Abstract

Generic chaplaincy is the result of a devaluing of religious worship and belief to the merely instrumental and experiential. It is an expectable consequence of non-belief in the unique object that would render religious worship intrinsically meaningful and valuable. Generic chaplaincy has no place because all desire God, yet not all have found Him in the fullness with which He has revealed Himself to us, or even in the fullness with which we may be aware of Him through natural reason. In consequence, not all are equally aware of God. A chaplaincy that challenges patients respectfully, and encourages spiritual growth and awareness, including the overcoming of sin and error, is appropriate.