Religious Conviction in the Profession of Arms

Abstract:     
We present two cases in which a Commanding Officer in the United States military relies on his religious convictions to determine whether to grant a subordinate's request to be granted leave to get an abortion. We use these cases to reflect on the proper role of religious conviction in the exercise of command authority. We argue that military professionalism does not require officers to refrain from relying on their religious convictions to make command decisions.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 16

Keywords: religion, war, abortion, politics, morality, military profession

working papers series