CHAPTER IV
A HISTORICAL SURVEY OF SOUTHERN BAPTIST CHAPLAINCY TO MILITARY PERSONNEL 1845–1972

In this chapter a limited historical survey will be made of the Southern Baptist chaplaincy to military personnel from 1845 through 1972. The method followed is to select some significant and typical instances, personalities, and actions to indicate the development of attitudes toward the military chaplaincy and some of the closely related issues.

The emphasis will be on the Civil War period, World Wars I and II, and the years since the end of World War II. The Civil War period is especially significant, inasmuch as it was the first great military conflict after the organization of the Southern Baptist Convention, and many precedents were set at that time. World Wars I and II included the time when basic concepts, organization, and programs of the military chaplaincy were established.

From this survey it is hoped to be able to arrive at certain conclusions which will be helpful in providing an understanding of the Southern Baptist Convention's past positions regarding the military chaplaincy and church-state relations. This will facilitate the progress of the study as it proceeds in Part II to determine where the denomination now stands on this subject and on related issues.

The Southern Baptist Convention was organized in Augusta, Georgia, in 1845. For the First few years after its organization it had many urgent matters to attend to other than the chaplaincy. But the Convention did begin a planned ministry to the army in 1853. and the state conventions began their work in 1860.

In the years 1845–1860 many Baptists held that government-paid chaplaincies were contrary to the separation of church and state, and their thinking is reflected in a petition submitted in 1855 by certain Baptists of Henderson County, Tennessee. They said that they could not understand why clergymen should be employed by the government in either House of Congress, at the military and naval stations or ships, or in each regiment of the army, any more than in each township, parish, district, or village throughout the land. They felt that to sanction such government chaplaincies was the same as the church-state system of the Old World. They suggested that clergymen should enlist in the military if they desired "like other men," and that they should "look for (no) other compensation than the voluntary contributions of those among whom they labor." The Tennessee Baptists were convinced that general government tax revenues taken for national purposes, by the authority of law from the general public, was an improper expenditure of funds if utilized to pay the salary of clergymen.

The Civil War Period

Southern Baptists have always been concerned to insure that men in the military service receive adequate spiritual ministry. The 1863 minutes of the Convention noted that:

The public sympathy and effort were now turned to the moral and spiritual well-being of the Army.... Hence the Board of Domestic Missions in January 1862 determined to enter at once upon its Army Mission.... The leadership of the newly formed Confederacy looked to the religious leadership of the South.... Sentiment, duty and opportunity called the Board to labor among the Confederate armies.

Jefferson Davis and the other leaders of the newly formed Confederacy expected the religious leadership of the South to give morale and stamina to the people in the prosecution of the war. Baptists joined with Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Catholics and others in the South supporting the cause of the Confederate States of America. Several Baptist state conventions and general associations, as well as the Southern Baptist Convention, passed resolutions and made pronouncements upon the political and military conditions. A committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Savannah, 1861, reported as follows:

We hold this truth to be self-evident, that governments are established for the security, prosperity, and happiness of the people. When, therefore, any government is perverted from its proper design, becomes oppressive, and abuses its power, the people have a right to change it.... In vindication of their sacred rights and honor, in self-defense, and for the protection of all which is dear to man, the Southern States have practically asserted the right of seceding from a Union so degenerated from that established by the Constitution, and they have framed for themselves a government based upon the principles of the original compact—adopting a character which secures to each State its sovereign rights and privileges.

After this preamble there were resolutions such as the following:

Resolved, that we most cordially approve of the formation of the Government of the Confederate States of America, and admire and applaud the noble course of that Government up to this present time.... That we most cordially tender to the President of the Confederate States, to his Cabinet, and the members of the Congress now convened at Montgomery, the assurances of our sympathy and entire confidence. With them are our hearts and our hearty cooperation.

Jefferson Davis often appealed to the religious sentiments of the people. In the following words he challenged the country to greater religious devotion:

It is right and meet, therefore, that we should repair to the only Giver of all victory and, humbling ourselves before Him, should pray that He may strengthen our confidence in His mighty power and righteous judgments.... And I do hereby invite the reverend clergy and the people of the Confederate States to repair to their respective places of public worship, to humble themselves before Almighty God, and pray for His protection and favor for our beloved country, and that we may be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us.

If ever God's people have made the tragic mistake of identifying religion with patriotism it was in this time of America's dark history. This is illustrated in the conclusion of the committee report to the Southern Baptist Convention in May, 1861, which praised Jefferson Davis' administration for "contributing to the transcendent Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ." Again it is illustrated in a statement from the Baptist Religious Herald, in 1863, that the South was fighting for the following:

...political and domestic institutions handed down from our fathers; for the sovereignty of the States, against a crushing central despotism; for the ascendancy of the master, against an infidel humanitarianism, which in the name of the Scripture disavows and villifies the scriptural sanction of hereditary service, and in the name of philanthropy casts an inferior race loose from that role which is also a protection....

Many examples of similar enthusiastic and unanimous support for the war could be cited from resolutions from the Georgia Baptist Convention, Alabama Baptists, and other annual sessions of the Southern Baptist Convention. James Silver has presented a good case of evidence to support his thesis about the responsibility of the churches for the war:

It seems reasonable to conclude that, as its greatest social institution, the church in the South constituted the major resource of the Confederacy in the building and maintenance of civilian morale. As no other group, Southern clergymen were responsible for a state of mind which made secession possible, and as no other group they sustained the people in their long, costly and futile War for Southern Independence.

Silver does not indict Baptists any more than he does other groups of Southern clergy or churches, but, after examining the record, Southern Baptists must accept their share of the guilt in this unnecessary, futile, immoral, and tragic waste of lives and other invaluable resources of the nineteenth century. This is the "hindsight" of the twentieth century Christian, but to the Christian Southerner of 1861 it was a far different picture.

Enthusiasm and zeal were running so high that whole communities enlisted in the Confederate army. In Mississippi, practically the entire student body of Mississippi (Baptist) College enlisted together with their faculty leaders in the Mississippi College Rifles.

Although Baptists were ardent supporters of the Confederate cause, they did not lead the Protestants in the total number of chaplains. Methodists outnumbered Baptists 200 to 100, even though they had about the same number of members. And Presbyterians, who had only half as many members as Baptists had, furnished as many chaplains as did the Baptists. The highest proportionate representation compared to total membership came from the Episcopalians who furnished 65 chaplains, although they had only about ten percent as many members as Baptists.

The Georgia Baptist Convention estimated in April 1863 that there were 41 Methodists, 23 Baptists, and 19 Presbyterians serving on active duty as military chaplains. This does not include other denominations, and neither does it include various civilians serving in other capacities than as military chaplains.

Charles Pitts has pointed out one interesting feature of the chaplaincy in the Confederate Army. It is especially significant concerning the ministry of Baptists and the purpose of this present study. Pitts says:

Religious workers were divided into four classifications, only one of which had an official military status. First, there were the bona fide chaplains who were under military appointment and were paid by the government. Second, there were army missionaries, men who functioned as chaplains but had no military standing. These were sent to the army, their location determined, and their salary paid by their denomination. The only thing furnished by the army was their rations, not including forage for a horse. Even this was not authorized until March 4, 1865. Their pay was generally more than that allowed a regular chaplain. A third group consisted of the army evangelists, men who came to the army to hold revival meetings, remaining for a period of a few days to several weeks. They, too, were not paid by the army but usually came at their own expense. A fourth group were the colporteurs, who distributed literature. These men were either clergymen or laymen.

Note the four groups: Military chaplains, civilian evangelists, missionaries, and colporteurs. Whereas Baptists had fewer military chaplains compared to their total membership and proportionate representation of other denominations, they had more missionaries, evangelists, and colporteurs than did the other denominations. Often prominent civilian pastors would be guests of the army for weeks at a time while they conducted evangelistic services for the troops. They returned to their pastorates with renewed inspiration and invigoration.

Many Baptists continued to be disillusioned and dissatisfied with the government-paid chaplains. The Cherokee Association in Texas stated in 1862:

The plan adopted by the government of appointing paid chaplains has proved a failure. Many have secured the positions who were unworthy of the trust and have forfeited the confidence of the soldiers, who look upon the chaplain as an officer of the government, paid out of the treasury, to preach as a military duty. Ministers sent out by the Churches, however, with no connection with the army or government, are heartily received and highly respected, gaining access to those to whom the name of chaplain is odious.

Southern Baptist ministries to military personnel during the Civil War were very diversified. At times the civilian religious workers accompanied the military units in their marches and preached to them as they had opportunity. At other times they would move from one camp or unit to another, preaching, counseling, and distributing tracts to soldiers as they went. The colporteurs were provided and supported by state mission boards. Some of the greatest services to soldiers in the war were provided by pastors of the stronger Baptist churches in the South and by denominational leaders. Some of these were Sylvester Landrum, Lansing Burrows, Isaac Taylor Tichenor, John A. Broadus, Jeremiah Bell Jeter, and James B. Taylor. Many of these preached on weekends, held revivals in the camps, or remained with the units for a time.

