Chaplains can aid atheist soldiers

As a Unitarian Universalist, a religion that includes a sizable proportion of atheists and agnostics, I feel the need to respond to misperceptions in Daniel Akst's column about a request from some members of the military for atheist chaplains ["Apparently, the godless need chaplains too," Opinion, May 2].

Though Akst describes himself as an atheist, his view of atheism seems limited, and his lack of acknowledgment of organized religions that include atheists, such as Unitarian Universalism and Ethical Humanism, is surprising. Atheists think about the big questions of meaning and purpose just as much as other people do. Like all people, they need comfort and guidance in dealing with death and loss -- as well as foxhole fear -- and they welcome spiritual celebration in times of joy. Meeting these needs is what an atheist chaplain would do.

Akst suggests that it would be difficult for an atheist to meet the military's requirement for a chaplain to have a theology degree and to receive certification by a qualified religious organization. In fact, many of the nation's divinity schools, including Harvard and Yale, train Unitarian Universalist and Ethical Humanist ministers. Unitarian Universalism has two divinity schools of its own, Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago and the Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, Calif. And both Unitarian Universalism and Ethical Humanism train and certify chaplains.

Akst wonders whether godless chaplains who have left the military will be allowed to perform marriage services and whether their "houses of non-worship" would be tax-exempt. In fact, Unitarian Universalist and Ethical Humanist ministers do perform marriage ceremonies and their houses of worship are tax-exempt, just like those of other religious organizations.

Akst's dismissal of the spiritual needs of atheists and his ignorance of the well-organized religion of Unitarian Universalism, which is more than 300 years old, and Ethical Humanism, which has been around for more than 60 years in the United States, is unfortunate. He does a disservice to atheist men and women in the military.

Tom Pelletier, Stony Brook