Maybe you’ve heard of this, but even if you haven’t, the story isn’t news. It is just another version of the now ancient tradition of justifying war through religious belief. We owe the latest version of this story to the US Military, which apparently is now assessing the “Spiritual Fitness” of its enlisted soldiers and can deem some unfit to serve if they lack religious conviction.

This concept has been picking up traction after a man named Sgt. Griffith took a mandatory US Army survey called “Soldier Fitness Tracker”. Apparently Sgt. Griffifth, due to his “non-believer” status, isn’t deemed fit to serve in the US Army. You can read more about how this was discovered in Chris Rhoda’s article in the Huffington Post or how it conflicts with the First Amendment by a popular take on the same story on Al Stefanelli’s blog. As Chris Rhoda, says, “Make no mistake: “Spiritual Fitness” is just a clever term concocted by the military to flagrantly violate the Constitution and promote religion.”

Wait, what?

When I first read these stories I was skeptical. I thought this is perhaps a misinterpretation of the US Military’s attempt to better gauge mental stability across the board. I mean, honestly, the US Military is blatantly promoting Christianity? That seems totally ridiculous since most people are still vaguely familiar with the First Amendment. I know that some Christians have used and are using their beliefs to justify war, but the US Military? In 2011? This has to be a total overreaction.

I started to do some research.

First, I went to the website of the United States Army Combined Arms Center, which explains the Comprehensive Solider Fitness survey. I discovered that this program is designed to evaluate “five dimensions of strength: physical, emotional, social, spiritual and Family.” The test will be standardized for everyone in the military and will help better gauge mental stability for combat/high stress situations.

Most of the men in my family are veterans. A lot of my friends have husbands who were in the military. Suffice to say, I am all for the US Military paying attention to mental stability and implementing methods to better support troops. They are giving up a lot and should be given the proper tools to work in the intense and unimaginable environments they are often placed in. But I do not support the US Military requiring people to “believe” in a “religion” in order to serve. And I do not support the idea of the military promoting one set of religious beliefs above another.

I started to look for clues to support what Chris Rhoda, Al Stefanelli and Sgt. Griffith were saying.

I tried to take this “Soldier Fitness Tracker” survey, but couldn’t because I am not in the military. I then started reading up on the spiritual dimensions of the test. The CAC website says the following about the spiritual dimension:  “Strengthening a set of beliefs, principles or values that sustain a person beyond family, institutional, and societal sources of strength.” It then provides a link to religious resources, which are  either explicitly Christian or use strong religious (of the Christian variety) language. One of the main links goes to a resource called, “Bible Studies.” There is also a quasi-interfaith list of religious services – all Christian, with the exception of one Jewish service. I know there are interfaith chaplains in the military, but this was the main website for a test that is standardized. There certainly was no link to Qur’anic Studies.

Does it say on this website that one has to be Christian, or religious, to serve in the military? No. But there is a clear link between strength and spiritual health. And there is a clear link between spiritual health and Christianity. My evening’s worth of research did not determine if people will be turned away from the military if they are “non-believers” but it was certainly concerning. For those who are still interested, Al Stefanelli wrote an excellent follow-up story to his initial post, which contains a lot of additional research.

I, as a Christian, don’t think my faith, or any faith, should be used to justify war. I think the faith tradition can help with mental stability, but that should be the option of the individual, it should not be involuntarily mandated. There is a line between allowing people to have their convictions, and promoting certain belief systems over others views. Especially by a military body that is under a government that allegedly maintains a separation between church and state. It seems this line has been crossed.  In the recent and hopeful days just after DADT was repealed, I find it extremely concerning to learn a of this form of discrimination within the US Military.