In 1863 the Texas Baptist State Convention appropriated $10,000 to send four civilian missionaries to the Confederate Army units of the Trans-Mississippi Department. In other states Baptists voted likewise to send out similar army missionaries. Virginia Baptists are said to have had at one time over one hundred colporteurs and evangelists under appointment to minister to military personnel. In 1864 eighty-nine army missionaries were supported by the Domestic Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. This number does not include those supported directly by the state conventions without any contributing support through the Southern Baptist Convention.

At the time of the Civil War there was a unique interest in reading religious literature. A Baptist chaplain in Virginia claimed one hundred conversions in his regiment were due to independent reading of religious tracts. Several chaplains, after seeing the results of the work of colporteurs, resigned their commissions as military chaplains to become civilian colporteurs. One Baptist colporteur wrote: "Modern history presents no example of armies so nearly converted into churches as the armies for southern defense." The chief Baptist colporteur was Alfred Elijah Dickinson, of Virginia, general agent of the Army Colportage Society and a popular speaker wherever he went. It has been widely recognized, however, that even though the colporteurs and missionaries assisted in the religious program in the army, final responsibility for the religious movement among military personnel rested with the military chaplains.

The chaplaincy work among military personnel during the Civil War was handicapped by the lack of an educated ministry. Whereas Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Roman Catholics required extensive academic preparation for the ministry, and Methodists were beginning to encourage it, Baptists for the most part at that time opposed an educated clergy. There were very few highly educated Baptist chaplains in the army. The first Southern Baptist Seminary had opened in South Carolina with 26 students in 1859, and it closed temporarily in 1862.

One interesting feature of the Baptist military chaplaincy of this period was the way in which Baptist churches were organized within certain military units. Some of the units having Baptist churches were: the 14th Texas Regiment, the Cherokee Regiment, Terry's Texas Rangers, and the brigades of Finley and Gibson. One of their number would become their pastor, and often there were enough deacons in the ranks to fill those offices.

These churches received and baptized members, and some even licensed members to preach. In cases in which no actual churches were organized, if a new convert made a profession of faith and desired to be baptized and to unite with a Baptist church, he would notify the Baptist chaplain. The Baptist chaplain would then assemble the Baptist men of the unit, and they would hear the candidate's testimony of his conversion. When they were satisfied that he was genuinely converted, the group would approve by vote his acceptance as a candidate for baptism. Then they would go to a nearby stream for the baptismal service. Following the baptism the Baptist chaplain would write to the Baptist church of the soldier's choice informing the pastor there of the dates and circumstances involved. That church would then vote on recognizing the new convert's conversion experience and baptism, and, upon this approval, so receive him into the membership of the local church.

Southern Baptists, like most denominations, adopted the practice of supplementing the military chaplains' salaries to make it possible for those with families to serve in the army. The Christian Index, Macon, Georgia, announced that the Southern Baptist Convention would make such an addition to the chaplains' salary as would free them from anxiety. This was offered in order to recruit more men who were desperately needed for the military forces. At the close of the war the report of the Domestic Board of the Southern Baptist Convention indicated that the salaries of eleven chaplains were supplemented by the Board.

Chaplains serving during the Civil War maintained close ties with their denomination throughout the period of their military service. Pastors did not resign their churches to serve in the army for the duration. They were granted leaves of absence from their pastorates to serve as chaplains. They were still considered pastors, and they corresponded regularly with their churches. The state conventions and national organizations maintained their ties in certain concrete ways. The chaplains continued to serve in positions of denominational leadership and on important committees while serving as an army chaplain. For example, while George G. Taylor was post chaplain at Staunton, Virginia, he still served as secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1863 to 1867. Lists of ministers showed the names of the chaplains in their proper geographical location in the category of their primary civilian ministry before they entered the chaplaincy.

The record shows that the young, struggling Southern Baptist Convention did a commendable job of providing a variety of ministries, military and civilian, for the army personnel during the Civil War. The Domestic Board of the Convention did some of its work directly and some of it through the state conventions and organizations. At the close of four years of war the Board of Domestic Missions reported 137 army missionaries or camp pastors in addition to the chaplains who traveled with the troops and lived and worked inside the military. The final report of the war years expressed gratitude to God and man for blessing: "The spirit of liberality among our churches was never more manifest. No appeal has been made in vain, and many have been responded to with unusual generosity."

The issue of a government-paid chaplaincy was a constant problem for Southern Baptists as they considered the military chaplain. The strong opposition to government-paid military chaplaincies continued in certain areas of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Georgia Baptist Convention spoke out officially to this effect. Some of the reasons for this antichaplaincy attitude are easy to find. One must remember that at this time there was quite a strong sentiment against a paid ministry in most Baptist quarters. And there was an even stronger feeling against a government-paid ministry. Some Baptists believed so strongly in church-state separation that they objected to any minister becoming a chaplain, regardless of whether he did so voluntarily. They believed it was simply wrong on principle for the government to employ and use the preacher. They felt that ministers to soldiers should be sponsored and supported by the churches.

Many Baptist periodicals took a characteristic church-state stand exemplified by a South Western Baptist writer who objected to furnishing the gospel by taxation. The same writer also asserted that in becoming a chaplain one automatically submitted to certain unconstitutional "religious tests" prohibited by Article VI of the Constitution. There is no doubt that misgivings about the church-state issue and government-paid and tax-supported ministers contributed to the fact that Baptists furnished only half as many military chaplains as they should have in proportion to their numbers. This explains, also, why at this time Baptists did more than they have ever done to support civilian ministers to military personnel.

It appeared that the worst fears of this large segment of people were realized when Secretary of War Stanton displayed the power of state control over churches of military occupied territories. He placed southern churches with southern pastors at the disposal of northern clergymen and deposed Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian pastors and installed loyal northern pastors.

This course of action was encouraged by Christians in the North who donated thousands of dollars to send ministers into occupied zones "to preach the gospel and Union sentiment." Military provost marshals had the power to displace politically disloyal ministers if they considered it advisable, and this inevitably led to hostility and hatred. Southern clergymen who insisted upon separation of church and state stubbornly opposed such intermeddling of the state into the affairs of the churches. To them this was but another evidence that whenever the state intrudes into religion it produces a demeaning of the state and a corruption of religion.

It is illuminating to look at some Southern Baptist chaplains who served during the Civil War, in order to gain an insight into their ministry.

Chaplain Isaac T. Tichenor

Chaplain Tichenor was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Montgomery, Alabama, from 1852 to 1867, with a year's leave of absence taken from this fifteen years to serve as chaplain of the 17th Alabama Regiment during the height of the Civil War.

During the Battle of Shiloh Chaplain Tichenor revealed a side of his nature which showed his enjoyment of a combatant role for the chaplain. Sensing that the regiment was wavering, he walked up and down the line waving his hat and shouting for the men to press on in the battle. He reminded them that back home in Alabama their loved ones and neighbors were praying for them that they would stand firm against the terrible enemy. Tichenor had already displayed his sharpshooting ability in killing a colonel, a major, and four privates among the enemy. Again in this particular instance he walked fearlessly up and down a road looking for the enemy. Attracting fire he crouched behind a stump of a tree for protection and located the spot ahead where the Union soldiers were hiding. The fighting chaplain waited until the enemy soldier ran toward a fence; then the chaplain took aim and fired. The man doubled over and fell, while the rebel soldiers who had seen it all yelled in delight. Apparently Tichenor saw no inconsistency in the man of God's taking human life like this, for he told stories like these with enthusiasm and pride later on.

After the war Tichenor became one of the great leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1882 he became secretary of the Home Mission Board where he served with great statesmanship for seventeen years. It is said that "his leadership virtually saved the Southern Baptist Convention." W. W. Barnes called him "one of the greatest statesmen and most devoted servants the Convention has ever had."

Chaplain John William Jones

The second chaplain of the period to be singled out for closer study is remembered today for the books he wrote, although his talents as a chaplain and minister are not to be underestimated. Jones was converted in 1855 and entered the University of Virginia in the fall of the same year. In 1859 he entered the first session of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Greenville, South Carolina. In 1860 he was ordained at Charlottesville, Virginia, and was appointed the same year as a missionary to China. Because of the outbreak of the Civil War he never sailed for China, and he enlisted as a private in the Confederate Army. His gifts as a minister were soon recognized, and he was promoted from the ranks and made chaplain of the 13th Virginia Infantry in November, 1863. He was with the Army of Northern Virginia in every battle it fought from that time until Lee's surrender at Appomattox.

