When is a chaplain not a chaplain?

Answer: When s/he is a ‘Life-Skills Assistant’ Iowa State Mulls a ‘Life-Skills Assistant,’ Not a Chaplain reports the Chronicle Iowa State University’s Athletics Council has approved a plan to hire a “volunteer life-skills assistant” to provide religious counseling to players on the football team, in a way that officials said differs from the work of … Continued

This article is more than 17 years old

by Paul Greatrix

Registrarism

27/06/07

Paul Greatrix

Registrar, The University of Nottingham

by Mark Leach

staff

22/10/14

Paul Greatrix is an HE expert and was until recently Registrar at the University of Nottingham

Answer: When s/he is a ‘Life-Skills Assistant’

Iowa State Mulls a ‘Life-Skills Assistant,’ Not a Chaplain reports the Chronicle

Iowa State University’s Athletics Council has approved a plan to hire a “volunteer life-skills assistant” to provide religious counseling to players on the football team, in a way that officials said differs from the work of a chaplain, the Iowa State Daily reported. An original plan to hire a chaplain drew protests from faculty members who said it would violate a constitutional ban on government establishments of religion.

All very amusing in a “PC gone mad” kind of way. But why does the football team need its own religious counselling?