Lab published in US Army Chaplain Corps Journal

Chaplaincy Innovation Lab leadership and staff recently published “Reflection on the First Amendment of the Constitution” in the US Army Chaplain Corps Journal. The November 2022 issue section “Forum” includes an original reflection by Wendy Cadge, Amy Lawton, and Grace Tien, along with responses to them as well as their responses to Chaplain (Colonel) Chip Huey, Jason Lemieux, and Daniel Blomberg. You can read the full issue here; an excerpt from their original reflection is below.

Excerpt:

In asking questions about the supply of and demand for chaplains, we identify gaps between the demand for chaplaincy and spiritual care, and how chaplains are trained and certified. In the Army Chaplain Corps both supply and demand are governed by the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment. The requirement for the Army to have Chaplains is, on its face, neither a supply nor a demand question. The U.S. government has long recognized the importance of religion to its Service members, beginning with Chaplains in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Today’s professional Chaplain Corps developed first in World War I and included and served Protestants, Catholics, and Jews by the second half of the twentieth century.

You may be interested in other Lab work on the “demand side” of chaplaincy, which can be found here.