A century ago, as the United States prepared to enter World War I, the military chaplaincy included only mainline Protestants and Catholics. Today it counts Jews, Mormons, Muslims, Christian Scientists, Buddhists, Seventh-day Adventists, Hindus, and evangelicals among its ranks. Enlisting Faith traces the uneven processes through which the military struggled with, encouraged, and regulated religious pluralism over the twentieth century. Moving from the battlefields of Europe to the jungles of Vietnam and between the forests of Civilian Conservation Corps camps and meetings in government offices, Ronit Y. Stahl reveals how the military borrowed from and battled religion. Just as the state relied on religion to sanction war and sanctify death, so too did religious groups seek recognition as American faiths. At times the state used religion to advance imperial goals. But religious citizens pushed back, challenging the state to uphold constitutional promises and moral standards. Despite the constitutional separation of church and state, the federal government authorized and managed religion in the military. The chaplaincy demonstrates how state leaders scrambled to handle the nation’s deep religious, racial, and political complexities. While officials debated which clergy could serve, what insignia they would wear, and what religions appeared on dog tags, chaplains led worship for a range of faiths, navigated questions of conscience, struggled with discrimination, and confronted untimely death. Enlisting Faith is a vivid portrayal of religious encounters, state regulation, and the trials of faith—in God and country—experienced by the millions of Americans who fought in and with the armed forces.

The Sword of the Lord is the first book to examine military chaplains and the development of the military chaplaincy across history and geography - from the first to the twenty-first century, from Europe to North America. The scope of this work reveals the astonishing fact that the military chaplaincy has existed in a recognizable form for more than 1600 years. Contributors analyze specific historical moments in the development of the chaplaincy, beginning in antiquity and progressing through the Crusades, the English Civil War, the American Civil War, both World Wars, and the Vietnam War. Four key themes connect the chapters of this book. The first is the basic issue of historical development over time. Where and when did the military chaplaincy begin and how has it changed? A second theme involves the emotionally and spiritually intense relationships that develop between chaplains and the men and women they serve. How have military chaplains dealt with the enormous responsibility of ministering to soldiers about to kill or possibly be killed? The third theme is that of chaplains' often precarious position between military and religious authorities. Are military chaplains primaril

“Running away from God doesn’t work. I had tried.” —Roger Benimoff As he left for his second tour of duty as an Army chaplain in Iraq, Roger Benimoff noted in his journal: I am excited and I am scared. I am on fire for God...He is my hope, strength, and focus. But not long after returning to Iraq, the burdens of his job–the memorial services for soldiers killed in action, the therapy sessions after contact with the enemy, the perilous excursions “outside the wire” while under enemy fire–began to overwhelm him. Amid the dust, heat, and blood of Iraq, Benimoff felt the pillar of strength he’d always relied on to hold him up–his faith in God–begin to crumble. Unable to make sense of the senseless, Benimoff turned to his journal. What did it mean to believe in a God who would allow the utter horror and injustice of war? Did He want these brave young men and women to die? In his darkest moment, Benimoff wrote: Why am I so angry? I do not want anything to do with God. I am sick of religion. It is a crutch for the weak. Benimoff’s spiritual crisis heightened upon his return home to Fort Carson, Colorado. He withdrew emotionally from wife and sons, creating tensions that threatened to shatter the family. He was assigned to work at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he counseled returning soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder–until he was diagnosed himself with PTSD. Finding himself in the role of patient rather than caregiver, connecting as an equal with his fellow sufferers, and revisiting scriptural readings that once again rang with meaning and truth, he began his most decisive battle: for the love of his family and for the chance to once again open his heart to the healing grace of God. Intimate and powerful, drawing on Benimoff’s and his wife’s journals, Faith Under Fire chronicles a spiritual struggle through war, loss, and the hard process of learning to believe again.

Based on extensive in-depth interviews with more than thirty active duty chaplains regarding their successes, failures and conflicts, the book is about the way military chaplains handle religious diversity among the enlisted they serve and within their own corps.

Chaplain (Major General) William Arnold was the Army Chief of Chaplains from December 23, 1937 to February 14, 1945. During World War II, Chaplain Arnold oversaw the greatest transformation in our nation's history of the Army Chaplaincy. Many of the changes he implemented preceded the Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership and Education, Personnel, Facilities, Policy (DOTMLPF-P) framework found in the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System (JCIDS). These accomplishments resulted in chaplains providing timely and effective religious support for all faith groups and advising the command on issues of religion and morale. This contributed to an enduring chaplain identity and lessons for today's chaplaincy as they work to transform the Army to meet current and future challenges.

For both the Union and Confederate soldiers, religion was the greatest sustainer of morale in the Civil War, and faith was a refuge in times of need. Guarding and guiding the spiritual well-being of the fighters, the army chaplain was a voice of hope and reason in an otherwise chaotic military existence. The clerics' duties did not end after Sunday prayers; rather, many ministers could be found performing daily regimental duties, and some even found their way onto fields of battle.

Religion in Uniform argues powerfully that Americans must reform their military’s chaplaincy. Americans fund this public project to serve all persons in the armed forces, but the chaplaincy currently fails to do so. Waggoner shows that Americans’ support for keeping chaplain positions in the military has always rested on a mix of political, military, and religious rationales that continue to evolve. He argues political, military, and theological reasons to eradicate bias, gender discrimination and sexual violence in the chaplain corps and to stop the use of chaplains in strategic roles abroad. Acknowledging that Christian groups are providing the strongest support for the chaplaincy’s status quo, Waggoner contests the specific theological claims that underwrite their policies. He launches a new, critical and constructive discussion about US military religion for the twenty-first century.