During the war Chaplain Jones served also as a war correspondent writing for the Religious Herald and other papers and publications. It was through his writings that the challenge for more military chaplains was widely heralded. Although the need was great, he never gave the impression that "just anyone would do." He set the standards high, as indicated by the following article dispatched to the Religious Herald:

Send us the names of good men; and here I repeat, we want none others—our object being not merely to fill up the regiments with nominal chaplains, but to fill the vacancies with efficient, working men. We want effective Gospel preachers.... Since we have in the army the flower of the country, we ought to have the best preaching talent of the country.... We want men who will stick to their posts.... The great business of the chaplain is to preach Christ publicly, and from tent to tent, and the temporal welfare of the soldiers should be subordinate to this. We want men physically able as well as willing to endure hardships and privations....

Chaplain Jones became the Baptists' clearinghouse to process prospective chaplains for their military appointments, although he did not seek this position, and had no official sanction for it. He finally published an explanation that he did not have the power or authority actually to make chaplaincy appointments, that he only furnished his brethren names of regiments desiring chaplains and vice versa. But, inasmuch as there was no regular or orderly way for the appointment of chaplains, any such assistance or guidance was appreciated.

Realizing the importance of keeping complete and accurate records, Chaplain Jones recorded the names of 410 men whom he had baptized during the war. After the war he worked diligently trying to contact every one of the number who had survived the war. In addition to this he wrote to college presidents all over the country to find out how the former soldiers were doing as students. He set a fine example for all chaplains to follow.

Chaplain Jones published several volumes after the war. These include Christ in the Camp; Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes, and Letters of R. E. Lee; Army of Northern Virginia, Memorial Volume; Jefferson Davis, Memorial Volume; School History of the United States; Life and Letters of R. E. Lee; and The Soldier and the Man. In 1875 he became secretary of the Southern Historical Society and later the assistant secretary of the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board.

From the Civil War to the End of World War I

During the fifty years following the end of the Civil War the Southern Baptist Convention as a denomination performed no chaplaincy ministries. The few Baptist chaplains that served in the military during that period were recruited by the military without denominational assistance or endorsement. Between the end of the Civil War and World War I only eight Southern Baptist chaplains are known to have served in the Army.

Congress provided in 1901 that prospective chaplains should be endorsed by their respective denominations, but Southern Baptists were slow to do anything about endorsement until 1914. When the United States began to get involved in World War I, the Southern Baptist Convention in 1916 expressed concern for the moral and religious welfare of servicemen. The Convention was careful to urge the observance of the principle of separation of church and state, but it recommend that qualified men be employed as chaplains.

The United States entered the War in April, 1917. The 1917 Session of the Southern Baptist Convention again charged the Home Mission Board, as during the Civil War, to secure chaplains and work with the state conventions to minister to the servicemen. The proceedings of the annual session of the Convention records the following:

In the training camps our Home Board, our state boards, our Sunday School Board will find it possible to cooperate in planned and intelligent fashion in evangelistic labor and in the distribution of the Word of God and other religious literature. We must also take new interest in the business of providing chaplains, not only seeing to it that our own Christian body does its full part in this respect, but also doing what we can to put strong, devout and consecrated men in these important places.... The Home Mission Board is instructed to use its best endeavors to stimulate and cultivate the interest of our people in this matter and to care for the interests of the denomination as may be necessary. The cooperation of the state boards is also earnestly requested in the task of finding and recommending men suited to this responsible work.

The Home Mission Board immediately started a program of camp ministries. Some civilian pastors were employed to work in camps and other military areas in cooperation with the related state conventions.

Several denominations, through the General Committee on Army and Navy Chaplains of the Federal Council of Churches, were requested by the government to act in an advisory capacity in selecting chaplains on a quota basis. The Home Mission Board through its corresponding secretary, B. D. Gray, cooperated in this work. Correspondence left by Gray with his sister after his death revealed that he nominated available and qualified Southern Baptist ministers to the General Committee, and the committee processed the applications for the military. The Home Mission Board paid the General Committee $500 annually for this service.

In the 1913 Convention a resolution was made calling on the United States government to abolish the "Army Chaplaincies and leave the religious services to the discretion and election of the different Christian denominations." This resolution was referred to a committee for report the next year. This 1918 Convention also commended the work of the "Camp Pastors" who were sponsored by the Home and State Mission Boards. These men were not military chaplains but served the men in the camps as civilian pastors. This work had been initiated the previous year by the Southern Baptist Convention's directing the Home Mission Board to minister to the needs of the men in the training camps.

The 1919 Convention strongly protested the action of the War Department in seeking to discourage "denominational distinctions" relative to religious work among servicemen. The Convention protested the government's committing to the interdenominational Y.M.C.A's control of all religious work among non-Catholics in the training camps. On July 24, 1918, the War Department issued an order for the withdrawal of Baptist camp pastors from the camps. The only reason given for this order was the greatly increased number of chaplains who would, as the Third Assistant Secretary of War claimed, be able to provide ample religious services for the soldiers. Thus the "camp pastor" ministry had to be terminated.

Rather sharp tensions are detected at this point between the denomination and the government, but evidently they were resolved, inasmuch as the following year the Convention approved a recommendation which instructed the Home Mission Board to continue to do religious work in both the Army and Navy, including giving the required denominational approval of Baptist applicants for the chaplaincy. Much controversy continued, however, throughout the Convention over these issues.

As another evidence of the contribution of the Home Mission Board to the work of the military chaplaincy, it is to be noted that in 1919 the Board gave up to $250 to Baptist chaplains for equipment and supplies needed in their work. This amount in itself is not very significant, but it is pointed out that throughout its history the Board has established the principle of denominational investment in various ways in the military chaplaincy ministry. The Board and the denomination have not always left this important ministry entirely up to the government to finance.

From World War I to the End of World War II

In 1920 the Southern Baptist Convention adopted the following recommendation offered by its committee on chaplaincies:

...that the Home Mission Board be instructed to include in its work religious work in the army and navy; to keep in touch with the authorities; to gather and compile all possible information concerning the policies of the Government in the matter of the Chaplaincies; to cooperate in all proper ways for promoting the spiritual interests of our men in the army and navy; to seek to encourage in their work Baptist Chaplains now in the service, and to approve the application of Baptist ministers for appointment as Chaplains as the respective departments may require such approval.

The Board reported it had continued its work among the soldiers during demobilization following the war. In another action it approved the work among naval and merchant marine personnel begun by the Home Mission Board during 1920.

The minutes of the Convention indicate a continuing interest and activity on the part of the Home Board and the denomination in the military chaplaincy during the years between the two World Wars. In 1925 the Board reported work among the midshipmen at Annapolis Naval Academy. This was a civilian ministry in addition to the military chaplaincy.

For several years following the build-up for World War I, the Home Board worked in four army camps in Texas in cooperation with the Texas Baptist Board. Because of financial difficulties, the Board discontinued its work in two of the Texas camps in 1927. It continued to support the work at the Veterans Hospital in Oteen, North Carolina. It also continued to operate the Seamen's Institute at Jacksonville, Florida, which it had maintained for several years as a ministry to navy personnel.

During the 1930's the Convention went through a decade of indecision regarding what to do about the responsibility and supervision for the military chaplaincy in relation to the denomination. From 1931 to 1936 a special committee of three handled the appointment of chaplains in the army and navy. The new committee of three was located in Washington, D.C., and was appointed by the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. This committee gave funds to the General Committee on Chaplains for processing Southern Baptist applicants through the General Committee to the military establishment. There was no paid employee of this Baptist Committee. Dr. Rufus W. Weaver was the Chairman.

In 1936, at the committee's request, the Southern Baptist Convention took two very significant actions. It changed the name of the Chaplains Committee to the "Committee on Public Relations." The Convention specified that the committee was to continue the work of approving applicants for the chaplaincy, but it was also to serve all church-state interests of Southern Baptists relative to government. Its personnel included the President of the Convention and Secretaries of the four Boards as ex officio members, and five members from the vicinity of Washington, D.C., one of whom was a competent lawyer. This Public Relations Committee became the "Joint Conference Committee on Public Relations" and then the "Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs." In 1938 the Convention directed that the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee be "the recognized channel of contact between the Southern Baptist Chaplains and the denomination."

In 1939 the Southern Baptist Convention approved the appointment of a sub-committee of three from the Baptist Committee on Public Relations "to have charge of the endorsement of Southern Baptist ministers applying for the chaplaincy in the Army or Navy." The Committee on Public Relations felt for some reason that the existing arrangement was inadequate and called "for the creation of a closer relationship between the Chaplains and the denomination to which they belong and a greater care to be taken in the selection of capable, consecrated men for the … work of these ministers of the gospel…."

