And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. (Numbers 10:9)
And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand. (Numbers 31:6)
And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand. (Numbers 31:6)
And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee. (Numbers 10:35)
And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns passed on before the LORD, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them. And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets. (Joshua 6:8-9)
Under God's covenant, no civil or military leader could call Israel's militia to war apart from the consent of the priests, for they blew the trumpets that mustered the troops, and they carried the ark of the covenant into battle.
In other words, those who studied and administered God's Law could exercise a veto over any military policy that did not conform to the Lord's ethical justification for war. This was a check on the power of kings and generals.
Contrast this with the chaplaincy of our armed services, which exists solely to support military policy and promote the morale of troops as they carry out that policy. Any chaplain who seriously flouts the overall purposes of any military action will forfeit his position, if not his life/freedom.
Think of the repercussions of a chaplaincy schooled in God's ethical principles of international conflict, who had the power over mustering the troops for deployment. Or who could halt inhumane operations by refusing to blow the trumpet that set the troops in motion.
Of course, this nation's leadership never intended chaplains to be anything more than counselors and cheer leaders for whatever cause that the armed forces happened to find themselves involved in. The pluralism of the Chaplain Corps of America's military guarantees that they will be nothing more.
The Chaplain Corps receives representatives of all religions (i.e., representatives of all gods) on an equal basis. A policy that declares all gods equal must also maintain none as supreme, including the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Since national policy disallows any god's claim to the title of supreme, the national government itself assumes the mantle of supremacy. As a result, all gods become tools of the state to promote official policy: "Do it for [your own particular] god and Country."
Sadly, many Christians have answered that call, naively thinking that god & Country referred to the God of Scripture. They become, rather, part of a machinery that despises the God of Heaven and sees all religion as subservient to its imperial ends.
As evidence of this, note the removal of a cross in a military chapel in Afghanistan (see here) or the Air Force's allocation of $80K to build a pagan chapel (see here). If you give it any thought, I'm sure you can point to many other examples in recent history.
Conclusion: A policy of religious pluralism will always emasculate those who should be the final arbiters of ethics in military matters.
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