When you hear the phrase “chaplain,” you most likely consider a priest or an Imam or another form of conventional clergyperson — that’s what springs to my thoughts in any case. Which is why I used to be shocked after I stumbled upon an article within the New York Times journal from earlier this 12 months about an “atheist chaplain” engaged on demise row in an Oklahoma jail.
The piece is a couple of convicted killer, Phillip Hancock, who didn’t consider in God however wished a religious adviser with him as he approached his execution. The chaplain is a person named Devin Moss, who spent a 12 months in each day dialog with Hancock and ultimately traveled from Brooklyn to Oklahoma to be with him in his ultimate hours.
The complete notion of an atheist chaplain is attention-grabbing, after all, however much more attention-grabbing are the deeper questions right here about what religious care seems like with out faith and what it means to confront our demise with out God or a perception within the afterlife.
I wouldn’t name myself a spiritual particular person, however I do take the religious life significantly and, whether or not you’re a believer or a non-believer, it appears necessary to grasp what faith presents to individuals and what it could imply to supply one thing related in a secular context.
Which is why I invited Moss onto The Gray Area to speak about what being a humanist chaplain (he prefers that time period over “atheist”) means to him and what his expertise on demise row taught him about faith and the common battle to face demise with dignity.
Below is an excerpt of our dialog, edited for size and readability. As all the time, there’s far more within the full podcast, so take heed to and observe The Gray Area on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you discover podcasts. New episodes drop each Monday.
Sean Illing
You did your residency as a chaplain at Bellevue Hospital in New York City throughout the pandemic. What was that like?
Devin Moss
It was intense and full of individuals in acute moments of disaster, at that hospital particularly. But I can not think about a greater place to be taught what it means to be religious. Because I got here into this extremely insecure about spirituality normally and what sort of religious care I can present to individuals after I’m a non-theist. How can I do that with out God? It was scary as hell and it was profound as hell on the similar time.
Sean Illing
Were you a special particular person popping out of that?
Devin Moss
Absolutely. And even every day, my shift hours have been from 2 to eight or 9, and round 1 I’d be like, Ugh, I can’t consider I obtained to return and do that at this time, however after I’d go away at night time, I’d be like, Wow, I may by no means have imagined that may occur at this time, I realized a lot! I felt like a special particular person leaving at night time than after I obtained there within the morning and that was a repetitive cycle over and over.
Sean Illing
We’re speaking as a result of I occurred upon this text about your expertise on demise row. I assume I’m curious the way you discovered your self there within the first place. How does a humanist chaplain from Brooklyn find yourself on demise row in Oklahoma?
Devin Moss
Soon after I completed my residency at Bellevue, the American Humanist Association despatched me an e mail saying that there are some attorneys that symbolize this man on demise row named Phillip Hancock in Oklahoma, and he’s searching for a non-theist chaplain they usually wished to know if I used to be . I stated I used to be completely . And on reflection, to be candid, I felt known as to do this from a religious care perspective, however I additionally was very a lot intrigued by the story.
So I wrote Phil a letter, launched myself, left my cellphone quantity in it and stated, If you discover that I’m the suitable particular person to symbolize you or be by your facet in such a necessary time, I’d love to take action, after which we talked and hit it off and began a journey of just about a 12 months.
Sean Illing
Did you’ve gotten sturdy emotions concerning the demise penalty earlier than you went to Oklahoma? Did the expertise change your views someway?
Devin Moss
I didn’t have sturdy opinions. I’d describe my views going on this means: If there was an opportunity for anyone harmless to be executed, then I’m not for it.
And but, understanding that there are monsters amongst us, I nonetheless had this hypothetical state of affairs in my head, and it’s the one that everyone who’s pro-capital punishment will use: If it was your daughter (and it’s all the time the daughter, nobody says if it have been your son), and she or he was murdered and raped, that must be the litmus take a look at of how we consider capital punishment. That’s the argument that the state legislators in Oklahoma use and I don’t know the place I obtained it, however that was additionally in my head previous to working with Phil. And within the case of such a heinous violent crime, then yeah, I’d be okay with capital punishment. That’s how I got here into it.
Those are actual emotions. If a dad or mum needed to undergo that horrible, horrible state of affairs, they’ve each proper to really feel that. And I’m not advocating that anyone can’t really feel these very sturdy and actual feelings however what I didn’t understand till I used to be truly within the soup is that there are lots of externalities. The ripples of who it impacts, they’re vital.
The legislators make the legal guidelines, the judicial department of the state does the sentencing, however guess who does the executions? None of them are doing the executions, not one of the household of the victims are doing the executions, it’s on a regular basis individuals. It’s individuals like me, it’s the corrections officers within the small cities the place that is greater than doubtless the one employment alternative they’ve and we’re those which might be doing this.
I spoke with a person named Adam Luck, who was the previous chair of the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board earlier than the execution, and he stated, Everybody that has a hand in doing the execution itself, a part of them dies not directly. Although that feels like a dramatic assertion, it’s completely 100% true. The warden isn’t for it, the corrections officers aren’t for it, and so with the entire externalities and all of the ache, it creates a karmic ripple that’s multigenerational.
Sean Illing
The final phrases Phillip heard have been yours — what did you say?
Devin Moss
The complete factor was surreal. The complete day was surreal. Even that morning, the morning of the execution, the governor nonetheless hadn’t decided whether or not to grant clemency. The execution was scheduled for 10 am, so it was postponed an hour and a half and Phil is strapped to the gurney for an additional hour-plus, which is horrible to consider. And the night time earlier than, they tousled his final meal, I can’t even specific to at the present time how indignant that makes me and I can think about what it does to the spirit of somebody that simply can not get any demonstration of humanity on any degree.
