Michael Paddy – Module Eight Written Assignment – CHPL500

Importance of the Geneva Convention and Chaplains Who Are Prisoners of War

Chaplains who serve in the military must inevitably understand that their service to God

and country may have them in the ultimate duty of serving during war time even in the midst of

the conflict. The chances of a chaplain being taken prisoner must also be understood as a

possibility. The Geneva Convention makes provision for such inevitability. The chaplain must

understand his role not only as it pertains to God and country but also to his enemy captors and

his continuing role in service to the men under his watch and care. The Geneva Convention

addresses that role.

The Geneva Convention – The Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties formulated

in Geneva, Switzerland, that set the standards for international law for humanitarian concerns.

They chiefly concern the treatment of non-combatants and prisoners of war. The Conventions

were the results of efforts by Henry Dunant, who was motivated by the horrors of war he

witnessed at the Battle of Solferino in 1859. In 1977 and 2005 three separate amendments were

made part of the Geneva Conventions. As of 2 August 2006, the Geneva Convention Articles

have been ratified by 194 countries, (Prospero, Geneva Convention, 2000)

Chaplain’s Service to God – The chaplain has a clear mandate in their clerical calling to

serve God in their role as chaplain. Almost all denominations and faith would have the chaplain

consider their calling as service, serving others for God. Biblical mandates of love and kindness

and compassion are clearly set forth as guiding principles of any chaplain holding a faith that has

foundations from the Bible. Thus love is not limited to those who love back but Jesus’ mandate

to love your enemy, to love those who hate you and to ‘go the extra mile’ is paramount if a

chaplain is to have godly credibility in serving during war. (Matthew 5:9, 41, 44; Luke 6:32)

1
 Michael Paddy – Module Eight Written Assignment – CHPL500

His Service to Country and Military – The Articles of the Geneva Convention that

speak to religious military personnel, speaks to those who serve as chaplains as those above the

fray of hate and aggression, rather they are serving a higher calling and deserve special benefits

befitting their duties to God in their military role. Though their allegiance to country and

uniform are clearly laid out in their performance as soldiers, the overlying principle of their role

as chaplain and as a prisoner of war seems to take precedence over what the normal soldier

would do, for example try and escape from their captors. The normal soldier in the performance

of their duty as a prisoner of war would barely tolerate their role as prisoners of war trying to

continue their allegiance to country and uniform. On the contrary, the chaplain is seen as an

arbitrator, a go between not only between God and man but between captor and prisoner. The

chaplain is to mediate issues that they encounter when they can and do all they can to try and

help in a holistic way, the prisoner and pacify the captor’s desire to dominate the prisoners of

war in an unusually cruel and unjust way. In some respects, they are elevated to a level of those

who hold the captors responsible to the tenets of the Geneva Convention. The chaplain in the

context of the Geneva Convention is considered someone necessary in keeping some order in the

confluence of war specifically in the issues pertaining to capture.

Conclusion – Not to be indignant or rude in my vernacular, war is hell. Being held a

prisoner of war must be equally hellish. The chaplain according to the Geneva Convention has

much latitude in performing his or her duty to God, country and uniform even influential

opportunity to the captors and enemy combatants. History tells of encounters of wars past where

the faith of the individual soldiers had an impact on the enemy they were trying to defeat, (Rice

1976, 212). Thus bringing God to the forefront of the battle, the war and seeing His glory

2
 Michael Paddy – Module Eight Written Assignment – CHPL500

revealed. The chaplain is pivotal in this endeavor even in this day and age when religion is cause

for war and those who fight the United States of America cal for a Holy War against us.

References:

Doris L. Bergen, Editor, The Sword of the Lord, Military Chaplains from the First to the Twenty-

First Century, (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Publishers, 2004)

John R. Rice, The Greatest Stories I Have Ever Heard, (Sword of the Lord Publishers,

Murfreesboro, TN, 1976)

Liberty Online, Module/Week 8, Evaluating the Geneva Convention, Instructors Notes,

Articles of the Geneva Convention, (http//usmilitary.about.com/od/deploymentsconflicts/l/

genevaconv.htm, accessed 12/8/2008)