Turning a battle field into a mission field

Imagine for a moment that you’re a U.S. soldier fighting in Iraq. Your environment is hot and dry — all the time — and your unit hasn’t had the time or the wherewithal to do much bathing.

An Army officer, who claims to have your interests in mind, has a 500-gallon pool of refreshing, clean water. Better yet, the officer is will to give you a chance to jump in, cool off, and get clean.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Before you say yes, you should know there’s a catch. The officer, 2nd Lieutenant Josh Llano, isn’t just another soldier, he’s a military chaplain and a Southern Baptist minister. And that 500-gallon pool isn’t for your comfort or convenience, it’s for your baptism.

In fact, while Lt. Llano, or just as accurately, the Rev. Llano, may be concerned about your physical well being, he’s even more concerned about your spiritual well being.

You want in the pool? No problem, there’s just a couple of strings. First, you must participate in one of Llano’s worship services in his tent for an hour-and-a-half. When you’re done, you join the chaplain in reading from the Bible for another hour while he baptizes you in that beautiful pool.

This is not a hypothetical scenario, nor an apocryphal anecdote. It’s happening right now in Iraq.

I realize that federal courts have found military chaplains to be legal under the First Amendment. I can also appreciate that for many troops, these religious leaders serve a valuable purpose, enriching the spiritual lives of soldiers in a time of intense crisis and daily hardship.

But Llano’s work doesn’t sound like spiritual enrichment. It sounds like extortion.

”It’s simple,” Llano recently explained. “They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized.” He added, “You have to be aggressive to help people find themselves in God.”

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where 32-year-old Llano graduated before being assigned to Fort Benning, Ga., has a motto for their uniformed ministers: Nurture the living, care for the wounded, and honor the dead. Unfortunately, Llano has added a fourth: Use limited resources to try and coerce desperate soldiers — engaged in a war — into embracing his religious beliefs.

Llano’s behavior is unconscionable. Our men and women in uniform have valiantly volunteered to put their lives on the line. They are acting with courage and honor, placing duty before self-interest.

Where our troops see a chance to serve, Llano sees a chance to convert. The soldiers see a battle field; Llano sees a mission field.

His determination to proselytize seems unshakable. When the military announced last week that portable showers may be installed for the troops, Llano faced the possibility of losing the lure of his one incentive. Instead, he simply thought of new ways to entice soldiers to consider conversion.

”There is no fruit out here, and I have a stash of raisins, juice boxes and fruit rolls to pull out,” he said.

Llano’s entire approach seems spiritually bankrupt. For religion to have meaning, it must be cultivated voluntarily in the heart and mind of a believer. Llano has no way of knowing if a soldier of a non-Christian faith is enduring his proselytizing out of an interest in Jesus or a need for water. Sadly, he doesn’t even seem to care.

“Regardless of their motives,” Llano said, “I get the chance to take them closer to the Lord.”

Actually, he gets the chance to take advantage of his position as a military chaplain to spiritually bribe distressed troops.

Courts have found military chaplains to be legally permissible, despite potential church-state conflicts, because soldiers who want to exercise their religion have strict limits on where (and when) they can go to worship. Access to spiritual counselors while fighting overseas is obviously limited. As a practical matter, chaplains offer a mechanism through which our troops can practice their religious beliefs, even during a war.

Llano, however, has turned the traditional and intended role of chaplains on its head. He has quite literally adopted the role of a uniformed missionary.

To be sure, proselytizing is legal. In America, you’re free to try and convince others to abandon their religious beliefs and to adopt yours. For a military chaplain to exploit his authority, however, is a different matter altogether.

Nearly two centuries ago, James Madison, who drafted the First Amendment and is often referred to as the “Father of the Constitution” by historians, strongly opposed the appointment of any chaplains to military service.

Writing in his famed “Detached Memoranda,” Madison noted the motive behind providing troops with a chaplain is “laudable,” but he nevertheless concluded that it was better to “disarm…the precedent of chaplainships for the army and navy, than erect them into a political authority in matters of religion.”

I wonder if Madison had someone like Josh Llano in mind.