Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for May 30, 2010

Sometimes, in the midst of it all, it is sometimes good to stop … and relax and just do something for yourself. I know God doesn’t mind that. He (er she) doesn’t want you uptight. He (er she) wants you relaxed and ready .. Enjoy!

Another test of faith.

Episcopalian, without a doubt.

Chaplain is definitely a Unitarian…even if she doesn’t know it yet.

Or a practicing Pragmatist, from whatever preparation; all the Books don’t really prepare you for the reality of chaplaining in the trenches. Maybe she’s seen some Wiccans, who know of the Goddess (think Mother Nature, who’s NOT to be messed-with).

^Baslim; I like her too.

If God helps them who help themselves, then surely God should help them who help others.

I think that she’s a Christian Non-Scientist.

God, to me, always looks strangely like Alanis Morissette….(and sometimes like George Burns)

I took her to be a Christian with a sense of humour. Not as many of them as there should be …

this one made me cry….

Guys, she’s a chaplain dealing with a lot of very injured and dying, mostly young people. There is no minister of any faith who doesn’t deal with that on a daily basis and consequently have moments of doubt. All this ragging on her is not only stupid, it’s wrong. I know a lot of chaplains (military, hospital, nursing home) - and it wears on you after awhile. Give the woman a break. And the fact that she calls God “she?” Well, we’re all made in God’s image, no?

I like this minister, and aside from being certain she’s not Roman Catholic or Orthodox, it is utterly irrelevant what denomination she is, so quit with the snide remarks.

G-d bless those who’ve given everything for our nation .

She’s helping our troops. Who cares what subsection of the cult she hails from!

I’ve known Unitarian chaplains.

As far as I’m concerned, someone who volunteered to wear the uniform of our country, aiding and comforting the men and women of our armed forces, is ten times the person of any civvie idiot balancing a computer keyboard on his beer gut.

Free will? Jesus, Peter, Martin Luther had doubt. God did not make us puppets. What makes God great is that we come back to him after our doubt. This is also what makes Man divine..

SHEIK Loved your comment.

Actually, if the chaplain is going all Wiccan on us, surely she knows that God is currently dealing with a sucking chest wound in the Gulf of Mexico and/or busily arranging some appropriate karma for world-fraggers BP, Transocean and Halliburton. Who, ironically enough, are also the primary reason our military folks are dying and getting hurt. Especially Halliburton. “This side toward enemy”…

When individuals break the law, they go to jail. When countries break the law, we go to war with them. It’s long past time this world started figuring out how to handle it when multinational corporations break the law. Halliburton needs to go down. Hard. That whole company stinks on ice. They need to be dealt with.

I’ve seen discussions about how you refer to someone when you don’t know which sex they are: e.g., he/she, he(she), they (used as singular), and so on. The one I liked best was tey: “I asked for help, but tey wouldn’t give me any.”

Altho really they is the most acceptable, because it’s already in use.

Okay, enough with the sensitive soldiers already. We just had a week of reruns. Time to move one of these stories along. I’d love to see G.B. Trudeau take on the BP-Transocean-Halliburton corruption. Perhaps he could also point out the peculiar symmetry: 1989, just after eight years of a Big Oil-owned Republican administration: Exxon Valdez; 2010, just after eight years of a Big Oil-owned Republican administration: BP oil spill.

If we persist in electing Oily presidents, then we will continue to coat our coasts with oil.

My vote is for United Methodist. Our chaplains have this kind of empathy, strength of character, and imagination.

This Chaplain reminds me of one I knew back in ‘73-‘74 up on Shemya, Alaska. He was Episcopalian too. Serendipitously I met him again back in ‘86 at the Air Force Academy, at of all things, a wedding. Col. Thomas, I salute you and all Chaplains past and present. Please continue helping us stay connected to Her/Him. Thank you all for your service and thank you Mr. Trudeau for reminding us to remember on this Memorial Day weekend.

YOU ALL DEBATE THE CHAPLAINS RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD…HE/SHE OR WHAT DENOMINATION. MY QUESTION, WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND SHOULD IT CONCERN YOU? YOU DECIDE

sidl: AMEN TO THAT!!!!!!

plus4: WHO WOULD BE THE RIGHT PERSON????

When God made man, She was only joking, But now the jokes on Her.

=====

Hey, Captain Smokeblower!! I was on Shemya ‘66 to ‘67!

I first wondered why I had been assigned to this God forsaken place.

Then, I poked around a little, and found out Shemya was actually one of the more spectacular parts of God’s creation.

Was Boozer still around when you were there?

I loved that dog.

You can’t debate the Chaplain’s relationship to God without implying your own (non)relationship. Even those posters who object to GT’s bringing religion into his strip must at least be thinking about their relationship.

Why assume that the Chaplain’s “God” is both (1) all-powerful and (2) indifferent?

It’s much more likely that God is doing ALL SHE CAN and that she’s more than willing to help those who help themselves–AND help her–wrestle with this fabulous mess we call The World. God’s power over wars is like Obama’s power over the oil spill.

