“FAITH UNDER FIRE”
RUSI LECTURE – February 22, 2011
Ladies and gentlemen, I am most grateful for this opportunity to
talk to you and with you. A couple of things to begin with. First of
all, I speak as the Anglican Bishop to the Forces, a post that I have
held for just over a year following my retirement from over 40 years
of ministry in the civilian side of the Church. I speak only with such
authority and understanding that comes from my role as bishop,
with oversight and care of Anglican priests and people within the
services on behalf of the wider Church.
Second, I have been given the wonderful title “Faith under Fire” – a
title for which I take absolutely no credit! The double entendre of
the title could lead me to reflect with you on the current debate in
society about the place of faith, and the challenges on all fronts to
religious faith itself and to people of faith. However, I hope to show
in my address that, whilst people in the services are not immune
from such discussions, faith under fire in the other sense of the
title might perhaps provide some insight for the forces to share
with civilian society on these matters.
1. There came a point during the German invasion of Russia when
they could go no further and were forced to turn back. There are
hundreds of stories from that time, but one little told is the
number of chaplains who were killed by their own troops as they
retreated. The message preached by the chaplains had been
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straight out of a simplistic understanding of the Old Testament:
“God is on our side – we cannot fail!” The troops felt that their
chaplains had lied to them, and in defeat their disgust and rage led
to extreme violence against them
2. Sadly, this understanding of the role of religion in times of war
has a very long history. And it still goes on. A chaplain serving
on one of the first ships into the Falklands during the Conflict
told me that none of the crew had ever been in battle before.
The captain summoned him to his cabin and told him that his
task was a simple one: to keep the men’s morale high. God was
on their side. Fortunately that same captain, like countless other
commanders commissioned and non-commissioned,
discovered quickly that it was rather more complicated than
that!
3. Times of conflict, and particularly the battlegrounds themselves,
are places where significant internal warfare takes place among
individuals and societies.
i.
On the one hand, war itself can easily be dehumanising or
the result of dehumanisation.
a
On a corporate level, war is itself the result of ultimate
human failure. Battles happen when everything else
has failed – diplomacy, governance, economics,
cultural understanding … even humanity itself.
b
On a personal level war dehumanises too. In order to
be prepared to kill one’s fellow human beings one has
to suspend one’s natural humanity … unless one has
severe psychopathic tendencies. And this is true
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whether one is face to face in close combat, or at a
distance by land, sea, air, outer space or in
cyberspace.
ii. On the other hand, it is precisely in such potentially
dehumanising times that people find themselves as human
beings in a new way.
a
In the 4th century men and women went to live in the
deserts of Egypt. Far from escaping ‘the real world’, in
the desert there was no escape from themselves, from
other human beings nearby, nor from God himself. The
spiritual and personal warfare that ensued led to a rich
fund of stories about the very essence of what it means
to be human, and led to many of the desert Fathers
and Mothers becoming hugely popular and soughtafter counsellors, not least of those in positions of
power.
b
In a far less picturesque way, service men and women
have found what it means to be human precisely in the
desert places of the trench, the tank, the warship, the
airplane. All servicemen and women on operations
have experienced the effects of conflict, ranging from
physical expressions of fear to longer-term
psychological trauma. Many cope extremely well; but
let us not pretend that they are not changed by their
experiences. It is here that chaplains come into their
own. Last Wednesday’s ITV programme on the war
began with a chaplain. The presenter described him as
“the soul and conscience” and we saw the chaplain
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remind new arrivals that they were entering reality and
that at some point they would each come face to face
with what that means.
4. There is an old saying: “There are no atheists in the trenches”.
Most chaplains would agree that this is largely true. Religious
articulation and understanding may be limited, but spirituality is
very much alive. (The Chaplain General tells of a memorial
service at a Forward Operating Base, where the chaplain
noticed that those manning sentry points knelt for prayer, even
when under fire.
i.
But faith in what? In God … in each other … in oneself? In
these desert places, literally or metaphorically, we discover
what is most important to us. As servicemen relate to each
other, to their mates, they are truly a living community of
faith, hope and love. They would never use such words, and
even less that ‘God became man that man might become
God’, yet that is just what it is.
5. In order to provide service personnel with the fundamentals
needed to cope with the inevitable challenges of war, our British
Forces spend considerable time ensuring that they recruit the
right people, and then spend time helping them explore and
own some basic values, by talking with them about the personal
responsibilities and dilemmas that they will face. They can then
more effectively fulfil the Defence Vision, to be a ‘Force for
Good’ in the world, whilst maintaining their integrity …. and
even their sanity.
i.
