Chaplain’s V for Victory sign causes controversy

Danish soldiers in Afghanistan can be blessed, but can they be encouraged?

Out of the blue a short video placed on Youtube in 2009 has created a major stir in the Danish media at the beginning of 2012.In front of Danish army vehicles the chaplain pronounces the Aaronic blessing, beginning with "May the Lord bless you and keep you…" (Numbers 6:24). He follows the blessing with the sign of the cross – as is the custom in every Danish Lutheran church. But there is more to come. Pastor Thomas Oestergaard Aallmann adds a V for victory sign and beats his breast twice. See the video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0WFC8xVPZk

Are chaplains combatants?
When the national channel, Danish Broadcasting Corporation, showed the clip in a news programme, it provoked a storm of protest followed by a storm of support. To add fuel to the fire, a few days later former army chaplain, Pastor Victor Greve, admitted that he had carried both a carbine and hand grenades when on duty in 2010. His journal includes the words, “I crawl up the slope and run towards the barbed wire. I light the fuse, and it makes small sparks.” This is strictly against the chaplain’s code of conduct, and the army is carrying out an investigation. Unlike British and German chaplains Danish chaplains carry pistols, to be used solely for self-defence, but no other weaponry is allowed.

Private Anton Piil Tarding, who was stationed in Afghanistan in 2010 finds the mix toxic: ”We’re not going to war for the sake of our religion!” he says. Bishop of Copenhagen, Peter Skov-Jakobsen, who is in charge of the pastors in the field, says, “Of course the chaplains are present to bless, preach, baptise, celebrate Eucharist, listen and teach about the ethical, cultural and political situation as best they can where desired. But it is not the job of the pastor to motivate the soldiers; that is up to the officers.”

The reality of war
However, those writing via the social media are more in agreement with people like Michael Kattrup Lassen, who put the video out on YouTube in the first place: “It’s not a Christian blessing of the war; it’s more like a gesture of support from a comrade.” Another blogger, Daniel Steen Jensen, writes: “It’s so bloody typical coming from people who’ve never experienced what it means to defend themselves and their comrades but just sit behind a desk in Copenhagen in little old Denmark and think they know everything about what it’s like at the front. They simply have no  idea what someone like Victor means to us. He helps us keep our heads high and go out again the following day. Victor! We’re behind you all the way!” 

By Edward Broadbridge

Photo: Nikos Kosmidis/WCC

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