Normally, the religious care adviser typically will get 30 to 45 minutes with the person who’s going to be executed, however as a result of the governor had delayed, the press corps had already made it by means of safety, and I used to be simply attempting to keep up my poise and never get frazzled. And we went by means of this maze the place the top chaplain then left me on this sally port and the corrections officers escorted me as much as the entrance door of the execution chamber.
It was there that the masked corrections officer who can be within the room with us greeted me as a result of the corrections officers which might be within the room should be nameless. And then I may see in his face that he was nervous and that he was scared and that he was additionally affected by this second. It was in that second that I noticed that a part of my function is simply to convey as a lot calmness and peace into that house as I probably may.
Earlier that morning, I had written an invocation, a prayer of kinds, that I knew wanted to be stated and I did it instantly as a result of I wished to say that house for Phil in order that we may make it sacred and never let any time go by with out ensuring that he felt that this was his time.
Sean Illing
Do you bear in mind the prayer that you simply wrote?
Devin Moss
When I initially wrote it, I wrote one thing about “I call into the space the spirit of the divine” after which I crossed that out and as an alternative I simply wrote “I call into the space the spirit of our humanity” as a result of it was very clear to me that this was a human drawback and never a theological subject. And I had the reply to the Philippians riddle, Show me one thing actual, inform me one thing true. I seeded that throughout the prayer, I wished him to know that he was beloved and that I used to be a conduit to that love and that he was not alone. And then I additionally invoked the spirit of grace, of power, of give up, and, apparently, I ended it with an amen simply because it felt proper.
I additionally understood too that there have been different individuals in that room, apart from Phil and I, that I believe wanted to listen to these phrases and so I claimed that house for him. And then I adopted it up with telling him how our relationship affected me and what it meant to me and that he’s a beloved human. He died effectively, with grace. I made certain that he knew that he was beloved and he was not alone. And so, on this bizarre second of an execution, which is bizarre to say, there was peace.
Sean Illing
Part of what pursuits me about your story is that this query about whether or not we want faith, or one thing like faith. The truth that you simply felt known as to do that work speaks to this. Do you’re feeling like there’s a God-shaped gap within the fashionable world that must be crammed by one thing even when that’s one thing isn’t supernaturalism or faith in a traditional sense?
Devin Moss
I do consider that. I do consider that there’s a God-shaped gap in all of us and I don’t really feel that it must be full of dogma. The query that I get requested so much on this regard is, “How do you prepare someone who’s dying, who doesn’t believe that there’s something next?” The reply is within the reframing of the query.
If there’s something subsequent and if that’s what you consider, fantastic. And if we’re flawed, then nice. But what’s extra necessary is the whole lot that you simply’re doing earlier than that second — that’s a very powerful, not after. What occurs after is after, nevertheless it’s the transition that’s necessary and the way you get there and all these micro-steps monitoring again all through your life.
So do we want spirituality as people? Yes, I believe so. And I’d additionally say, as a tradition, whether or not it’s a collective consciousness or a resonance that connects us to one another and connects us out to one thing larger, there’s one thing actual there and we want to verify these factors are linked.
Sean Illing
I’ve actually come to be irritated with a sure form of atheist that may solely method faith as a set of epistemological claims, as if scanning the Bible for bogus claims about biology or historical past will quantity to some demise blow for faith. And I perceive the place that comes from. This has all the time been difficult for me as a result of I do suppose faith has carried out immense harm on the planet. I believe it has prompted lots of unnecessary struggling on the planet. I believe it nonetheless causes lots of unnecessary struggling on the planet.
There are individuals on this nation who need to create a theocracy right here, who need to chain girls to their reproductive cycles due to their non secular beliefs, and people individuals are enemies of liberal democracy for my part. It’s necessary to say all of that. But it’s additionally necessary to acknowledge that faith, at its greatest, is a near-universal expression of this human want for connection and ritual and that means and it’s a mistake to not grapple significantly with the implications of that, particularly in the event you’re a non-believer.
Devin Moss
I see spirituality and theology as two fully totally different animals. I see faith as an expression of the spiritualities. Because the best way it really works now could be that spirituality is an expression of faith, however I say flip it. I’m an enormous proponent of rites of passage rituals, I’m an enormous proponent of even making rituals all through your day and you’ll develop them for your self, you might be as syncretic as you might want to be simply to guarantee that it’s bringing intention all through your day.
The expression of spirituality might be your lived faith and we will see what that appears like. Even if it’s Sunday mornings, we’re going to brush up the sidewalks in Brooklyn and have espresso and cake, that’s an necessary religious expression and might be thought of faith with out the pomp and the historical past and all of these issues.
Sean Illing
A humanist chaplain might not be capable to provide the solace that comes with perception within the afterlife, however what sort of solace are you able to provide somebody as they method the top?
Devin Moss
Death is difficult for everyone and it’s exhausting as a result of we keep away from it personally and we most positively keep away from it as a tradition. How a tradition dies is a direct reflection of how they dwell and we don’t die effectively in fashionable America. I’d most likely take out the border between religion and non-faith in the case of tips on how to die effectively and I’d simply say that dying effectively requires work that’s to be carried out when you’re nonetheless very a lot alive, whether or not you place confidence in a supernatural energy or not.
To hear the remainder of the dialog, click on right here, and you’ll want to observe The Gray Area on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, or wherever you take heed to podcasts.
