There is little doubt that purpose is a key to mental and emotional health. People with purpose in their lives just tend to do better People without purpose, with a cause to believe in and a goal for their life’s efforts, are in more danger.
Purpose, of course, can be good or bad. Osama Bin Ladin and his followers have purpose. So did Jim Jones and his. But, in general, people looking for personal purpose driven toward a higher cause — a Higher Being, Family, or Country — tend to be less prone to depression and, as is addressed in the below, suicide. That’s certainly been a concern in the military, where the rigors of service have driven up suicide rates alarmingly.
That all said, there’s a difference between trying to instill purpose, and turning the military into a Rick Warren’s Warriors for Jesus Camp.
In March 2008, this presentation, titled “A New Approach To Suicide Prevention: Developing Purpose-Driven Airmen,” was shown at a commander’s call that was mandatory for an estimated 1,000 of Lakenheath’s Air Force personnel, and sent out by email to the entire base of over 5,000 the following day. As the use of the phrase “Purpose-Driven” in its title implies, also incorporated into this presentation is the wisdom of presidential candidate inquisitor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, a book that, second only to the Bible itself, is the most heavily promoted religious book in the military.
Following a slide stating, “Dr. Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, provides a powerful model for Suicide Prevention, developing leaders, and making troops combat ready and effective,” the author of the presentation, Air Force chaplain Capt. Christian Biscotti, brings up Charles Darwin for the first time in defining what he calls “3 Levels of Purpose.”
Yes, Charles Darwin. Don’t you know that he’s the Patron Saint of Purposelessness, a former leader of the Soviet Union, and well-known preacher of Man Being the Center of the Universe?
Hmmmm. Neither did I. But Capt. Biscotti evidently does. He also reveals in his presentation that George Washington was primarily motivated by love of God, that Design (by God) not Chance (per Darwin) is the only way to provide real Hope and Purpose, and that the United States is a Theistic Republic of Freedom and Purpose, whereas the Soviet Union was an Atheistic / Naturalistic / Evolutionistic hotbed of Communism and bondage and hopelessness and purposelessnessessism.
Your tax dollars at work. The full presentation is here.
Again, don’t get me wrong. Any good leader knows that people need something to fight for, to be oriented toward, to be purposeful about. That much both Rev. Warren and Capt. Biscotti have right. Religion is certainly one path to that end, but so are other ideologies and “higher purposes,” and singling out Western Monotheism as the Way to Keep Soldiers from Offing Themselves is not only blatantly unconstitutional, but insulting.
I don’t know of anyone who’s gone into battle waving a banner for Charles Darwin, but the falsely-binary idea that only if you believe in God (and have that belief whipped up to a purposeful frenzy by your commanding officer) are you going to be a good soldier and not a suicide risk is absurd, and not what I’m looking for from my armed forces.