The U.S. Military’s Chaplains of Civil Religion

In the image above, a member of the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps is seen offering Mass with other service members in Iraq in 2003. Although this image appears to represent an explicitly Catholic rite, it’s nonetheless complicated by the guns, camouflage, and military garb that pervade much of the back- and foreground. To this end, this image might serve as one example of Robert Bellah’s conception of civil religion. According to Bellah (1967), “the God of civil religion is…related to order, law, and right…[and] specially concern[ed] with America” (7). Given Bellah’s definition, one might reason that the chaplain may very well be appealing to a God of both Catholicism and American civil religion. This claim might be substantiated by considering the Navy’s description of a chaplain’s responsibilities, which includes “provid[ing] support while on land or at sea, when presiding over religious ceremonies on a base or when conducting services from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier”. Based on this quote, it’s clear that the Chaplain Corps fulfill complex and variegated religious roles, particularly since they offer support to individuals “from more than 100 different faith groups”. 

If we return to the image again, one might infer that the Mass being offered is representative of a recurring “ritual” that “serves to integrate the [service members] into the national cult” (Bellah:11). In this case, the recurring “ritual” is Mass and the “national cult” is the cult of American civil religion, whereby the democracy and autonomy and society that underpin the United States are objects of worship.

Lastly, one might also consider this image in relation to Bellah’s description of the “Third Time of Trial”, or the “problem of responsible action in a revolutionary world” (16). According to Bellah, a “successful” outcome of the third time of trial might be “the attainment of some kind of viable and coherent world order” (18). Although not stationed in Vietnam, these service members might still be considered as participants in the third time of trial since it’s likely that they were deployed to “negotiate…viable and coherent…order” in Iraq (ibid.).

References

Bellah, Robert. 1967. “Civil Religion in America.” Daedalus 96(1):1–21. 

“United States Military Chaplains.” Wikipedia. Retrieved March 3, 2023 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_chaplains). 

“U.S. Navy Military Chaplain Careers.” U.S. Navy Military Chaplain Careers | Navy.com. Retrieved March 3, 2023 (https://www.navy.com/careers/navy-chaplain).