GT’s satire is compatible with such a benevolent, but less-than-omnipotent deity (or president).

When we hold God or “Nature” responsible for calamities, we’re letting ourselves (or BP) off the hook by blaming the image of an all-powerful God (or president). This kind of idolatry is very American; it allows us to be spectators instead of participants. (Compare “American Idol.”)

The Chaplain refuses to become a spectator. She keeps up a mental dialogue or quarrel with God (“Oh, God”) instead of turning God into an unresponsive idol. That’s why we admire her.

Maybe the Chaplain is “thinking”, “Why didn’t I give the lad his Last Rights when I had the chance?”

“Nature” (as in the Declaration of Independence “Nature and Nature’s God) makes hurricanes. Oil spills and wars take human intervention.(or screw ups)

The chaplain is cool, as many of them used to be, pre- office of “faith based” administration.(not all chaplains are “bible based”)

Seems like she could allow herself some compassion too.

If man/womankind is going to ignore her teachings and have stupid wars (and not take care of the planet), why should she bother. Nails are more important.

Although you might like to buy it, I don’t think the Hebrew gender of Spirit is for sale.

This is sweet and very sad.

I hope she gets decent caring human help.

How can chaplains survive all the stuff that war dumps on them?

Welcome back GT! (even if it’s only for today)

Memorial Day seems appropriate to show a death of a soldier and someone concerned for their loss, wounded with questions about the actions. Fine strip.

Joe’s right in that the HS seems more a reflection of a “Feminine” side to God. Comforter, nurturer, teacher of the saved. All fit a feminine role in that culture.

What is actually more likely is that both genders reflect aspects of God’s whole personality and that we “humanize” him with our limited capacity to understand he has ALL those aspects in spiritual form. That human weakness leads to seeing God as limited in gender or in his reasons for “bad” things to happen.

We all think we are God in one way or another (If you doubt it, read all our posts and smile at our pontifications.) and the bad things happen to tell us we aren’t God and we don’t get dessert every night, we don’t create indestructible oil rigs, we don’t elect perfect people, we don’t fight wars that “end all wars.”

We are fragile, momentary as mayflies, strong enough to see the truth and weak enough to scream that it can’t be true. We say we have all the answers even as God lets us put people in office from BOTH sides that immediately flop like a kid on his first dive into deep water. Meaning that neither philosophy is REALLY correct.

If not, there would be no Memorial Days. No lost friends, loves, relatives. Our perfect ideals would save the day.

Chaplain, we are being told we aren’t who we like to think we are. You aren’t God either, so don’t worry about carrying her burden. To borrow a phrase: “Bless ‘em if you got ‘em. Thank God for ‘em, if you don’t.”

Interesting that Larsen chose to sexualize God. Of course, the limitations of English almost force one to do that and the default (historically) is masculine. In many Christian traditions, God is held neutral; Jesus, obviously, is masculine; and the Holy Spirit is feminine. This works for me.

GT gets it right again. Chaplain is not having “doubts”, guys… she is affirming an inner suspicion. Go, girl!

Why does Henery’s unit shoulder patch change in the last pannel? Kinda reminds me of “Dick Tracy” continuity.

And now, back to religion…

Everybody give stebon a hand of dis-applause.

Just where do pull these gems of wisdom out of steb?

For all the comments, for all the arguments, for all the guessing as to which sect she belongs to, remember, in the end: Man created god.

If this was a Mark Trail cartoon, stebon would say something derogatory about Obama. If this was a Bugs Bunny comic, stebon would bring up Obama. If this was an article about making quilts, stebon would rant on Obama - what a bitter person he must be…

some interesting comments and interpretations today. But I have to point out to freeholder and others that Maloney is not dead – he’s been evacuated out (to Germany?) for treatment of his wounds. It doesn’t make a lot of difference, but it does make a difference.

Um, is “evaced out” supposed to be a euphemism for death? I took it literally that he was moved out alive to another facility.

Coyoty: yes, but Maloney took a turn for the worse, which is why they evac(uated) him away from the front lines.

Interesting… in all the, what, nearly 10 years we’ve been at war, we’ve barely addressed the lack of clinical psychiatric care provided our troops.

Now GT goes one deeper and attacks the chaplain burn-out issue.

Good one, G. Hurts like Hell, but thanks.

We all have God inside of us – we just need to act like we recognize that more often. God isn’t responsible for all the wars, greed, poverty, death, Gulf mess – we are. If we ever actually listened to God, we would hear that we need to clean up our act.

I like her but it is too bad she isn’t serving the one true God then she would know that HE always has her back.

One problem with the ministry, whether military or civilian, is they usually don’t have someone they can discuss their problems with. His comment “who’s got your back” is a lot more true than most people will ever realize.

As for not serving the one true God, I think she’s just trying to make a point. Plus if you study the original Hebrew, the names for God aren’t necessarily specific to one gender.