When statistics proclaim the prevalence of Christians in the military and in the chaplaincy, the first question that comes up concerns those of minority faiths (in which we include, of course, atheists and others of no faith). But the commissioning of Chaplain Dyer underscores another question: in a unit that is in all likelihood mostly Christian, how effective can a non-Christian chaplain be? The same applies to sailors on a ship with Navy Buddhist Chaplain Shin. Yes, anecdotal evidence suggests that the Buddhist population in the US is growing, but there are no hard numbers. Just as there are no hard numbers of how many service men and women are Buddhists. So can Buddhist chaplains offer meaningful support to their Christian troops? Check out the video to hear what Chaplain Dyer has to say about that.
Not that Chaplain Dyer is the first chaplain who needs to find ways to relate to people of radically different faiths. During his deployment in Afghanistan, Chaplain Kurt Bishop was the only clergy around when Muslim patients died in the field hospital. He is a Baptist, and, as you see in a related project for the Christian Science Monitor, the chaplain found ways to minister to these dying soldiers.
