Our church supports a missionary whose mission is to our troops overseas — establishing churches off base where Hussein can’t stifle the messages. Because military chaplains aren’t necessarily Christian, there’s a real need for places where our troops and their families can get The Word and true Christian support. I believe that sometimes a base will have only one chaplain, and that chaplian could be Wicca, Muslim, etc.
Good on your church to do that, you’re right, a Military Chaplain may not be a Christian, but the bulk of them are. Being an observant Jewish soldier in the Army, I’ve only seen two to three Rabbis in seven years (not a complaint, given the demographics, there won’t be many) I think there is only one Muslim Chaplain in the Army, may be more in the other branches though. Most of the Chaplains I’ve ever met were Non-Catholic Christians of one stripe or another.
I think it’s a smart move for the various religious orders to focus on civilian support for their military co-religionists, as it prevents orders such as accepting DADT, being forced on our clergy.
God bless you and tour church’s mission! Tell ‘em to keep up the good work!