One of the core tasks, therefore, of Army training is to
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“Raise the importance of ‘character’ and moral
understanding in the assessment process … in order to
improve the selection process for individuals better able to
prevail in the ‘moral’ complexities in both ‘hybrid warfare’ and
in barracks”
ii. The other services have similar statements. Human beings
are not to be treated as ‘human play-stations’ who can be
programmed to behave in a certain way. Others may do that
– we don’t!
6. If all of that sounds somewhat theoretical, let me tell you of a
young NCO recently returned from Afghanistan. Asked whether
he had ever had to make any instinctive moral decisions, he
told of his platoon coming under fire from a tower on the other
side of the village. The rules of combat were clear: he and his
colleagues had a duty to root out the opposition and a right to
defend themselves. He was therefore ready to give the order to
return fire … until he noticed a group of children playing in the
square between his platoon and the enemy. Was his first
priority to defend his colleagues and attack the enemy … or to
save the children from being caught in the crossfire? He
ordered his men not to shoot!
7. So, what has this to do with faith? It is a remarkable fact that in
the recent Strategic Defence and Security Review, the
chaplaincy service was stoutly and almost unanimously
supported by those questioned about possible reductions, or …
perhaps being bought in from the faith communities as and
when required. The General Staff argued robustly that
chaplaincy was absolutely critical to their work in war and in
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peace. At Camp Bastion, the Base Commander on last
Wednesday’s television programme most certainly agreed.
8. Don’t be misled, however! I don’t believe that everyone
questioned could therefore be presumed to be a paid up
practising Christian … or indeed a member of any religion. But
the strength of their defence of chaplaincy confirms the
significance of the issue of ‘Faith under fire’. Conventional
religious faith and practice may be a minority sport in the
services as elsewhere, but ‘spirituality’ and ‘liturgy’ most
certainly have their significant place – more of that later.
9. So I shall not be talking today in the lecture about Just War, nor
about the morality of certain weapons systems, nor the issues
surrounding unmanned drones, nor the ethics of cyber warfare,
at least not unless you bring them up in our discussions later.
Instead I want to retain this focus on the macro and micro
doctrine that is common to, but expressed rather differently in,
all major religions. I speak as a Christian, of course, so forgive
me for expressing myself in Christian terms.
10.
A quick over-simplistic theological canter: Christians believe
that human beings are sacred and find their fulfilment in
relationships – relationships with each other and with God. The
doctrine of God the Holy Trinity portrays Father, Son and Holy
Spirit in a relationship of such powerful love that each ‘Person’
can at one and the same time be utterly unique, and yet so
united that they can be truly One. This intimate, mutually
supportive, interdependent relationship can be lived out by
human beings, as God himself showed when he became a
human being in Jesus – someone who in his life and death
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showed that it is in loving others whatever the personal
sacrificial cost that we discover what it is to be fully human.
And, if and when human beings love each other and God in this
way, communities emerge that are enriching, just, peaceful and
happy – what the Bible calls ‘The Kingdom of God’.
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Perhaps the primary task of any priest, but particularly of any
chaplain, is to point individuals and communities to that
potential that lies within them and to give them hope that, with
God’s help, the vision can become reality. Individuals can each
become whole and communities likewise. It may well start with
commitment to “my mates” and to a proper pride in my role in
the team, but it is a sign of much else.
12.
All of this, of course, will be taking place in situations of
considerable uncertainty. As for everybody else, our
postmodern world preaches a lack of any absolutes, but it is
brought into the sharpest of focuses in times of danger – which
is why chaplains of all services deploy with their troops, and
why ironically they find themselves having the most profound
conversations at times of the greatest danger and uncertainty. It
is also why chaplains in the UK and most other countries do not
carry weapons, as despite the obvious additional danger this
places them in, they are a living symbol of that peaceable
kingdom where weapons have no place. The story is told of a
commander checking that his troops were all armed. In turn
each held up their weapon … the chaplain held up a crucifix!
13.
This uncertainty is not limited by any means to war zones. I
recently visited an RAF base which is to close in a few weeks
time as part of the post SDSR restructuring and cuts. The
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senior chaplain and his colleagues were working hard with the
station commander and his team to be alongside and support
everyone from the top to the bottom who, with their families, are
living through a time of considerable fragility and upheaval both
at home and at work.
14.
A soldier, sailor or airman’s life in the services can be
summed up by these themes:
i.
