Must U.S. Military Chaplains Believe In God to be Ordained?

[Tiltyred]

My experience growing up as a Navy brat and living mostly on military bases was that there was a Catholic chaplain and a Protestant chaplain, and you got whatever flavor of Protestant that chaplain happened to be, whether Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, etc. That was about it, for chaplains.

 

[Bamboo]

I saw my mom so I mentioned it off hand.

She said she was trained in a variety of faiths and carried a book of various bits of wisdom and quotes to cover all the bases.

With protestants you could pretty much just do whatever. With catholics you had to be a little more involved in the ceremony. She said she performed an impromptu funeral service for a Catholic man, complete with oils and blessings. Apparently the family seemed to think she did a good job.

I don't really see why a chaplain needs to be the same faith as you are to perform their job.