In 1941 the Convention approved a recommendation of its Executive Committee that the military chaplaincy ministry be reassigned to the Home Mission Board. This brought the responsibility back where it had been during the Civil War and World War I. This put the chaplaincy under the supervision and responsibility of one of the most prestigious boards of the Convention, and attempted to recognize that the chaplaincy ministry was a missionary ministry. But, unfortunately, it lost the expertise and keen sensitivity to the full implications of church-state relations which had been provided by the Washington Committee on Public Relations since 1931.

During this pre-World War II period the Southern Baptist Convention debated the question of its relationship to the General Commission on Chaplains, an interdenominational body which processed applications from Protestant denominations to the military chaplaincy. It has been mentioned above that Secretary Gray of the Home Mission Board cooperated with the General Commission and utilized their services and relations with the military establishment and supported their work financially for several years. When in 1931 the responsibility for the Southern Baptist chaplaincy was transferred to a special committee of three, this committee at first continued to cooperate with the General Committee. The re-named Committee on Public Relations provided $100 a year for the clerical work of the General Committee. However, in 1937, the chairman of the Southern Baptist Public Relations Committee refused membership in a Commission on Chaplaincies controlled by the Federal Council of Churches, but he agreed to serve as a "consulting member." In 1941 the Convention approved a recommendation of its Executive Committee as follows:

Wishing to maintain the most fraternal and cooperative relationship with other evangelical bodies, the Southern Baptist Convention shall through its Committee appointed by the Home Mission Board retain its membership on the General Commission on Army and Navy Chaplains, provided the General Commission on Army and Navy Chaplains shall continue to exercise its autonomy. Should the General Commission lose its autonomy, then the Committee appointed by the Home Board shall be instructed to seek a consultative membership on the General Commission of Army and Navy Chaplains.

The history of this tenuous relationship with the General Commission apparently developed not out of any disparaging opinion of the Commission itself but because of Southern Baptist resistance to involvement with the Federal Council of Churches.

The same 1941 Convention resolution called for the religious work in connection with the army camps, navy bases, marine corps stations, air corps, and C.C.C. Camps to be assigned to the Home Mission Board, with the understanding that the Board would work in cooperation with the State Mission Boards. A change in policy called for Southern Baptists to make direct contact with the government in the appointment of Southern Baptist chaplains and for all recommendations and endorsements to be made by the Home Mission Board to the government. This was a departure from the earlier practice of processing all applications for appointment through the General Commission to the government. Now they were to go directly.

Up until 1941 the General Committee on Chaplains had processed all Protestant applications for the Chaplaincy. Southern Baptists did not have full membership with this committee, and, therefore, became a fourth distinctive group. This is said to have caused some consternation among Protestants, but it was approved by the military. Since then several other distinctive groups have started processing their own applications directly to the military without going through the General Commission on Chaplains. Southern Baptists continued to cooperate with the General Committee on Chaplains in points of general and common interest and to give some financial support to the General Commission.

It was decided that the respective state mission boards would promote the work outside the military camps in their states, through the local churches and servicemen's centers. The Home Mission Board was to coordinate all Convention-wide matters and all work within the military camps and bases through the chaplains.

On July 1, 1941, the Home Mission Board called Rev. Alfred Carpenter, pastor at Blytheville, Arkansas, to become field secretary and superintendent of Camp Work. He immediately set up an office and established his position with the Chiefs of Army and Navy Chaplains together with other official connections in Washington, D.C. He approved applicants for the chaplaincy through the Home Board's Committee on Army and Navy Chaplains. He visited the chaplains and line officers in the camps and became better acquainted with the needs of servicemen and chaplains. He promoted evangelism in the camps through the chaplains, and he supplied equipment and literature for the chaplains. Rutledge said of Carpenter "he laid strong foundations for the future development of the Commission."

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Southern Baptist Convention stepped up its support of the military chaplaincy. A packet of helpful suggestions and materials was sent to each new chaplain by the Chaplains Committee. Monthly newsletters, bulletins, small song books, portable public address systems, portable libraries, subscriptions to Home Missions and The Chaplain magazines were also sent. The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville supplied the chaplains with the same material they sent pastors. This was the policy of the Sunday School Board, Home Mission Board, and other denominational agencies. The Sunday School Board supplied tons of tracts and other materials including Sunday School literature.

Following the entrance of the United States into World War II, the demand for Southern Baptist chaplains rose sharply. The response to appeals was beyond all expectation. Only about one half of the applicants could meet the qualifications established by the government, although the applicants were fully qualified to serve civilian congregations. The Chaplains Committee processed over 1,000 applications for the chaplaincy and approved 287. Those over the age limit and under the educational qualifications, but otherwise qualified, were placed in a "hold" file. By April 1942 the military requirements were liberalized and 200 men already processed by the Committee were ready to have their applications sent to the Chiefs of Chaplains. This met an emergency for the War Department and enabled a large number of excellent Baptist ministers to enter the chaplaincy. By April 1, 1942, Southern Baptists had 215 chaplains in the Army and 22 in the Navy. The Armed Forces requested 234 more chaplains by the end of 1942, and they anticipated the need for as many as 750 chaplains to meet the Southern Baptist quota by 1944.

In 1942 denominational endorsement for applicants who were not ordained, but giving full time to religious education or other church work, was brought to the attention of the Chaplains Committee. Seminaries promoting Religious Education Departments urged upon the Selective Service and the Chaplains Committee that these workers be exempted from the draft and be granted endorsement, if otherwise qualified, for the chaplaincy.

The buildup of chaplains was faster than anticipated. The Home Board reported 735 Southern Baptist chaplains on duty in 1943. The Chaplains Committee had endorsed 709 new candidates during the past year. By the end of 1944 there were 1,048 Southern Baptist Chaplains on duty, and 464 endorsements of candidates were made. A total of 1,254 Southern Baptists served as chaplains during the war.

Approximately 120 servicemen's centers were promoted throughout the Southern Baptist Convention territory by the Committee on Chaplains in Cooperation with state mission boards, associations, and local churches. Chaplains' retreats and conferences were started in conjunction with Home Mission Week at Ridgecrest. These grew in popularity and usefulness and were initiated in other places and have continued to the present.

It was recognized during the war years that in time of total mobilization the workers in military and industrial centers needed spiritual ministries. The Home Mission Board financially assisted some of these ministries and directed a Convention-wide pattern of work with these civilian industrial workers. The state mission boards, associations and local churches administered many of the programs and provided major portions of volunteer personnel and finances without government aid. After the war this work was reorganized and became known as Ministries to Military Personnel and the Civilian Chaplaincy.

Distinctive Southern Baptist doctrines and practices caused problems for some chaplains and the personnel whom they served. The traditional theological orientation of most Southern Baptists emphasized the central importance of the public invitation for individual and open commitment in a personal profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Many Protestant chaplains objected to this practice in a general Protestant or interdenominational service. The Lord's Supper was another issue which caused problems for some chaplains and the military personnel they served.

Many Southern Baptists, following the old "Landmark Baptist" tradition of "closed Communion," refused to serve the Lord's Supper to those not of a strictly limited church fellowship. Some limited this to Baptists within the membership of a local Baptist church. Others served only other Baptists "of like faith and order." Still others served baptized Christian believers, it being understood that proper scriptural baptism meant baptism by immersion on profession of one's personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior.

Some Southern Baptist chaplains may have been ungracious in an ecumenical congregation, and moreover initially the pertinent regulations were obscure. But soon the regulations were revised somewhat to help protect the conscientious scruples of the chaplains from undue pressure and criticism. Southern Baptist chaplains have usually been supported by the Chaplains Commission in such matters, and they are not urged to compromise in order to "get along" in the military environment. They have been urged to live in "cooperation without compromise."

Military chaplains on active duty have frequently aided foreign missionary work around the world. Commenting on one of his trips to Korea and Japan after World War II, Alfred Carpenter said, "Here as in former stops we sought to lay a foundation for new missionary programs of work, through our chaplains until missionaries could arrive. The program paid off abundantly."

In 1945 Carpenter reported 1,042 Southern Baptist chaplains on duty. The Home Board cooperated with six state mission boards in employing civilian workers outside the military camps.

An interesting insight is gained from the change of name of the Chaplains Committee to the Chaplains Commission. The Committee began using this new title in July, 1945, before it was officially authorized. In April, 1946, the minutes of the Committee recommended this change, and the board approved it. It was felt that the name "Committee" of the Home Mission Board did not carry implication of the original Convention mandate, and this is why the new title "Chaplains Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention" was preferred. This action may indicate an inclination to see itself as a Commission with power or authority to act in administrative, legislative, or judicial matters, rather than to accept a lesser role of a committee to consider, investigate, or report on certain things. Anyone who understands organizational principles recognizes the significant difference between a committee and a commission. Even today this body is technically a division of the Home Mission Board, but it has not completely given up the title of Chaplains Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. It obviously, and rightly so, prefers a direct connection with the larger parent body, the Southern Baptist Convention, rather than a mere committee or division relationship within a subordinate Board of the Convention.

