Historic Peace Churches and Military Chaplaincy

Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, PhD

(Mennonite Church Canada member to CCC Commission on Faith & Witness)

Presentation to

Canadian Council of Churches1 General Board Meetings, May 20, 2011

What do Mennonites and Friends have to contribute to an ecumenical discussion on

military chaplaincy?

Evolution of the Peace Witness of Mennonites in Canada

The Historic Peace Churches—namely the Mennonites, Friends, and the Church of the Brethren—have for centuries held the position that the New Testament forbids Christian participation in war and violence. The Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective reads: “Led by the Holy Spirit, we follow Christ in the way of peace, doing justice, bringing reconciliation, and practicing non-resistance even in the face of violence and warfare.”2 This understanding of Christian discipleship has been central to our denominational identity.

The shape of our peace witness however has changed during our church’s presence in Canada. When Quakers and Mennonite first migrated into Upper Canada after the American War of Independence, they were accommodated with the Militia Act of 1793 which exempted them from military service. Lt. Gov. John Graves Simcoe was far more interested in acquiring desirable settlers with agricultural skills than forcing them to become reluctant soldiers. This exemption was restated a century later when Mennonite settlers from Russia arrived on the Canadian prairies. Lord Dufferin announced (1877): “The battle to which we invite you is the battle against the wilderness ... you will not be required to shed human blood.”3 Separatist non-resistance best describes the stance of Mennonites in Canada up until WWII. When WWII began, however, Mennonites wished to make a more active contribution, and negotiated with the Government of Canada for alternative service under civilian control.

1 The Canadian Council of Churches is the founding body of what has become the “Interfaith Committee on

Canadian Military Chaplaincy.” 2 Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (1995), art. 22, p. 81.

3 Cited in Frank H. Epp, Mennonites in Canada, Vol. 1 (Toronto: Macmillian, 1974), 370. I am thankful to Helmut

Harder for these two historical references.

After WWII, the Mennonite peace witness evolved further to a decidedly proactive, public witness for peace and justice. 4 Mennonites in North America invested significant energy in theological reflection and practical experimentation with nonviolent methods of resisting evil. In this new context we were convinced that our commitment to the Gospel of Peace calls us to new forms of public witness which may include nonviolent direct action. Peace and conflict studies programs were developed in all of our colleges and seminaries in order to grow a body of knowledge about how conflicts develop, and what kinds of intervention can best transform conflicted communities into reconciled neighbours. We pioneered programs like Christian Peacemaker Teams to address the ubiquitous spiral of violence. CPT offers organized, nonviolent alternatives in situations where lethal conflict is an immediate reality or is supported by public policy. In the United States, Mennonites created a Military Counseling Network to build relationships with US military personnel , to share with them Jesus’ way of peace, and to counsel and support military service members in their applications for conscientious objection. Some of these counsellors understood their role as “peace church chaplains.”

Military Chaplaincy Concern Our concerns about military chaplaincy within a Christendom arrangement are deeply rooted. We have long challenged an uncritical alliance of the church with sovereign states, their ambitions and their armies. Many of the wars Christian nations have fought have been unjust even by Just War standards. The role of military chaplain can serve to give such missions religious legitimization, turning a nation’s enemies into God’s enemies. Critical Questions Chaplains are officers in the Canadian forces. As such can they offer public criticism of military policy? Can a military chaplain proclaim the Gospel faithfully, i.e., prophetically and openly, to include issues of justice, when he or she is in the employ and command structure of the military? Are chaplains free to counsel and support soldiers to leave the military, when their understanding in faith leads them in this direction? Though military chaplains in Canada are called, sent by, and responsible to their respective faith groups, what occurs when the church judges a war to be unjust?

4 For a detailed account of this historical development, see: Helmut Harder, “Identity-Shaping Responses of

Mennonite Church Canada and its Predecessor Churches to the Challenges of War and Peace,” presented at the “Symposium on War and Peace” sponsored by Mennonite Church Canada and the Christian Reformed Church, Winnipeg, Oct. 17, 2009 (12 pp.).

