| dc.description.abstract | Despite the expanding diversity amongst demographics and faith backgrounds of service members, the Chaplain Corps is still largely conservative, Christian, white, middle-aged, heterosexual, cisgender, and male. As the military’s make-up continues to evolve, including an ever-growing number of LGBTQIA service members, is the Chaplain Corps actively engaging concepts of diversity and inclusion in ways that truly promote and sustain spiritual health for all? Utilizing my specific experience as a chaplain in the Army National Guard, this project will consider how a lack of diversity in the Chaplain Corps detracts from its primary mission to serve all and potentially harms the mental and spiritual resiliency of its service members. This project will then explore theological reflexivity, navigating towards the embrace of diversity amongst service members and the Chaplain Corps overall. The solution lies in the foundations of chaplaincy: truly honoring the first amendment and, by doing so, abiding with one another in difference and diversity. | |
