A year ago, he was a Pentecostal Christian minister at Camp Anaconda, the largest U.S. support base in Iraq. He sent home reports on the number of "decisions" -- soldiers committing their lives to Christ -- that he inspired in the base's Freedom Chapel.
But inwardly, he says, he was torn between Christianity's exclusive claims about salvation and a "universalist streak" in his thinking. The Feb. 22, 2006, bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, which collapsed the dome of a 1,200-year-old holy site and triggered a widening spiral of revenge attacks between Shiite and Sunni militants, prompted a decision of his own.
"I realized so many innocent people are dying again in the name of God," Larsen says. "When you think back over the Catholic-Protestant conflict, how the Jews have suffered, how some Christians justified slavery, the Crusades, and now the fighting between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, I just decided I'm done. . . . I will not be part of any church that unleashes its clergy to preach that particular individuals or faith groups are damned."
Larsen's private crisis of faith might have remained just that, but for one other fateful choice. He decided the religion that best matched his universalist vision was Wicca, a blend of witchcraft, feminism and nature worship that has ancient pagan roots...
Larson then applied to be the first Wiccan chaplain in the military, but that got him removed from Iraq and the chaplaincy. And it turns out that although Larsen was serving as a Pentecostal minister he was really in the midst of a long spiritual search.
1 comment:
I encourage those reading Liberalpastor's post to click the link and read the full story about former Chaplin Larson. The soldiers in Iraq are the poorer for having lost his ministry. Clearly there is no room for an honest journey of faith in the U.S. military! It is sad to hear him describe his journey as "a blunder". I hope he finds peace and happiness in his current life.
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