From the End of World War II to the Present

As World War II ended, Southern Baptists gave more attention to the Veterans Administration chaplaincy and military reserve chaplaincy. The Chaplains Commission endorsed over fifty applicants for service as chaplains in Veterans Administration hospitals. The Army and Navy Reserve chaplaincy program was in such condition that annual endorsement was required beginning in November, 1946.

In 1947 the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention took an action that indicated a desire to have some continuing cooperative relationship with the General Commission on Chaplains of the Federal Council of Churches. In response to an appeal by the General Commission for funds toward the purchase of a headquarters building in Washington, the Executive Committee granted $10,000 for this project. This was a tangible evidence that their "Consultative Membership" was to amount to more than mere words of a sideline observer.

In May, 1949, the director of the Chaplains Commission was appointed by the President of the United States to serve on the President's Committee on Religion and Welfare in the Armed Forces. This committee cooperated in reactivating the reserve program for military chaplains. As a result of their recommendations new manuals were written and regulations were printed clarifying the chaplaincy. Numerous projects were promoted by this committee to lead the public to accept the necessity of a large military establishment over a long period of time.

The significant point here is that the government formed and used a committee of churchmen, including a key Southern Baptist figure, to influence public opinion to accept and cooperate with a state issue which might have been in conflict with an ethical viewpoint widely held by a large portion of the Christian population of our citizenry. It is to be remembered in this connection that Isaac Backus, for example, did not support the concept of a large peacetime army, and neither did many other Baptists of his time and since.

In the 1949 Convention a recommendation was adopted which recognized the Chaplains Commission of the Home Board "as having all the powers and responsibilities committed to the Chaplains Committee by the Convention in 1941." Here very clearly emerged the significance of "Commission", with "power" and "responsibility", as compared with the contrasting concept of a powerless "Committee" or sub-division of another general board. The implications of this concept need more study and investigation. At that 1949 Convention the Chaplains Commission made a separate report to the Convention. This practice was continued regularly until 1969. Although the Chaplains Commission is not listed as one of the Commissions of the Southern Baptist Convention since 1969, its report has been presented at the annual session as a part of the Home Mission Board's report.

Alfred Carpenter stated in his 1950 report to the Southern Baptist Convention that the Chaplains Commission had projected a twofold emphasis during the year: the first was to intensify its program to meet the spiritual needs of a peace-time military establishment; the second was to adjust its policies in keeping with the rapid transition within the military, both in procedure and personnel. The Commission launched an ambitious program with seven goals:

...(1) to intensify the active duty chaplains' spiritual ministry to a peace-time military establishment; (2) to assist the chaplain in his expanding ministry to dependents; (3) to correlate the chaplains' work with the evangelistic and missionary projects of our Convention; (4) to strengthen our Baptist position with official Washington; (5) for the Commission to maintain closer contact with our chaplains; (6) to endorse well-qualified preachers in the younger age bracket for the chaplaincy; and (7) maintain a larger backlog of reserve chaplains.

The outbreak of the Korean Conflict in 1950 proved to be unpopular with the average citizen, and soon enlistments of new chaplains came to a standstill.

Because few preachers volunteered it was necessary to recall practically every qualified reserve chaplain to active duty. Those who had served through World War II and in the reserve chaplaincy program and settled with their families in pastorates had to be uprooted and sent to war again. Some of these adjusted readily and responded to the requirement without protest; some rebelled and were bitter at having to leave their churches and families under these circumstances.

The director of the Chaplains Commission joined a Defense Orientation Conference with a group of selected distinguished civilians to make a tour of the Pentagon and key defense installations. The purpose of the orientation conference was to test and select men the government could call upon in case of another war. This is the same kind of conference which was highly publicized by the television documentary "The Selling of the Pentagon" in 1971, the real purpose of which was to win friends and influence the opinions of important people in favor of the Pentagon's objectives and purposes. Carpenter evidently felt no compunctions of conscience and did not hesitate to be a part of such a government program and even to serve as chaplain for two of the groups making the grand tour. He evidently felt that he as a clergyman was not being inappropriately "used" by the government in giving the sanction of the church to such war-making public relations efforts of the state.

In the report of the 1953 Convention, Director Alfred Carpenter again stated that chaplains at home and abroad often helped to establish mission stations and organize local Baptist churches.

By the close of the Korean Conflict the average citizen realized that America would probably have a large military establishment for a long time to come, and the denomination acquiesced in the assumption that the chaplaincy was a permanent ministry which has a large part in its total ministry. The Chaplains Commission's report stated: "The chaplains were our best public relations men—missionaries.... The denomination began to adjust its program to this concept with the Home Mission Board leading."

Many chaplains called out from the reserve force for the Korean Conflict remained on extended active duty. Many who previously had reservations about the military and the chaplaincy came to believe that a large permanent military establishment is a fact of life. Tensions, issues, and problems existed and could not be denied, but these were forced into the background because of expediency, necessity, and lack of any other visible alternative in the nuclear age. The former image of the military chaplain as the preacher for men in a temporary combat situation was replaced by a much broader concept of military chaplaincy as including ministry to dependents, women, children, youth programs, Sunday Schools, religious education, summer camps, retreats, a full program of family parish activities, counseling, and cooperation with local missionaries, hospitals, and orphanages. All of these vastly increased programs naturally brought a great increase in facilities, equipment, and funds provided by the government for use by the chaplains.

Southern Baptist seminaries started offering practical courses for students and others interested in the chaplaincy. These courses proved popular and profitable as more and more theological students were interested in the military chaplaincy or some form of the civilian chaplaincy as a career field.

The 1955 minutes of the Convention noted a resolution calling on the government to provide for the West Point Military Academy "a religious ministry in the same manner as provided for all other Army Posts and military organizations." The protest was not directed against compulsory attendance but against the fact that there was an established denominational civilian chaplaincy for the cadets rather than a military chaplaincy as at other non-academy installations. Even so, the protest was very mild, and not much was done to follow up on the idea. Eighteen years later the compulsory attendance requirement was ruled unconstitutional, but the established civilian cadet chaplaincy remains, and Baptist protests are muted.

The Home Mission Board was reorganized on January 1, 1959, with the Chaplains Commission becoming a division of work within the Home Mission Board—the Division of Chaplaincy. Thus, it became one more step removed from the one Convention agency which had primary responsibility for church-state relations. Concurrently with this step certain other aspects of chaplaincy ministry were structured.

In addition to the Military Personnel department, the Department of Institutional and Industrial Chaplaincy was organized. The hospital chaplaincy was included along with the other forms of chaplaincy ministry; thus the military chaplaincy became one among several forms of chaplaincy ministry. Some of these other forms of chaplaincy ministry were paid by government funds (either federal, state, or municipal), and some were paid by private corporations or industries; but few, if any, were paid for by the denomination.

A second objective of the Ministries to Military Personnel Program was "to minister to military personnel and their dependents, through a church contact program." To assist in the fulfillment of this objective, the Commission assisted in the employment of a civilian military personnel director where there is a heavy concentration of military and military-related personnel. Willis Brown has described such a director as a "full-time missionary, serving in the civilian community near the military installation, appointed and supported by the Home Mission Board in cooperation with the state Baptist convention and the Baptist association in which the installation is located." To the attentive and observant student of the history of the Southern Baptist Chaplaincy this practice can be readily compared with a precedent set many years before during the Civil War and during World War I; that is, the denomination provided funds and supervision for civilian missionary-chaplains to minister the gospel in a military environment.

It has been noted in this study that there have always been repeated questions about the propriety and advisability of Baptist participation in government-paid chaplaincies. As another example of this viewpoint toward the Southern Baptist chaplaincy ministry, a study by Tracy Early in 1959 should be cited. He proposed that Southern Baptists withdraw from the military chaplaincy. Although this was not presented for action by the Southern Baptist Convention, and no agency of the Convention took action on it, still it is worthy of note as an instance of recurring uneasiness over the denomination's involvement in the military chaplaincy.

Tracy Early was a graduate of Baylor University in the class of 1954 and of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1957. He volunteered for the United States Army chaplaincy and served for two years at Fort Bliss, Texas, then requested discharge after coming to believe that the military chaplaincy was not the best way of ministering to military personnel. He sent a copy of a paper he wrote on this subject to the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, Washington, D.C., and to Albert McClellan, Associate Secretary of the Executive Committee, and to James Tull, Professor of Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Early's paper is an honest and forthright presentation of some of the problems and tensions which are all too often covered up, minimized, or denied in denominational circles. He mentions some of the disadvantages from the viewpoint of the chaplain:

One is that he must work under the control of a commanding officer and of a supervising chaplain.... Further, a chaplain's promotions depend upon how well he pleases his superiors.... The chaplain has another disadvantage in that he does not have all like-minded laymen working with him in his chapel program.... Other disadvantages to the chaplain include being moved too often to be able to build a solid program, holding officer rank which puts something of a barrier between him and enlisted men, and having to spend too much time in administrative work in some assignments.

