Despite a recommendation from the Navy Chaplain Appointment and Retention Eligibility Advisory Board, the Navy has denied the application of Jason Heap to become the military’s first Humanist chaplain.
Heap is certainly qualified to serve as a chaplain — or, if you’d prefer to think of it, a counselor — to the non-religious members of any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. If his endorsement came from a traditionally religious institution instead of the Humanist Society, we likely wouldn’t be discussing this at all.
Republican Senator Roger Wicker and nearly two dozen of his GOP colleagues wrote a letter to the Navy last week calling Heap’s potential approval a “grave mistake.”
Wicker was quick to celebrate Heap’s rejection in a press release today:
“The Navy’s leadership has done the right thing,” Wicker said. “The appointment of an atheist to an undeniably religious position is fundamentally incompatible with atheism’s secularism. This decision preserves the distinct religious role that our chaplains carry out.”
Wait wait wait… atheism is secular?! I’m shocked, I tell you.
But Wicker made a huge mistake in that brief statement.
He refers to Heap as an “atheist” applying for a “religious position.” Heap is a Humanist, and that’s an important distinction, because last year, the Department of Defense added Humanism to its list of “Faith and Belief” groups, making the case for Heap’s inclusion in the chaplaincy even stronger.
As far as the military is concerned, Humanism is a religion.
Read the full story at the Friendly Atheist Blog
