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Originally Posted by Elspode
If Wicca, for example, is not specifically included in the Army Chaplin's handbook as an "official" religion, and therefore to be allowed, you can bet your sweet ass it will be *disallowed*, and therefore suppressed.
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i refuse to get into an argument about GWB's views on the issue, but to clarify - the military chaplaincy recognizes anyone's right to worship anything they want. the difficulty and some of the conflict stems from the military's inability to provide a chaplain for every faith group. a base only has a certain number of billets for chaplains and they are filled with, generally - 1 catholic priest and a couple protestants of various denominations, and if it is a very large base they may have a rabbi, and on rare occassions an imam.
LDS, orthodox, JW's, etc... are assisted in finding a like group in the local community or if there is a large enough group they will be provided a spot on base.
part of the reason that chaplains only fall into the basic categories of catholic, protestant, jewish, muslim, (and a few eastern orthodox) is primarily funding. if there are only X amount of slots allowed then it makes sense to fill them with an individual that can minister to the greatest number with a common faith. the second is educational/financial. chaplains are officers due to their educational background. the chaplaincy argued for years before admitting muslim chaplains because a catholic priest or Lutheran minister must spend years in formal education before entering the chaplaincy - to make sure that everyone was treated the same there was a requirement of an Master's of Divinity for any chaplain candidate - even for denominations that don't require one for ordination.
anyway - that is a little insight into the military chaplaincy and it's workings. i can assure you that a wiccan group (sorry i don't know the right terminology) has the right to worship even in the military. the only minority group that i am aware of having their requests rejected was a group of "satanists" (read drunken 19 y.o. jackasses that weren't practicing anything other than ruffling feathers) demanded that they be allowed to use the cross from the catholic service as part of their ceremony. the request was rejected with the caveat that if they could show proof of some organized group of likeminded individuals on base that a cross would be purchased specifically for their meetings in the next budget go 'round.