Professor Bainbridge...on law, politics, religion, culture & food

Prof. Bainbridge, Thanks for your thoughtful comments and provocative questions.  I wanted to briefly post some thoughts from the perspective of a Corp. Chaplain CEO and practioner (and Presbyterian Minister).

1) You are right that privately owned companies, owned or directed by Christians (Evangelical or Mainline for the most part) form our industry’s core business.  However, companies like Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Bottling have P/T chaplains in 38 plants (in addition to Tyson Foods).

2) One great reformed tenet is that “God makes no distinction between the sacred and the secular” (loose paraph. from John Calvin).  My ministry in the workplace is a ministry of presence.  Most Evangelical chaplains do ultimately hope and pray for opportunities to share the gospel or help folks take steps into the Christian community, but the bulk of our work involves supporting people through very difficult times in life. I believe most corp. chaplains find satisfaction in serving as advocates, counselors, and bearers of encouragement to these troubled souls.  In so many ways, the Lord Jesus stepped into a broken world and offered healing and respite to those who knew they needed a savior (who in fact were mostly outside the community of faith as we read the Gospels).  Not that I become the savior to my clients, but I do rely upon power of the Spirit to guide and direct my pastoral care and counseling. Therefore, I personally see extending my ministry outside the comfortable walls of the parish setting and into the workplace as very much the work that the Lord himself was engaged with (over and above the Galilean countryside, most of Jesus ministry and caring for people occurs in “the marketplace” (e.g. inside the Temple Court w/people selling animals for sacrifice, with fisherman working their nets, tax collectors, prostitutes).

3) The following is an excerpt from the Clinton Administration’s issuance of Guidelines regarding religion in the Federal Workplace.  Here is the link if you should be interested in further legal reading:

http://clinton4.nara.gov/textonly/WH/New/html/19970819-3275.html

“(3) Expression Directed at Fellow Employees. Employees are permitted to engage in religious expression directed at fellow employees, and may even attempt to persuade fellow employees of the correctness of their religious views, to the same extent as those employees may engage in comparable speech not involving religion. Some religions encourage adherents to spread the faith at every opportunity, a duty that can encompass the adherent’s workplace. As a general matter, proselytizing is as entitled to constitutional protection as any other form of speech—as long as a reasonable observer would not interpret the expression as government endorsement of religion. Employees may urge a colleague to participate or not to participate in religious activities to the same extent that, consistent with concerns of workplace efficiency, they may urge their colleagues to engage in or refrain from other personal endeavors. But employees must refrain from such expression when a fellow employee asks that it stop or otherwise demonstrates that it is unwelcome. (Such expression by supervisors is subject to special consideration as discussed in Section B(2) of these guidelines.)”

Thanks for the opportunity to dialogue.  If you have any legal helps or guidance, that would be VERY welcomed as I will be writing the first dissertation on Workplace Chaplaincy as a viable care program at Fuller Seminary, Pasadena.

Blessings on you, Professor!

Paul

An additional fact is that many corporate chaplains (those from Corporate Chaplains of America in particular) serve the employees by their permission. From the beginning of service to a new company the fact that the service is voluntary and confidential is stressed to the employees during an introductory meeting.

Blessings,
Bill Ciocco