They live with uncertainty before, during and after conflict
ii. They have to put up with privation and hardship – there’s
nothing cosy or comfortable about war, not even during the
long periods of inactivity and boredom
iii. They have a profound understanding of comradeship –
whatever their rank, they fight and live first of all for their
mates
iv. They rejoice in the challenge not just of war, but of service
life
v. They show courage – not the sort of courage it takes to get
into a fire-fight, but the cool, calculated courage it took a 19
year old trooper I met recently to walk down a road as ‘point
man’ – the first to come under fire, the first to tread on an
IED.
vi. They have to live within a moral dimension
a
Being strong and aggressive in battle, yet able to
behave properly and show self-control at all times
b
Having to make ethical judgements, often on the hoof
c
Being constantly aware of your mortality
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vii. All of these are undergirded by core values. But these
values can be used in ways that are health-giving or lethal.
As one General said recently: “Suicide bombers are
exemplars of the same core values, … but for a twisted
cause” and “Soldiers are not better than others … often
they are worse … but the core values enable them to be
extraordinary when it matters.” Again it is a task of the
chaplain – to help provide a healthy understanding of the
values our servicemen are expected by society to live by,
particularly the concepts of respect, service and sacrifice.
The services understand Aquinas’s statement that human
beings are subject to ‘disordered passions’, so they place
great emphasis on moral leadership at all levels from the
Chief of Defence Staff to the newest recruit.
15.
I promised to return to Chaplaincy and so I want to focus a
little on that in the final section of this talk. My time as Bishop to
Her Majesty’s Armed Forces has taught me many things, but
above all I have learned to respect the ministry of chaplains –
chaplains of all faiths and all denominations. It is a respect
echoed by almost every Admiral, Air Marshall or General I have
met.
16.
So, what are the main ingredients of a chaplain’s contribution
to the services? They are the same as any other priestly
ministry, but perhaps more sharply focused and even more
directly challenging than some.
i.
Pastoral care is probably the dominating task. Be it in
barracks, on board ship, on deployment, exercise or at
home, the need for a listening ear and wise counsel within
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the safety of complete confidentiality is fundamental. It is not
at all unusual to find that the irrational behaviour of a sailor
on deployment is due to family issues at home, rather than
problems on board ship.
ii. Liturgical ministry too provides an important dimension of a
serviceman’s life. I am not speaking of conventional churchy
liturgies, though they have their place. Perhaps it can best
be summed up by a story from Iraq. Troops were being
flown into assault the Al Faw peninsular, but had to turn
back because of a dust storm. The lead helicopter crashes,
killing the group’s Commanding Officer, the second in
command and several others. On landing there is confusion.
What do we do? The chaplain gathers everyone together,
holds them in silence, names those who have died … and
prays. As the ceremony comes to an end, the team gets up
and carries on.
iii. The teaching ministry happens in barracks of all services. It
is part of the professional preparation for exercise and
deployment. As I have already explored, seeds are sown
that will bear fruit in ways and at times that no-one can
foresee. How we fight a war, how we treat the enemy, how
we relate to the civilian population, and how we prepare for
peace is our business.
iv. Speaking of such matters points to the prophetic ministry of
chaplains. So the chaplain may be called upon to broker
between the individual and the service. He may question,
challenge, encourage. Above all, he will seek to bring the
light of hope into situations of darkness, not least being a
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constant reminder that conflict is never an end in itself – at
the end of the day, peace will have to be made.
v. Recent conflicts have taken place amidst what are for us
alien cultures. The radicalisation of individuals at home and
abroad by fundamentalist and terrorist organisations can all
too easily lead to a destructive caricaturing of ‘them’ by us,
and of ‘us’ by them. So in Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Iraq and
Afghanistan, chaplains have had an important role to play in
dialogue with religious leaders and elders. Religion has
often played a negative role in international relations, but
religious dialogue can help reduce ignorance and mutual
distrust and provide the seeds of hope for lasting peace.
vi. In all of this, chaplains are embedded amongst those they
serve. One initial and ignorant suggestion from the SDSR
was that chaplaincy could be privatised – bought in. If
chaplaincy is to have any value, it depends on that degree
of trust and affection that comes from the chaplain living
among his people, having to go on the same exercises,
eating with them, having to be as fit as them etc etc.
Christians call this ‘incarnation’ – a living out of what Jesus
did when God became a human being and lived among us.
17.
How to conclude? I heard the story of a vehicle that skidded
off what passed for a road and fell into deep water. In the back,
the soldiers held hands as the waters rose to drown them. In
the front, the driver forced his way out, dived back in three times
until he managed to get the lid open and rescue his colleagues.
Faith in God, faith in neighbour, faith in oneself. What enabled
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all of that to happen is profoundly complex and involves many
people. But ‘faith under fire’ it most certainly is!
Bishop Stephen Venner
February 2011
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