The Soul of War
Krista Tippet and Chaplain Major John Morris on the effects that war has on faith and the spirit.
Introduction
Chaplain Major John Morris is a Methodist minister who has been serving for a parish in the National Guard since he was 23 in Minnesota. Since then he has served two tours of duty in Iraq and has been located in areas that have seen the most violent conflict. After his second tour, Morris started a support group to help rehabituate soldiers back into society. He came to the Speaking of Faith program to help bring awareness to the traumas of war and how they affect those involved.
The (Chaplain's) War On Terror
During his second tour in Iraq, Chaplain Morris was stationed in Fallujah, a hotspot of insurgent activity, during the Easter season. He recalled what he described as a powerful "hope of resurrection," surrounded by photos of soldiers killed in combat on the walls, and soldiers who were hoping that they will not meet the same fate. But was even more powerful to him than this was the wide range of religions that he encountered during his active duty. One event that he remembered vividly is helping Jewish soldiers organize a Passover meal with more than 400 soldiers taking part. He recalls one of the soldiers telling him that he never thought he would find a Christian helping him like that and responded to it by saying that he is not there to impart any beliefs, but to minister to whoever needs his help.
Chaplain Major John Morris
Looking at the fact that religion is taken very seriously by all of the soldiers in his company, he imagined how seriously the opposing forces were taking theirs with their country being invaded. Morris described the conflict in Iraq as a "war where you can't kill enough people to win," and that to win we must take their religious views very seriously. For example, searching through mosques, even if they were used by the insurgency, has consequences and can result in a "toxic understanding of religion" that could cost people their lives.
Bringing Our Heroes Home
After discussing his experiences in Iraq, Chaplain Morris focused on what happens to soldiers after they complete their tours. After a soldier has finished their last mission, the Army can have them shipped back and returned to their lives in less than 300 hours. In Morris's eyes this is nowhere nearly enough time. The lifestyle that they have been living in Iraq since being deployed seriously affects their spiritual lives, he says, and must be attended to. Avoiding this damage to a person's spiritual life can lead to the feelings of aloneness and depression that lead to post traumatic stress disorder. It was for this reason that he started his program to help give them that spiritual help. Part of the problem he feels, is that soldiers feel disassociated from the church and absolution because of the way certain churches express their disagreement with the war. To emphasize his point, he described a ritual that was used for returning knights in medieval times. Before the knights were allowed back into the village, the villagers all came out to meet the soldiers and re-baptized them, a practice that Morris thinks expresses the need to rehabilitate the souls of the returning. His program gives the soldiers the means to receive the psychological help they need and also help the families to cope with any changes in their loved ones behavior.
Dealing With The Change
To finish up their conversation, Ms. Tippet asked him if the old saying, "There aren't athiests in foxholes," was true. Morris responded that in his experiences the answer was that it was not. He did say, however, that there is a desire to learn more about the religion that they are up against. During his tour, Chaplain Morris said that he passed out Korans to his soldiers who were eager to learn about the Islamic faith. He also responded to this question by describing his near moments of disbelief. During one of the convoy trips he was on, he saw the charred remains of four American soldiers hanging on a bridge. He said that he was tempted to hate the enemy and even to go as far as thinking that they did not deserve to live on this earth and that "their time was up." But after reflection, he came to the conclusion that this was not the work of God, but of "fallen human beings," who have lost their way and instead prayed that to "save [him] and his soldiers from becoming like this," and to love his enemies.