Second, the military chaplaincy has disadvantages from the viewpoint of the needs of the Baptist lay serviceman. Army religion is second best at best.... A further problem is the Sunday School, an agency that means much to Southern Baptists.... A serious weakness of Army religion is that the layman has no responsibility for its support. All chaplains are paid by the government, all chapels are built by the government, and all utilities and other requirements are provided by the government.... The religious life tends to be clerical in its emphasis rather than congregational.

Third, to have Baptist preachers paid by government tax money is directly contrary to Baptist principles. We believe that religious groups should support themselves, and that citizens should not be taxed to pay for religious ministries in which they may or may not believe. In participating in the military chaplaincy we have forsaken this principle for the sake of expediency.... In the armed forces we have an established church. That it is not an establishment of one particular denomination but of all makes it no less an establishment. The separation of church and state is a crucial issue in the United States today.

In this paper Early suggested that there are better ways of ministering to armed forces personnel. He suggested that Southern Baptist life would be strengthened if chaplains were withdrawn from the military forces and the denomination promoted a comprehensive program to enlist all military personnel in local churches. At most installations and bases in the United States it would be no problem for all local churches to take care of all our Baptist men who are now attending chapel services on the post. Already large numbers are doing this on their own initiative and choice. And the military personnel in these churches are making a significant contribution to the Baptist life through them. The same thing could be said for many churches of other denominations. The Division of Chaplaincy's Military Personnel Ministries program, already in being, could be expanded by vigorous efforts of local churches and associations to do the job that needs to be done. Early acknowledged that in spite of a different situation overseas, even there, in most places, English speaking Baptist churches could effectively minister to Baptist military families and personnel; and they could make a great contribution to such churches by their participation. He noted that in 1958 the Southern Baptist Convention approved a recommendation of the Survey Committee that the Foreign Mission Board expand its efforts to place English speaking churches in major cities throughout the world. He added:

This ministry which is needed for business people, students, and tourists could be broadened to include a ministry to military personnel. Many of these churches will be self-supporting. But if financial assistance were necessary, Baptists would feel better about paying it than having their ministers paid by tax money as is now the case with chaplains. Most will acknowledge that a denomination unwilling to pay its own way has no right to be heard.

This program would mean that some of our military people would be without a Baptist ministry because many posts are too small to have a church. An itinerant ministry would reach most of these places occasionally. But if that were impossible the situation would be no different than at present when there are not enough Baptist chaplains to have one accessible to every man. It might be an advantage in some of these places to have the men rely on lay leadership for worship services, reminding them and us all that religious life is not dependent on the clergy.

In wartime we would need to appoint special ministers to move around with the constantly shifting forces. Many details would need to be worked out, but in principle ministers could operate on the same basis as civilian war correspondents who go most of the places the servicemen go.

Many avenues of approach could be used. Many new ways would become apparent as we approached the task. Problems would remain, of course, and there would be some disadvantages to this approach, but the situation could be worked out so as to be more satisfactory than at present.

In view of the disadvantages of the present situation, the contradiction of our principles in the idea of a tax-supported ministry, and the evident possibility of rendering this ministry more effectively on a local church basis, it seems advisable that Southern Baptists withdraw from participation in the military chaplaincy.

Early accepted advice not to submit his paper for publication or as a resolution at the Southern Baptist Convention. But he still felt that Southern Baptists were rationalizing "this union of church and state." He also noted that the implications of the military chaplaincy phase of Southern Baptist work had far-reaching consequences on other fields such as the chaplaincy in government hospitals and prisons. His central points of concern were the principle of separation of church and state and the best of all possible arrangements for Baptists to perform effective spiritual ministries.

Most Baptists never heard of such statements and proposals from chaplains, and since the Korean conflict Southern Baptists have accepted not only the idea that a large military establishment is here to stay for a long time to come, but they have come to accept a new and greatly enlarged concept of the chaplain's ministry and responsibilities. Many of these responsibilities include a wide range of pastoral duties, such as family-centered ministries, youth work with dependents, Sunday Schools, much more counseling, hospital and stockade work, evangelism, missions, etc. This is far removed from the original justification for the military chaplaincy to provide the minimum "Free Exercise" worship opportunities to soldiers conscripted and called away from their churches into a combat situation.

In the 107th Session of the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Atlantic City, NJ, on May 19-22, 1964, the Executive Committee reported the following budgets for the program of the chaplaincy:

1963    $100,841
1964     118,602
1965     126,000

It was also reported that there were 489 active and 526 reserve chaplains in military service; 97 in the Civil Air Patrol; 53 in VA hospitals; 87 in institutional and industrial plants; 121 in hospitals; and 29 seminarians (Staff Specialist Student Program or equivalent).

The Program of the Chaplaincy was one of fourteen programs of the Home Mission Board. It was described as follows:

… to include the board's ministries to and through the military chaplains, hospital chaplains, industrial chaplains and institutional chaplains; to the military personnel who are in service, and to camp areas that must have help from a Convention agency in ministering to military personnel and their families.

The Program Report of the Home Mission Board for that year sheds light on the denomination's concept of the person and mission of the chaplain:

The task of missions carries with it an eternal attitude that those who have not heard may have the opportunity to hear and those who are God's ambassadors on the behalf of Christ must go to all men beseeching them to be reconciled to God. The practical origin of missions springs from the very spirit of Christianity, and this compelling force causes the Christian to move out in Christ's name to bring every community to reconciliation with God. Here the chaplain comes to serve in what may be called the "greatest mission field," one's own community. The chaplain, in accomplishing his mission, remains a man of God, a pastor, a preacher, and is deeply concerned with the spiritual welfare of each person committed to his care. He ministers to the families of these men and women and bases his ministry on the need of Christ in every life and the importance of Christ's church in the growth of the Christian personality. He realizes that his work is an extension of the church's pastoral ministry to those in the military, hospitals, institutions, and industry.

Such statements are in accord with many other pronouncements of the denomination expressing concern for the cause of missions and the urgency of reaching as many persons as possible with the Gospel of Christ wherever they are. It indicates that the basic task of the chaplain is not unlike that of any other pastor, missionary, or minister of the gospel.

The same report called the active duty chaplains and the Southern Baptist laymen and their families in the military "world missionaries" who contributed directly to the establishment of missions and churches in this country and in foreign lands. It mentioned that "the great majority of all English-speaking churches around the world are made up of these world missionaries."

In making an appeal for more young ministers to become chaplains in the military reserve programs, a similar attempt is made to state the mission of the reserve chaplain:

He remains pastor of a church, or in his present position, and at the same time serves his Lord and country as a chaplain. These chaplain-pastors are giving of their time and talents generously in order that the men of these reserve … units may have the moral and spiritual leadership needed to help them meet their obligations to their country and become finer, spiritually strengthened citizens.

It is statements about helping men to meet their obligations to their country and becoming better citizens that give some Southern Baptist chaplains a twinge of conscience. An essential issue is: chaplains serve Christ in the military primarily to help meet moral and spiritual needs so that military personnel can know Christ and serve God better as a child of God. Chaplains do not serve in the military primarily to help military personnel meet their obligations as finer patriotic citizens and more effective soldiers. Such statements are not isolated. They are repeated frequently enough to force some soul-searching questions and demand serious answers.

The 108th Session of the Southern Baptist Convention, which met in Dallas, Texas, June 1-4, 1965, reported that there were 1,522 Southern Baptist chaplains serving in all types of service. Of this number, 186 were serving on active duty in the Army, 123 in the Navy, and 162 in the Air Force. For the preceeding twenty-three years the Chaplains Commission had endorsed approximately 6,500 pastors to all fields of the chaplaincy. This is, of course, no small involvement.

The Director of the Chaplains Commission, George Cummins, wrote about a trip he made around the world as he visited chaplains, missionaries, military establishments and schools. He said that he saw first-hand "the outstanding contribution the chaplains … made to the cause of world missions." No concern whatever was expressed that this contribution to the cause of denominational missions was being made from a general tax income source out of the United States treasury. In fact, one searches in vain in the various Southern Baptist Annuals and other publications for any reference at all which indicates that this particular issue has ever been seriously faced. Apparently Baptists have neglected to ask if it is appropriate or consistent to do missionary work by the chaplain-missionary who is paid by the government to do this job for the church. All chaplains tend, naturally, to do whatever they can to support mission causes of their own faiths whenever they have opportunity to do so overseas or at home.

