Military chaplain: Soldier's rape 'must have been God's will'

Military chaplain: Soldier's rape 'must have been God's will'

www.rawstory.com

"He pulled her into his bed, held her down, and raped her. He also photographed the rape," it reads. Havrilla reported the incident within a month.

In February 2009, she reported for active duty training and, upon seeing her rapist, went into shock.

"She immediately sought the assistance of the military chaplain," the lawsuit reads. "When SGT Havrilla met with the military chaplain, he told her that 'it must have been God's will for her to be raped' and recommended that she attend church more frequently."

(visit the link for the full news article)

Are you freakin KIDDING me?!?

This is another one of those stories which literally leaves me speechless. On too many levels to even count.

As we have seen in recent stories, rape of female military employees has been an absolute EPIDEMIC.

But here we have a supposed "chaplain" literally chalk up this gal's sexual brutalization up to "god's will"?!?

Uhh, yeah, I'm sure "god" cooked up some plan for this guy to RAPE the gal, then take pictures of it.

There really isn't a whole lot I can add to this, other than we live in a really sick, and deranged world. Ugh...

www.rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by DimensionalDetective
Im also speechless, which doesnt happen that often, Golly, theres some crazy nutters in the church.

This is shocking, but it isn't.
I mean, what the hell else do you expect from a chaplain?

Thus proving once and for all that all forms of religion need to be eradicated!

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


GOD AND RAPE...
yea right...
f... up world...

Knowing the history, that religion has caused more famine and plagues, not to mention war, it would seem fitting that a chaplain ( religion ) , would instruct this woman, during ( war). Oh the irony~

Originally posted by Whereweheaded
Thus proving once and for all that all forms of religion need to be eradicated!

It proves nothing. You eradicate religion and another excuse will pop up. Without the tool religion, the excuse would've been "She brought it upon herself by being in such a dangerous position. She should get some psychological help." The chaplain is siding with the military to keep order.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


I am not condoning rape, and I wasn't there to see the Chaplains demeanor when he said it, but I had a similar experience while praying over my baby once.

My youngest son was born extremely premature and struggled for life his first 3 months. Then at 5 months old he developed a condition with a very poor prognosis. (He is fine now, but that is another story.) One day during the worst of times with him, I was on ATS reading about all the horrible things in the world, and that fighter jet struck in San Diego and killed a man's family while he was off at work, and I almost broke down. I am not very "Christian" but I do believe in God, I am a Mason, and I do pray a lot. I went home from work that evening, and I knelt by my son's bed and prayed. I was blaspemous in my prayer, and I didn't care, but then I got an answer. In my mind, I just all of a sudden understood the words, "because he asked for it." I was stunned and even more mad (and obviously also confused and concerned I might be going crazy), but I continued to pray, and the explanation for "he asked for it" began to unfold in my mind, and I was able to mentally deal with all of the bad things in the world a little better.

It would be a lot to post to really explain how I came to understand how my little 5 month old 4 lb baby had "asked" for all the trouble he was going through, but suffice to say that I am an intelligent man, not overly religious, and extremely violent in defense of my family, so for me to fully accept that "he asked for it" was not an easy thing, and it had to be divine intervention, because anyone else would have been strangled for that statement.

My son is 3 years old now, perfectly healthy and robust, and I still marvel at that first year.

So, as this applies to the OP, the Chaplain was probably out of line, or not as sensitive as he should have been, but he wasn't necessarily "wrong," just insensitive. And while nobody wants to be raped, perhaps there is some greater game at play, and it did serve whatever purpose it was supposed to serve.

You know, if god willed me to be raped, I'm fairly certain the last place I'd go is some church designed to worship that god.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


Well yeah...
just like it would be gods will if somebody shoots that chaplain in the tenders...

So very many atrocities swept aside in the name of god... grow up people!

reply to post by DaddyBare




Exactly, we all have our lessons to learn and crosses to bear!

The words "natural consequences" come up in all of my posts, and this is one of those time!

The chaplain could have also been "sticking to the company line" so to speak. As others have pointed out, this is a horrible thing that is all too often swept under the rug or ignored by the military and the government.

Despite all the rhetoric about how they want to stamp it out - in reality it seems they just want victims and those who speak for them to shut up as sometimes the whistle blowers are punished. The chaplain may very well know this - but have been afraid of the consequences of saying it to her. So he could have just wimped out and said it was "God's will" instead of saying "It is the Army's will you shut up about this."

I'm not saying that's better than him saying its "God's will".. when I think about it - it is probably worse. But it is another possibility as to why he said what he did.

reply to post by getreadyalready


I get where you are coming from. It is a tool that the religious use to psychologically cope with trauma. To attribute it to Gods will so they can let go their struggle with the event and move on.

It was insensitive, and I am sure the chaplin will get some grief over it. Usually people wait for the "its Gods will" advice. Its normally given once the initial shock and trauma are over, and they perceive the person is dragging out their own suffering by ruminating over it, rather than taking positive steps to move forward. Its not the first thing you say to someone. You comfort them, and help them seek help and justice.

I think the Chaplain needs a "code red". After all, he broke the code...you know "Unit, Corps, God, Country". See, God comes in 3rd on the list. What a disgrace!

Seriously, the victim goes to the chaplain to be consoled and basically, she gets a "you had it coming" or "you deserved it". Why? Because it was god's will. &

DD

I'm not buying this off hand and here's why:

1 Rawstory is decidedly anti military and anti American.

2 While the story of this woman being raped is most certainly true
the story about the chaplain is incomplete and is sourced at Friendly Atheist.com.

3. All that is said in the lawsuit brief that is provided at FriendlyAtheist is that one quote, no context
no nothing.

Before one jumps to conclusions one must wait for discovery to be initiated in a case so we can get some facts. FACTS are what is important here folks. While rape is a horrible thing, and I feel for these women, we shouldn't be letting some people's hatred of the US military and hatred of religion get ahead of the story and facts in the case before they're even available.

Someone should tell that chaplain that the dark ages ended a few centuries ago...
Prime example of just how useless chaplains are... And must wonder about any diety that condones rape, murder, theft and everything else that the christian god appears to condone from the words / actions of his followers.. The military should dump chaplains and get qualified therapists to replace them.. oh wait.. then theyd have to end the latest crusades.. nevermind .. carry on...
Bad enough that she was raped .. But to encounter that chaplain and his mentality added further to her injury and loss of dignity..

reply to post by projectvxn


I agree, this is a bit hard to swallow without some context. I have had many experiences with Naval chaplains and I just really have a hard time believing that one would say something like this. That may have been her interpretation, but color me skeptical that it was the chaplains intent.

reply to post by DimensionalDetective
If this is one of the reasons I why I hate religon,I don't use that word often,but this situation calls for it,it also calls for that verse that says if it offends thee cut it off!If it's true then off with the tongue,and off with the penis.I'm not joking.

God had nothing to do with it....

Other then the fact he created Karma...