Participants: Lincoln Steed (Host), Paul Anderson
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000310A
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00:22 Welcome to the "Liberty Insider."
00:25 This is your program 00:26 that brings you up-to-date news, views, 00:28 and discussion on religious liberty issues 00:31 around the world in general 00:33 but often very specifically in the United States. 00:35 My name is Lincoln Steed editor of Liberty Magazine. 00:39 And my guest is Chaplain Paul Anderson. 00:42 Welcome. Thank you, Lincoln. 00:44 I'm looking forward to discussing with you 00:45 because you have been a military chaplain, 00:48 you are working for the Seventh-day Adventist church, 00:50 now in charge of the chaplaincy program. 00:52 But we can explain I think, a lot of-- 00:55 what a lot of our viewers may not know 00:57 is particularly Seventh-day Adventist 00:59 about the churches chaplaincy program 01:02 and how it began, you know, what the rational behind it? 01:07 How did the Seventh-day Adventist church 01:09 become integrally involved 01:11 with the military chaplaincy program? 01:15 Well, that goes back to World War I, 01:20 after World War I and then into World War II 01:24 there was a need to support the military members 01:27 who were drafted in terms of religious liberty support 01:31 and reasonable accommodations 01:34 for being able to worship on Sabbath. 01:36 Which was not particularly automatic in World War I, 01:39 there were real difficulties 01:42 on the part of Seventh-day Adventist 01:43 but because anyone of faith. 01:45 That is true and the church seeing 01:48 that need developed a national service organization 01:52 which was a arm of the religious liberty 01:56 interest of the church, 01:57 it's primarily for military people 01:59 but also for people in communities 02:02 who were having issues, we were the-- 02:03 NSO was the first responder. 02:05 Thirty years ago NSO was changed 02:08 to the Adventist Chaplaincy Ministry. 02:11 During World War II some Adventist pastors 02:16 felt a patriotic call to serve 02:19 and became the first moves is an army chaplain 02:23 and subsequently the other branches opened 02:27 for Adventist chaplains. 02:28 Now may be I'm wrong but my memory is tickling me, 02:31 they took the initiative, it wasn't the church decided. 02:34 They took the initiative and then the church 02:36 seeing this brought them under their umbrella. 02:39 Correct. 02:40 The initiative or impetus to become a military chaplain 02:44 is a person drive-- 02:47 Even now, yes. Even now. 02:48 But I think when it began it sort of 02:51 it became a defect involvement that the church 02:53 then decided to get behind it 02:57 and set up the department, right. 02:59 And during the draft years 03:02 there were always Seventh-day Adventist 03:04 who were serving in the military 03:05 because of the draft. 03:07 We usually-- 03:09 the position for Adventist in that year 03:12 was noncombatancy it still is the official position 03:17 but it's not doctrine of the church. 03:19 So we always had Seventh-day Adventist in uniform 03:24 but they impetus to become a chaplain 03:27 and serve as an commissioned officer 03:30 who is a spiritual advisor was a new thing. 03:33 But the church embraced it and through 03:36 the Adventist chaplaincy ministries department 03:39 offers support intangible support 03:44 to our service members wherever they are serving. 03:47 I hope our listeners will understand 03:49 but I've got to interject a question here 03:50 you just raised it. 03:54 Yes, our historic position was noncombatancy 03:57 and way before the chaplaincy program 04:00 at the very beginnings of the our church 04:02 during the civil war was decided 04:03 that we would as a group officially be noncombatant 04:09 which was interesting to me because Ellen White 04:13 the cofounder of the Seventh-day Adventist church 04:15 and the visionary for that body, 04:17 she wrote very definitely 04:19 that the God's punishment was on the south 04:23 because of their stands on slavery. 04:26 So she cast it as a moral war and yet this is precisely 04:29 when they decided to be noncombatants. 04:32 And, you know, I never went into the military, 04:35 was drafted but I'm a product 04:38 or my physic is formed by the Vietnam War 04:43 and we did have noncombatancy allowances 04:46 for Seventh-day Adventist and others, 04:47 we were not the only ones. 04:48 Right. 04:50 But it seems to me with the all voluntary army 04:53 now that we have the noncombatancy 04:55 is not really an option when you, is it? 04:59 It is not. 05:01 At this point anyone enlisting in the service 05:04 because it is an all voluntary 05:07 Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, 05:10 noncombatancy is not an option. 05:12 However there are career tracks-- 05:15 Oh, but once you are in, yes, but you couldn't choose, 05:17 you couldn't sign up and say, "I'm signing up 05:20 because I want to be in this noncombatant track." 05:23 Yes, actually you can. 05:26 For the Marine Corps for instance everyone has to-- 05:29 it's a combat specialty 05:33 but they are not always at combat 05:37 and there are unique roles and jobs in the military, 05:42 you know, a mechanic or an aviation mechanic 05:46 or a cook or a hospital corpsman 05:49 or medic those are jobs 05:52 where you may not likely be involved 05:55 in the actual execution of combat. 05:59 It's a support role. 06:01 But because it's an all volunteer service 06:05 the claim for noncombatancy it doesn't exist currently. 06:09 So let me just basically ask the question again. 06:13 When someone is applying and signing up for the military 06:17 before they put the name on the bottom line 06:20 they can indicate that they want to be in an area 06:23 that that probably would not require combat 06:26 and they are not gonna be held to something else, 06:28 it kind of in essence contract on the track. 06:31 In most cases the process for enlisting 06:34 is that a recruiter would be in touch with someone 06:37 or someone who is interested goes to see the recruiter. 