How does religion affect the lives of professional soldiers? How does religion shape militaries, their organization, procedures, and performance? This volume is the first to address these questions by comparing religious symbols and practices in nine countries: Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, Israel, Iran, India, the United States, and Turkey. The contributors explore how and why soldiers pray, the role of religious rituals prior to battle, the functions that chaplains perform, the effects of religion on recruitment and unit formation, and how militaries grapple with ensuing constitutional dilemmas.

‘The purpose of Religion [in] the Military Worldwide is clear and important: to consider the role and effect of religion on military service from a broader perspective than has usually been the case. This goal entails a ‘thick religion’ approach to the study of religion and politics: considering theology, religious organization (hierarchy), symbol (iconography), and ceremony and belief (knowledge). The chapters in this book present a complex tapestry that shows positive, negative, and neutral effects of religion on the military.’

Donald Downs - Alexander Meiklejohn Professor of Political Science, Law, and Journalism, University of Wisconsin, Madison