And, make no mistake, these NSCA chaplains are 100 percent Christian. The NSCA describes itself as a "Christian chaplain ministry," and its email closes with, "Thank you for helping us reach children, teachers and parents with the love of Christ." The email even quotes a New Testament verse, Matt. 25:40, that is quickly followed by Jesus promising "everlasting punishment" (Matt. 25:46). NSCA's Statement of Faith, too, includes a belief in "eternal punishment," along with a swipe at same-sex marriage.
So the chaplains spot struggling students and staff, then show up uninvited at their homes to connect them to their Christian church. What advice do these chaplains give to struggling staff or students who are non-Christian, LGBTQ, etc.? Even well-meaning Christian chaplains can alienate and traumatize nonadherents when they offer only a sectarian religious perspective, to say nothing of preachers who have no problem threatening children with everlasting punishment if they fail to convert to the "right" type of Christianity...
Chaplain laws also offer only the barest safeguards against abusive clergy, typically disallowing only chaplains who are on the sex offender registry or who fail a criminal background check. Meanwhile, the laws are uniformly devoid of any requirement that chaplains be certified to provide secular services to students or staff. That is, after all, not really the point of these laws. In Texas, for instance, school counselors must have a qualifying master's degree, pass a test, and have two years of classroom teaching experience. Chaplains typically have no education requirement, no test to pass, and no past experience requirements — just a desire to talk to students about religion. The dire need of students for more qualified school counselors is merely an excuse to introduce chaplains, not a problem chaplains can actually help address (despite laughably implausible claims to the contrary from NSCA).
In short, there are myriad reasons to oppose public school chaplains and no reason for anyone other than Christian nationalists to support them. This makes a recent survey, showing a majority of Americans open to the idea, even more shocking. There is plainly a void in education and awareness that needs to be filled.
https://www.freethoughttoday.com/free/ryan-jayne-the-danger-of-public-school-chaplains/
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