06:40 They take what's called 06:42 the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery 06:44 based upon the scores that an individual gets 06:48 after taking that test 06:50 job categories are opened to them 06:54 if the scores are high enough. 06:55 And there are some people who are actually given bonuses 07:01 for signing into say the nuclear power program 07:04 in the navy or a linguistics program 07:06 in some of the other branches. 07:08 And when you do that you are contracted 07:11 to be trained in that specialty. 07:18 There are others who scores may not be as high 07:21 who don't get that guarantee. 07:23 But if the score was low 07:25 and if they really had inhibition 07:27 they don't have to then proceed, right? 07:28 Correct. Correct. 07:30 So that's an interesting distinction 07:32 but there is no question 07:33 that the Seventh-day Adventist church 07:35 long ago established a recommendation 07:38 to its members as we can't require, 07:41 these are guidelines, 07:42 well thought out guidelines for them 07:44 and that hasn't officially changed, does it? 07:46 It hasn't changed but there is no prohibition 07:50 from serving in the military 07:53 and if an individual chooses to go into a combat specialty 07:58 who is a Seventh-day Adventist member 08:00 we don't disfellowship them. 08:02 We support them just as we would 08:05 someone who was noncombatant. 08:06 Yeah. 08:07 And that's an interesting area 08:09 that may be we better not go into. 08:11 But, you know, it's a matter of conscience. 08:13 At the end of the day all of this not just military 08:16 it's between us and God, 08:17 you know, that's the root of the Protestant Reformation 08:20 or an understanding that informed 08:22 the Protestant Reformation 08:23 it doesn't mean we do whatever is okay 08:25 and that a church doesn't have a standard 08:28 but just to rely on the church standards 08:31 it might be wrong. 08:32 The both, the body of believers may have settled on something 08:35 and in our religious liberty area 08:37 as you well know the conscience is the key. 08:40 You need to be convicted on it. 08:42 And that individual liberty I personally think that 08:47 I was privileged to have been born in the United States 08:52 and to have been afforded the freedoms 08:55 and opportunities that we have. 08:57 I think that there is some value 09:00 in being supportive to the entities 09:03 and institutions that are charted to protect 09:06 and defend the freedoms 09:07 that are allowed in this country. 09:09 You mean, values to the church body 09:11 or to the individual? 09:13 To the individual but also the church body, 09:15 the freedom of religion, the freedom to speak 09:17 and to assemble that we have in this country 09:19 as constitutional guaranteed 09:21 but if there is no one willing to defend that constitution 09:27 or support it then we might lose it. 09:29 Yeah, it's a-- I mean, it's not highly dividable 09:32 but it's a reasonable debate to have. 09:35 Yes. 09:36 And I think the previous element of the point 09:40 you are making is very true. 09:42 Our church is indeed any faith group 09:45 I think does well to show that they are loyal 09:49 to whatever the state they live under house 09:52 unless it contradicts their faith. 09:54 So if we are able to be supportive 09:56 and be involved that's good. 09:59 I think that its-- it should be an imperative 10:03 or it should become imperative that our churches 10:06 began to look at community involvement. 10:11 Seventh-day Adventist have always been 10:13 involved in community service and there are chaplains 10:17 who are prepared for disaster response 10:20 so we have hospital chaplains, we have chaplains 10:23 who are particularly trained 10:25 in critical incidence stress management. 10:27 Now your department is not just 10:29 with the military chaplains 10:30 then, you are over the hospital and other chaplains 10:32 which is a large subset 10:35 of what of the chaplaincy program. 10:37 Right, currently 10:39 the Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries Department 10:41 endorses 475 chaplains across North American division. 10:47 Most of those chaplains are hospital chaplains 10:50 and many of them are community, some corrections, 10:54 some are in with police departments. 10:56 We even have a chaplain who works at Dallas Airport 11:01 and he's got quite an adventurous story 11:04 in that some of the big jets, international jets. 11:07 The pilot and crew invite him to come on to the plane 11:11 to have prayer with them 11:12 before they load the plane with passengers. 11:15 Well, well, I need to find out which planes, 11:19 once I would fly with them. 11:22 I'm a little over my fear of flying 11:25 but it would have been much more encouraging 11:27 to know that that pilot is praying 11:30 and has angels under the wings. 11:32 I was passing by one of the chapels, airports now-- 11:36 Hey, I was thinking the other day 11:37 I was walking past the one at Dallas. 11:39 Yeah, prayer rooms and chapels there 11:41 and I saw a couple of pilots and flight attendants 11:47 from a foreign airline 11:49 who were praying together in the airport chapel. 11:53 Now particularly when this some area of accident 11:58 and, you know, recently I think it was that Russian jet 12:01 then at one of the airports I saw all the family members 12:05 milling around in great distress 12:07 that's a moment of incredible stress 12:09 when the role of the chaplain is-- 12:12 I mean, it's just unique and powerful. 12:14 Absolutely. Absolutely. 12:16 I mean, that's what chaplains do. 12:17 The role of a chaplain 12:19 really is to meet people where they are 12:22 and to join them in their journey 12:27 or their drama or trauma 12:29 and help them find their stability 12:32 and then hopefully they are reconnect 12:36 with their foundation and faith. 12:38 That's a wonderful role. 12:39 Let's take a break and we will continue 12:41 this discussion a little bit of history of chaplaincy 12:44 with the Seventh-day Adventist church 12:46 and what's really involved with this department. 12:48 Stay with us, we will be right back. |
Revised 2015-12-24