The United States Chaplains Corps is not a Christian-only organization; it serves chaplains from all religious traditions
and is committed to serving the needs, especially in a monent of crisis, of every citizen when our services are requested.
Chaplains serve the needs of every member of the public. In today's world, a chaplain advocating a particular religious
perspective while working within a public agency probably would be in very hot water with his or her chief and the local chapter
of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Serving the needs of a Muslim, Jewish, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Pagan or mainline Protestant citizen is difficult
under the best of circumstances. Hurting or confronting them with s different religious perspective will cause problems.
We are not selling religion, we are serving the needs of a hurting person so we should never initate an evangelism conversation.
Once the crisis is past, our service to them is completed and trust is established, those citizens who are at the point
of asking about the source of strength that undergirds our service one might speak of secular things and be pratical in
nature.
One of the reasons I am so committed to the United States Chaplains Corps is that in all my years in Chaplaincy, I've
learned from so many other chaplains that they too, have come to that same basic conclusion as a result of their practice
of this specialized ministry. The conclusion is true for Jewish chaplains, Roman Catholic Chaplains, Muslim Chaplains, Luthern
Chaplains, Southern Baptist Chaplains, Evangelical Free Methodist Chaplains, Pagan Chaplains. When any of us serve a citizen,
we work alike, we help alike. Our service to them is witness of the strength of our faith. We don't need to say anything at
all.
