NATICK, Mass. -- The Army's new "containerized chapel" has almost everything troops need for religious ceremonies in faraway locales: a large tent, folding chairs for pews, generator-powered heat, air conditioning and lights. Not to mention Bibles, Books of Mormon, Muslim prayer mats and Jewish prayer shawls -- in camouflage, no less.
The only thing missing is the chaplain.Prototypes of the chapel, developed here at the Army's Soldier Systems Center, have been used in Kosovo since September. They're a marked improvement for overseas troops accustomed to catch-as-catch-can religion.
Soldiers stationed away from home have traditionally worshipped wherever they could find space -- in mess tents, in fields, under trees. The only "equipment" was what the chaplain had in his purse-size chaplain's bag, just large enough to hold a Bible, a prayer book, rosary beads.
The chaplain's kits are fine for short-term missions. But soldiers stationed in remote places for months at a time needed something more substantial.
"You wouldn't ask someone to go to Mass in a drafty old place in America. Why would we ask our soldiers to do that in Kosovo if we can do different?" said Army Maj. Ben Richardson, a Baptist and chaplain at the Natick research labs.
The chapels, accommodating up to 100 worshippers, fit into 8-by-20-foot containers that weigh 16,000 pounds each. They are shipped or airlifted to soldiers who may be stationed "in the middle of nowhere," Richardson said.
The chapels, which cost about $125,000 to build and outfit, can be set up in a day.
Footlockers inside the container hold religious items for the military's three dominant religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. There are no immediate plans to include materials for other religions because their numbers in the Army are much smaller; Hindus and Buddhists, for example, make up 0.03 percent and 0.17 percent of soldiers, respectively.
Fifteen Muslim soldiers stationed in Kosovo were "absolutely just tickled" to find prayer mats, copies of the Koran, compasses (to point toward Mecca), Egyptian oil and dates for breaking the fast of Ramadan, Richardson said.
The Army had not previously provided items for Muslim soldiers.
Besides the Koran, the containerized chapels offer three versions of the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Jewish Holy Scriptures. The mats and shawls are in camouflage green.
Although the military is dominated by Protestants and Catholics (71 percent of Army personnel identify themselves as Christian, compared with 0.4 percent Muslims and 0.3 percent Jews), it has become a far more religiously diverse place. About 26 percent cite no religious preference.
Of the 1,300 chaplains in the Army, six are Muslim clergy, eight are rabbis, 99 are Roman Catholic priests and the rest represent other Christian denominations.
The mission of Army researchers in Natick is to make life more comfortable for soldiers. They cook up tastier meals, construct better latrines, design more comfortable boots. But religion had mainly been ignored. Until now.
"If we don't do this, we're saying religious things have absolutely no value to our soldiers," Richardson said. "We all know that's not true."
When lives are threatened, chapel attendance soars. Someone who wasn't religiously inclined back home may suddenly reach for God in a foxhole, Richardson said.
"Military service is often a time of heightened spiritual need," said Brent Coffin, executive director of the Center for the Study of Values in Public Life at Harvard's Divinity School. "People are uprooted, they're away from their communities and they may be facing danger or death."
For some, a makeshift sermon under a tree is fulfillment enough.
"But many people need to have their deepest spiritual needs addressed out of specific scriptures and specific signs, like a menorah or crosses, or specific rituals like the sacraments," he said.
Although the containerized chapel feels like an Army tent, efforts have been made to give it a spiritual quality. It has a portable altar, complete with linens, and two linen-covered podiums. There's even a set of digital keyboards that can play themselves when no musician is around. They are programed to play some 1,000 tunes, from gospel hymns to Hebrew songs.
Cash boxes and offering plates allow tithing to continue even during a military mission. The wine glasses, crucifixes and candlesticks gleam with silver-plating or chrome.
The chapels also include five tables for religious study groups, along with a television, VCR and coffee maker for late sessions.
In all, the containers hold enough supplies, including communion wafers and juice (in place of wine), to last 180 days.
The military already had some chapels as part of its 550-man deployable base camps. But those citylike camps aren't used everywhere, and the chapel can't be shipped separately, Richardson said.
Natick labs is now seeking Department of Defense funding to build 44 more containerized chapels.