px solid #E9EAEB;    background: #F9F9F9;}.AOLAttachmentHeader .Title {    font: 11px Tahoma;    font-weight: bold;    color: #666666;    background: #E9EAEB;     padding: 3px 0px 1px 10px;}.AOLAttachmentHeader .FieldLabel {    font: 11px Tahoma;     font-weight: bold;    color: #666666;    padding: 1px 10px 1px 9px;}.AOLAttachmentHeader .FieldValue {    font: 11px Tahoma;     color: #333333;}Sandy helps illustrate my point. There are some soldiers, like Sandy, who do not wish chaplains to try to save them. They believe they are just fine the way they are thanks. But there are other soldiers, perhaps like I once was, who are searching for God and for salvation and want chaplains to show them the way.

Perhaps we need both kinds of chaplains in the armed services, but we should not allow one kind of soldier to have a heckler's veto over chaplains who might be meeting the needs of other kinds of soldiers. Nor should the EC be interpreted to allow the military to serve as a board of acceptable theology for chaplains.

There are literally millions of Christians, like me, who bless the day some one--often a stranger--explained the doctrine of salvation by faith to them. Thank God for all the busybodies who took the time to throw a lifeline to  wretches like me! If I were a soldier whisked away from my home town and perhaps facing death beyond the next turn in the road, I would want a chaplain who would not hesitate to preach Christ and salvation to me. 

Rick

Sanford Levinson <SLevinson at law.utexas.edu> wrote:
 Rick writes:

 If I were on a road heading for a cliff, I would want to be told that the road I was on was bad and that another road was good. The same is true of the spiritual roads I travel. If I were heading for Hell, I would not want a chaplain to comfort me and tell me that everything was fine and dandy. I would want him to help me get off the wrong road and on the right road.  
********************************* 

I confess that I think that Rick is right.  In an essay published in Wrestling With Diversity, I note my own childhood in Hendersonville, NC, where some of my friends did indeed try to "help me" in the way that Rick suggests.  I obviously didn't accept the help, but I did not in fact resent the effort, since I had no doubt about its motivation (and, as a matter of fact, they didn't press the point once it was clear that I was not going to convert).  That being said, I still resent similar efforts coming from those who are not my friends, especially when if they occur in "official" settings.  

sandy
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Rick Duncan 
Welpton Professor of Law 
University of Nebraska College of Law 
Lincoln, NE 68583-0902
Red State Lawblog: www.redstatelaw.blogspot.com

"When the Round Table is broken every man must follow either Galahad or Mordred: middle things are gone." C.S.Lewis, Grand Miracle

"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or nu! ! mbered." --The Prisoner 
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_______________________________________________To post, send message to Religionlaw at lists.ucla.eduTo subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/religionlawPlease note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private.  Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.

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Rick Duncan 
Welpton Professor of Law 
University of Nebraska College of Law 
Lincoln, NE 68583-0902

"When the Round Table is broken every man must follow either Galahad or Mordred: middle things are gone." C.S.Lewis, Grand Miracle

"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered."  --The Prisoner
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