There was an interesting resolution which was prepared to be presented to the Southern Baptist Convention in Miami, Florida, May 30-June 2, 1967, which was never presented. The reason why it was not presented is unknown; nevertheless, the contents of the resolution are quite relevant to this present study and deserve consideration. It was prepared by a military chaplain, who will for the moment remain anonymous. It serves as another example of how many chaplains feel—yet are nevertheless dissuaded from speaking out more forcefully about similar matters. It compares in this respect with the position of Tracy Early which was presented above.

Here is the text of the chaplain's resolution which was to have been submitted to the Convention:

WHEREAS, there are reports of discrimination within the military services against chaplains who hold particular religious views,

THEREFORE, be it resolved, that this Convention:

1. Advise the Chiefs of Chaplains that we view with alarm any discrimination against any chaplain for his religious convictions;
2. Request the Chiefs of Chaplains to strengthen the respective regulations restraining commanders from interference in chaplaincy matters of doctrine or ceremony;
3. Instruct Southern Baptist chaplains and prospective chaplains that they are expected to stand for their convictions in spite of the pressure to conformity. Assure them that the Southern Baptist Convention will uphold their right to maintain their convictions within the military services.

This chaplain also prepared a statement in support of his proposed resolution. He did not, like Tracy Early, recommend withdrawal of Southern Baptist chaplains from the military chaplaincy program. This chaplain was calling attention to what he considered grave dangers to religious liberty in the present system. He had a problem in the administration of the Lord's Supper in the military chapel service which resulted in discrimination against him. Another problem was the mandatory use of the Unified Protestant Sunday School Curriculum material. He felt that there are many more Southern Baptist chaplains who have similar problems, and he suggested several reasons why more such cases do not come to the surface. He pled for Southern Baptists to make an official statement on behalf of the right of any chaplain to hold a particular religious conviction without penalty. He said that the Chaplains Divisions of the Home Mission Board did not plan to make a statement or take any action in response to his request.

It may easily be surmised that the statement by C. Emmanuel Carlson, Executive Director of the Public Affairs Committee, in the 1967 session of the Southern Baptist Convention, was in response to the above proposed resolution, a copy of which was sent to the Committee before the Convention met. The very language and phraseology are in many points identical. Carlson's statement was in many ways quite commendable; however, it must be noted that it was merely a part of the report of the Public Affairs Committee; it was not a resolution or approved action of the entire Convention body. It simply noted that this area "is raised periodically for attention" and that "several knowledgeable persons closely connected with the program have urged that a broadly based agency such as the Joint Committee on Public Affairs is needed for the constructive review of points such as those listed."

Apparently to this date such an official comprehensive review and study of the military chaplaincy with recommendations for Convention action has not been made. Part of a letter to the writer from James E. Wood, Executive Director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, Washington, D.C., dated October 27, 1972, is quoted in support of such action:

This subject is one of tremendous significance and is long overdue. As a matter of fact, at our biannual October meeting of the Baptist Joint Committee I proposed that we give serious study to the question of the military chaplaincy in one of our future religious liberty conferences, perhaps combining it with our concern for the whole area of civil religion in America, which is so intimately related to the military establishment and government sponsorship of religion in recent years.... Up to this time we have not really had any position papers dealing with the military chaplaincy prepared by or for the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs. This does not mean that we have not been genuinely interested in the subject, but rather it does indicate that the Baptist Joint Committee has not previously come to the point of giving it specific attention. There is strong feeling among some of the Joint Committee, and I share this feeling, that we must address ourselves to the subject of the military chaplaincy in the immediate future.

Questions and problems regarding the military chaplaincy and church-state relations keep coming to the surface from various quarters of the Southern Baptist Convention, and everyone acknowledges that they must be faced seriously and dealt with impartially by a competent, broadly-based Convention body which has no vested interests in the outcome. Yet, as the years pass without specific action on the denomination's involvement in the military chaplaincy, it continues to become more extensive, entrenched, and accepted without question. Consequently, change in the style of ministry to armed forces personnel becomes increasingly more difficult to achieve.

Several significant actions pertaining to the military chaplaincy were taken at the 1967 session of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Home Mission Board reported an increasing investment in the chaplaincy division program as follows:

1966    $147,923
1967     184,700
1968     186,000

The Board reported that approximately 600 military chaplains served on active duty, and that nearly 60,000 Southern Baptist youth entered and left the military annually at that time. In 1966 there were 258 active duty army chaplains, 161 active duty air force chaplains, and 170 active duty navy chaplains. A continuing buildup is indicated by the fact that on January 1, 1967, Southern Baptists had 849 military chaplains serving on active duty, including approximately 100 in Vietnam. They continued to meet all the quotas given by the government. In addition to those serving on active duty, hundreds of Reserve, National Guard, and Civil Air Patrol chaplains served in the local units of those organizations while maintaining their full-time civilian ministries.

The report of the Public Affairs Committee for the 1967 session gave considerable attention to the church-state discussion of the military chaplaincy. The report by C. Emanuel Carlson, Executive Director, stated candidly and forthrightly that "religious work in the military never was 'disestablished'." It continued:

During the past several months we have also had a mounting concern for broader consistency than has been customary in church-state discussions. We have pointed out that the church-state policies of the military are distinctive to the military.... The call for "consistency" is understandable. If there are differences that are justified these should be spelled out....

Carlson then addressed specific issues and policies pertaining to the military chaplaincies. He mentioned that these are raised periodically by persons involved in some way in the programs, inasmuch as the general public is not sufficiently close to the problems to open them. He explained that he did not wish to be either definitive or exhaustive in approaching these issues, but he raised the following issues:

In view of the United States Supreme Court's favorable references in the Schempp case, the military chaplaincy now is seen as necessary to the free exercise of religion in the Armed Forces. With this encouragement "church" and "state" are cooperating in a very large and increasingly comprehensive religious program for service personnel.

It seems timely to attempt to state certain basic premises upon which such cooperation between the Government and the religious bodies of the United States can be maintained. The following outline is currently under study by the Joint Committee:

(1) Religion in the military must be in all respects a voluntary matter. Participation in the various opportunities and activities must be a discretionary matter with each individual serviceman.

(2) The program must respect and provide for the religious plurality in American life, making no attempt to achieve conformity or to mold or mix distinctive doctrines or worship practices.

(3) There must be recognition of the continuing and residual church responsibility of chaplains exercised by appropriate civilian religious authority.

(4) The religious content of the chaplaincy program is not properly a government responsibility nor is it the responsibility of senior supervisory chaplains who are military appointees in their supervisory capacity. There must be recognition that certain areas of chaplaincy administration overlap the vital concerns of the churches. The regular and formal advice of official representatives appointed by the churches is necessary to the proper administration of these areas. Among these subjects are the Unified Sunday School Curriculum, chapel auxiliary organizations, religious retreats, chaplains' professional seminars, and stewardship promotion through the various activities.

Several knowledgeable persons closely connected with the program have urged that a broadly based agency such as the Joint Committee on Public Affairs is needed for a constructive review of points such as those listed.

This lengthy but very significant and important statement contains many points which will be addressed later in this study.

It is interesting to note that during the order of business of the 1969 session of the Southern Baptist Convention at New Orleans, Louisiana, there was no separate "Chaplains Commission" report as previously on the program. It was incorporated in the regular Home Mission Board report and has been handled that way ever since. Whether this represents a "downgrading" of emphasis or importance given to this subject, or a more manifest subordination to the Home Mission Board, or merely an effort to conserve time, is a matter of conjecture.

Early in the session considerable discussion ensued over a proposed resolution on conscientious objectors. This is the text of the resolution:

WHEREAS, the United States Selective Service system has made provisions whereby persons who for reason of religious conviction may be exempted from personal participation in military service, and

WHEREAS, the Southern Baptist Convention and other denominations have already established procedures whereby such conscientious objectors to military service may register their objections and be so certified by their denomination, and

WHEREAS several conscientious objectors within the Southern Baptist Convention have already availed themselves of such registration;

THEREFORE, be it hereby Resolved, that the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in New Orleans, June 13, 1969, reaffirm our position last taken in 1940 that those who for reasons of religious conviction are opposed to military service should be exempted from forced military conscription, and

Be it further Resolved, that we state that this does not imply approval or support of any citizen who refuses to accept the full obligation of responsible citizenship.