Structurally, military chaplains can be caught between two masters. The mission of the Chaplaincy in the Canadian Forces is “to support and enhance the effectiveness of the CF [Canadian Forces] as a whole”; its stated vision is “empower” Canadian Forces personnel and their families “spiritually and morally to meet the demands of military service.”5 The current setting “is not congenial to the clear word of the gospel;” there are restrictive pressures on chaplains “to offer only what advances military morale and unquestioning commitment toward the goal of the command structure,”6—pressures that “block free and faithful expression of [gospel] commitments.”7 Recommendation:

That military chaplains become independent of rank. Churches should supply and pay for “chaplains answerable only to the church” who are “embedded like journalists, but independent of rank and power games.”8

External Ministry of Reconciliation Paradigm: New Role of Chaplains? Since the 1990s, the nature of wars has changed dramatically; most wars or armed conflicts

today are not between sovereign states, but most often within failed states, between

various ethnic or religious groups. 9 In this context Chaplains have increasingly added to

their portfolio external, complementary ministry, of fostering reconciliation in conflict

zones.

What do Mennonites say, however, when the self-understanding and training of the

military shifts from fighting on behalf of a sovereign state to that of peacekeeping and

peacemaking missions?

I quoted at the beginning from our Confession of Faith: “Led by the Holy Spirit, we follow

Christ in the way of peace, doing justice, bringing reconciliation, and practicing non-

resistance even in the face of violence and warfare.”10

5 Interfaith Committee on Canadian Military Chaplaincy Handbook, p. 8.

6 Augsburger, speaking notes for panel discussion on “Ethics of Military Chaplaincy,” Fuller Seminary, November

2010 (here is an online student response describing that event) 7 Augsburger, speaking notes for panel discussion on “Ethics of Military Chaplaincy,” Fuller Seminary, November

15, 2010. Augsburg notes that the only objection to this recommendation he has heard to date is financial (Augsburger to Neufeldt-Fast, email, May 17, 2011). 8 David Augsburger to Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, email correspondence, May 17, 2011.

9 Miroslav Volf, “Agents of Peace in Theaters of War: Re-Thinking the Role of Military Chaplains,” keynote address

at the International Military Chief of Chaplains Conference in Cape Town, South Africa in Feb 2009. http://www.yale.edu/faith/downloads/Agents_of_Peace_in_Theaters_of_War.pdf; p. 6. 10

Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective (1995), art. 22, p. 81.

In a number of circumstances beginning in Bosnia and most recently in Afghanistan, Canadian and American commanders have authorized chaplains to be involved in intentional peace-building activities among religious communities. More than any other members of the military, chaplains are in an important position to engage local religious leaders.

Religious peace-building within conflicted nations is an emergent phenomenon globally. In the years ahead, the strategic significance of chaplains’ engaging religious leaders and their communities, engulfed in the larger conflicts of their respective identity groups, may have a role to play alongside their interagency partners. 11

Mennonites welcome this development. In past years, Mennonite scholars in the fields of peace and conflict studies have been invited regularly to address the military in Canada and the US, including chaplains, with respect to inter-communal reconciliation, especially post-conflict reconciliation.12 Recommendations:

That the Interfaith Committee on Canadian Military Chaplaincy Handbook

broaden its stated mission and vision for military chaplaincy to include the

external ministry of reconciliation as one of the proper roles of military

chaplains.

That denominations and the Canadian Council of Churches organize annual

gatherings and conversations between members of its military chaplains and

those staff working on peace and justice issues “to build relationships and

wrestle with each other and with the gospel invitation to be agents of God’s

peace and reconciliation.”13

11

Padre Steven Moore, CD, PhD, “Religious Leader Engagement and the Comprehensive Approach: An Enhanced Capability for Operational Chaplains as Whole of Government Partners,” Security Operations in the 21

st Century:

Canadian Perspectives on the Comprehensive Approach (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2011), 179-192. See also Moore, “Religious Leader Engagement: An Emerging Capability for Operational Environments,” Canadian Military Journal 13, no. 1 (May 16, 2011), pp. 40ff. (http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vol13/no1/page40-eng.asp). I have also benefited from meeting and generous correspondence with Chaplain (Col.) Herman Keizer, Jr. U.S. Army (ret.). See, e.g., his “Conversations with Mennonites,” Symposium on War and Peace Series: Sponsored by Mennonite Church Canada and the Christian Reformed Church, October 17, 2009. 12

For example, see the work of Dr. Vern Neufeld Redekop, a Mennonite and associate professor at Saint Paul University in Ottawa. Dr. Redekop served as the doctoral advisor to Padre Steve Moore (see note above; I thank him for introducing me to Padre Moore). See Redekop’s important work, From Violence to Blessing: How an Understanding of Deep-Rooted Conflict Can Open Paths to Reconciliation (Ottawa: Novalis, 2002). 13

National Council of Churches, “Christian Understanding of War in an Age of Terror(ism),” III.2, p. 10 (http://www.brethren.org/gensec/documents/christian-understanding-of.pdf).