In today’s free and perhaps even slightly over-technified world, it is not a problem to find enough books that would describe the activities of a military chaplain. Some were published by the chaplains themselves, others are published as authentic notes and memoirs. However, most of them concern the service of chaplains during their service in a state of war. We cannot find many memories or descriptions of their daily work in peacetime. This article offers an insight into the daily activities and routines as well as the obstacles that chaplains in the army have to overcome in their work. The basis for this work was a survey that was conducted among chaplains serving in the armies of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. A comparison of the chaplain services in our two countries is also interesting from the perspective of the differences in the approach of official documents framing the entire service.
The article is introduced by a brief historical insight into the emergence (renewal) of this service in the 1990s. Despite the differences in the approach of political elites and different starting positions, there are also common points. The first part, devoted to this topic, is followed by a description of the means used by our clergy. To illustrate the given issue, the article shares experiences of specific military chaplains in non-standard situations where they served together with their soldiers.
The current condition of pastoral work of military chaplains in the armies of the Czech Republic and Slovakia informs also on how far chaplains are willing to go in their offers to soldiers concerning education, spiritual life, accompaniment and relationships.
The article presents dilemmas of military ethics with an aim to list them and briefly describe. First, the author argues that even an extreme situation such as war can be reflected ethically. An ethical dilemma inherently lacks a good solution, only lesser ones or even bad. The initial act of war aggression opens the first dilemma. Other dilemmas are divided between every man’s dilemma and dilemma of commanders: do combatants fight voluntarily; how do we stay human; family vs. homeland; risking health and life; resentment over what was achieved; deciding between death or life; generals’ love of war; defense against a stronger aggressor; how to make war gentler; nuclear deterrence; possibility of neutrality; dilemmas of victory and defeat. There are two major academical sources: Michael Walzer, Just and Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument with Historical Illustrations, fifth edition, 2015 (Czech translation, 2019); and Donald A. Wells, ed., An Encyclopedia of War and Ethics, 1996. The article is written from the perspective of a military chaplain, hence it includes dilemmas for a chaplain: bearing weapon; political role of a chaplain; participating in aggression. In appropriate places, principles of humanitarian and war ethics, namely principles of distinction, humanity, proportionality and military necessity, are applied and explained. The following Bible texts shed light on the topic: Gen. 4:7; Exod. 20–21; Deut. 20; 2 Sam. 2; Joel 4; Mark 14; Luke 3:14; Jas. 4:1-2. Ethical dilemmas are presented on the background of philosophical and theological presuppositions which are summarized at the end of the article.