On the voice vote the presiding officer ruled that the motion passed, but the results were in doubt, and a ballot was taken. Later the secretary reported that the motion by ballot to adopt the resolution lost. A delegate from Georgia made a motion that the number of ballots for and against the resolution be reported, but the motion was ruled out of order for lack of unanimous consent and lack of time to schedule later consideration. Porter Routh, Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Executive Committee, asked if failure to adopt the resolution had any effect on the Convention action in 1940 relating to conscientious objection to military service. The parliamentarian expressed the opinion that it had no bearing on the previous action of 1940. All this maneuvering and discussion revealed the deep division and strong emotional feelings which existed over this matter. Some of the messengers registered and voting had sons and members of their churches who were sincere conscientious objectors to participation in the unpopular Vietnam War, and it was a personal and crucial issue to them. Others were zealous and extreme "super patriots" who could not understand how some Christians could have valid and sincere religious and moral reasons of conscience for objection to the Vietnam War.

As in previous years the investment in dollars indicated continuing support for the work of the division of chaplaincy within the Home Mission Board. The following detail of program expenditures was given:

1968     $197,645
1969      260,000
1970      270,000

There were 688 chaplains on active duty in the military and 561 additional ministers in reserve programs of the military. All quotas for the military chaplaincy were filled, and no vacancies were expected until July 1969.

The annual session of the Southern Baptist Convention which met in Denver, Colorado, June 1-4, 1970, marked the one hundred twenty-fifth year since the organization of the Convention in Augusta, Georgia, in 1845. The report of the Executive Committee proposed the '73–'79 Programming Objectives and Emphases which contained a '75–'76 theme "Sharing Christ by Proclaiming Liberty", and certain emphases under this theme included religious freedom, liberty, patriotism, and church-state relations.

The Home Mission Board's report on the program of Chaplaincy ministries for that year indicated that all quotas for the military chaplaincy were filled and due to the cutback in military personnel, some chaplains were coming to inactive duty.

As an additional item it was reported that in cooperation with the Arkansas Baptist State Convention a state director of chaplaincy ministries had been serving during the past year, on the state convention staff, promoting the work of the chaplaincy. This included all forms of the chaplaincy—military, hospital, industrial, and institutional. It was expected that other state conventions would add such a worker to their staffs in the future. This is an indication of another step to broaden the concept of the chaplaincy beyond the military field alone and also to move in the direction of more involvement of the various state conventions rather than leaving the work of the chaplaincy entirely to a centralized southwide agency. This is a return to the successful pattern which was widely practiced during the Civil War and at intervals since then.

A national survey conducted by the Research and Statistics Department of the Sunday School Board indicated that the three most important moral issues facing Americans today were thought by this cross section of Southern Baptists to be race relations, crime, and war. Accordingly, special emphases and some special days were devoted to such topics as race relations, Christian citizenship, the national crisis, and peace. These actions indicated that, although the Christian Life Commission did not deal specifically with the military chaplaincy, it definitely approached some of the related issues. These and some other issues must be addressed and dealt with in Part II of this study.

The 1970 report of the Baptist Public Affairs Committee also contained many such related issues which will be addressed later in this study. Some of the issues which have implications in the general area of a denominational stance toward the military chaplaincy of the future are as follows: the nature and program responsibilities of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, religious liberty and public affairs, the First Amendment to the Constitution, problems of church-state relations, activism in public affairs, taxation of church property, public funds for private and parochial schools, militarism and national priorities, participation with other denominations in their dealings with government, emerging patterns of rights and responsibilities affecting church and state, taxation of income of churches, contributions to interfaith and interdenominational understanding, conscientious objection, and religion in the military chaplaincy.

The final Annual of the Southern Baptist Convention which will be examined for relevant material on this survey of Southern Baptist Chaplaincy to military personnel is the 1972 Annual covering the one hundred fifteenth session held June 6–8, 1972, at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It must be remembered that most of the reports and information in this 1972 Annual cover projects, programs, activities, and statistics through the calendar year 1971. Most of the more current information, developments, and study of related issues in their present contexts will be addressed in Part II of this dissertation.

It was early in this session that O.K. Armstrong, from Missouri, presented a resolution on the military chaplaincy. Copies of such resolutions are not printed in the Annual or proceedings until they are referred to the Resolutions Committee and reported back from that committee to the entire convention body for action. Sometimes when the resolution is reported back from the Resolutions Committee it is in a form somewhat different from the resolution as originally presented from the floor. In cases in which the resolution is referred to another convention agency for further study and action as it deems proper, the wording of the original resolution may never be reported in writing to Southern Baptists. Such is the convention procedure in dealing with resolutions from the floor. In this case the chairman of the Resolutions Committee later moved that this resolution on the military chaplaincy, by O.K. Armstrong, be referred to the Home Mission Board "for such action as it deems appropriate." The motion to refer passed. Through the courtesy of one of the members of the resolutions committee a copy of Armstrong's original resolution has been obtained and is here reproduced:

WHEREAS, the military chaplains serve an important role in the lives of the men and women of our armed services, in spiritual and moral counseling and guidance.

WHEREAS, Southern Baptists have supplied and are supplying a considerable quota of the ministers who enter this chaplaincy, and Southern Baptists are interested in maintaining the highest possible standards for armed services chaplains and the maximum effectiveness for their ministry among all those serving our country in uniform, whether in time of war or peace; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that this 1972 session of the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Philadelphia, request the Division of Chaplaincy, an agency of the Home Mission Board, to consult with like agencies of other denominations to give serious consideration to the following suggested reforms:

1. That military chaplains no longer be considered commissioned officers of the United States armed services with military rank, but rather as spiritual and moral advisers and leaders for the personnel of the armed services to which they may be assigned.

2. That the salaries of military chaplains be paid by the denominations selecting and sponsoring them, in the spirit of the constitutional separation of church and state.

3. That military chaplains be selected by the denominations, as at present, subject to approval by the chaplaincy division of the armed services, as representatives of the denominations with which they are affiliated, but assuming the moral and spiritual leadership for all personnel to which they may be assigned, and given the status and respect due their responsibilities in service to the military personnel as prescribed in regulations of the armed services.

Signed:O.K. Armstrong
University Heights Baptist Church,
Springfield, Mo.

The Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Executive Committee, Porter W. Routh, on June 13, 1972, wrote an official letter to Arthur B. Rutledge, the Executive Secretary of the Home Mission Board concerning this resolution. Rutledge, in turn, gave verbal instructions to James Kelly, Director Chaplaincy Division, to make a study, written report and recommendations. On November 2, 1972, Kelly completed his study and recommendations for Rutledge.

The highlights of his report included the following points. He supported the assignment of rank to military chaplains. He said that the uniform provides the chaplain the necessary identification with the men. He supported the rationale of the chaplain's presence in the armed forces to provide the opportunity of military personnel to free exercise of their religion. Chaplain Kelly felt that there are adequate safeguards in the present system against an establishment of religion. He implied that the denomination could not pay the costs of salaries for its chaplains on active duty. He concluded that alternatives for the present system are not feasible and that the present system does not constitute a crippling limitation of the freedom of the chaplain's ministry. The Home Mission Board accepted his report recommending the continuation of the inherent "accommodation" and "cooperation" with the government in the present system and that no convention action be taken.

The above is a fair statement of the way many Southern Baptists presently have thought about the chaplaincy. If presented for consideration at some session of the Southern Baptist Convention in the near future it probably would be adopted in lieu of a resolution like that proposed by O.K. Armstrong. There is a minority, however, which opposes the present Home Mission Board position for various reasons, not only for what it states, and the way it states some points, but for what it fails to state. Still more would favor some changes in the present military chaplaincy system if a widely representative committee from the whole denomination would make a thorough study of all the implications and issues involved, report them, and then propose some reforms. Nevertheless, without such a major study by a distinguished committee to provide the necessary insight, logic, and leadership, change will likely be slow in coming. Most Baptists simply lack the information and understanding of the facts and issues involved to be able to make an intelligent and consistent decision on such a complex problem.

One complex question which reappears constantly in such a study as that undertaken in this chapter concerns the reason for Baptists' habitually avoiding a strict separationist position on the military chaplaincy while they espouse separationism in their pronouncements on other issues. There is something in their ethos, traditions, and theology which has compelled them to engage vigorously in support of wars which they considered to be in defense of freedom. This might be considered by some to be a blind spot regarding church-state separation. Or, on the other hand, it might be considered a passionate devotion to causes which they consider vital to the protection and preservation of religious freedom, which is even more precious to Baptists than strict separation of church and state. Therefore, in the wars of the United States which Baptists have so strongly supported they may have been demonstrating their overwhelming concern for freedom by giving their men for combat and their ministers for the chaplaincy. This ethos is part and parcel of Southern Baptist tradition today. This paramount concern for liberty over strict separationism is reflected not only in the military chaplaincy but also in other contemporary issues which will soon be addressed.

Certain trends and images are beginning to come into focus, but before an attempt is made to write a position statement on the future chaplaincy, a more detailed study of the present Baptist position on related issues will be made.