Abstract
This paper examines the category of spirituality, and the ongoing challenges related to defining and measuring spirituality in concrete and meaningful ways. This is done by considering the military’s use of spirituality as a measure for comprehensive soldier fitness beginning in 2009. The Department of Defense’s (DOA) organization-wide Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) program was touted as a “unique approach to health,” one that included spirituality as a fitness (health/wellness) measure. Following internal backlash and broader cultural criticism from organizations concerned with protecting First Amendment rights, the DOA modified the program. Yet, whether the military addressed concerns regarding first amendment/religious freedom or refined the measure remains unclear. The military’s attempt to measure spirituality using a Spiritual Fitness Test (SFT, later Spiritual Fitness Inventory) is significant. Moreover, as I argue, it needs to be contextualized within the broader context of how we survey spirituality. As I argue, the shortfalls of the military’s SFT/SFI are part of a larger challenge around how we measure and survey spirituality. Within the unique context of the US military, the SFT/SFI raises issues around first amendment jurisprudence (how to interpret the constitutional protections for and from religion), and more importantly it complicates the category of “spirituality” as a more capacious and universal category than religion to account for human experience and individual identity.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Modernity and Religious Frameworks, Religious Freedom and Secular States, Spirituality
