Hey everyone,
While it has been some time since we’ve updated the blog. The Open Halls Project has been hard at work on various projects. We’ve supported several new groups starting up with books and other materials, and if you need some for your heathen military religious group, let us know and we’ll help you get set up!
We get asked on a regular basis what someone needs to do to become a Chaplain. I’m going to lay out the requirements here in a blog post so that we can refer to it, and get you all set-up if you want to try and make this journey. Let me be clear. This is not easy. No heathen has yet to become a Chaplain. No Wiccan has become a Chaplain. Most chaplains in the US military are Christian. There are a tiny handful that are non-Christian of any form whatsoever. That doesn’t mean this is impossible for you to make the thing happen, but it does mean you are in for a tough journey. We’ll support you however we can, but it’s not going to be a short process so get ready to set your trajectory and run.
For now, we’re just going to focus on the US Army. The other services have very similar requirements, as like the faith code system, this is a rule that is pushed from the DoD. However, some minor specifics may differ from branch to branch. If you are in the Navy, Marines, or Air Force and want to add some amendments to this post from those branches, please let us know and we’ll go about updating it. Many of these requirements can be found here: https://www.goarmy.com/chaplain/become-an-army-chaplain/requirements.html
Basic
-No older than 42 on the day you commission
-Have completed basic theological education for your denomination or faith tradition (usually a Master of Divinity degree). For a Heathen or pagan chaplain, this will mean you’ve got to do a MDiv as well as any training for your organizational religious requirements. We’ll cover this in more depth soon.
-Ordained or endorsed by your denomination or faith tradition. This means you’ve got to have a 501c3 church that thinks you are clergy, treats you like one, and you have to serve that organization as clergy.
-Have completed at least two years of professional experience in your denomination or faith tradition. This means you’ve got to have been a Gothi of an organized group for at least two years, actively engaged in the process.
Religious Endorsements
You must have an ecclesiastical endorsement from your faith group. You’ve got to have a 501c3 church that recognizes you as clergy/Gothi/priest.
-Must be qualified spiritually, morally, intellectually, and emotionally to serve as a chaplain in the Army.
-Sensitive to religious pluralism and able to provide for the free exercise of religion by all military personnel. That means you’ve got to be willing to act in service to all service members, even if they are Christian or of a faith you may personally disagree with. We have experience with this as Heathens, don’t we?
Education
-Bachelors Degree of no less than 120 semester hours
-Graduate degree in theological or religious studies with at least 72 hours in graduate work. That’s a big graduate degree requirement.
Other
-U.S. citizens can apply for active duty, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve.
-You must be able to obtain a security clearance.
-You must pass a physical exam at a Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS).
-You must be at least 21 years old and under age 42 at the time of active duty commissioning.
-For Army National Guard or Army Reserve commissioning, you must be under the age of 47 at the time of commissioning. If you have prior service in the U.S. military, please talk to your recruiter.
What isn’t said here. You’ve got to be the perfect candidate to become the first heathen chaplain. You’ve got to check all these boxes and more to pass through the gauntlet of frustration that will get in your way. You should be younger than this, likely around 31 at the oldest, you need to have a perfect PT score, you’ve got to have fantastic grades, and you’ve got to stand out as a candidate early on. The Chaplain’s Corp is loath to offer a seat at the table for all of the reasons you can imagine that they might not want us there. They will question your sponsoring organization. Constantly. They will question their credentials. They will fine-tooth comb everything about you. If anything is not in the proper order they will not approve you to the position.
On top of all of that, a sponsoring organization has to be approved by the
DoD Armed Forces Chaplaincy Board. That is another layer of gatekeeping, and at the moment no Heathen or pagan credentialing organization has that approval. So, any chaplain is going to have to push both at the same time, most likely, and it is this process that is likely to cause the most problems.
If you are still willing to put yourself on this journey let us know. We will support you 100% of the way, but do not anticipate this will be an easy fight or one that is clear. There will be roadblocks we cannot anticipate that will fly up and bit us all in the rear end. Until we get there though, we’ll have to keep plugging away together.
-Josh
