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 yr about an “atheist chaplain” engaged on death row in an Oklahoma jail.
The piece is a few convicted killer, Phillip Hancock, who didn’t imagine in God however needed a non secular adviser with him as he approached his execution. The chaplain is a person named Devin Moss, who spent a yr in every day dialog with Hancock and finally traveled from Brooklyn to Oklahoma to be with him in his closing hours.
The entire notion of an atheist chaplain is fascinating, in fact, however much more fascinating are the deeper questions right here about what non secular care seems like with out faith and what it means to confront our death with out God or a perception within the afterlife.
I wouldn’t name myself a non secular particular person, however I do take the non secular life severely and, whether or not you’re a believer or a non-believer, it appears vital to know what faith provides to folks and what it will imply to supply one thing comparable 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 death row taught him about faith and the common wrestle to face death with dignity.
Below is an excerpt of our dialog, edited for size and readability. As at all times, there’s far more within the full podcast, so take heed to and comply with 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 in the course of 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 non secular. Because I got here into this extremely insecure about spirituality normally and what sort of non secular care I can present to folks 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 unique particular person popping out of that?
Devin Moss
Absolutely. And even each day, my shift hours had been from 2 to eight or 9, and round 1 I’d be like, Ugh, I can’t imagine I bought to return and do that at this time, however after I’d depart at night time, I’d be like, Wow, I might by no means have imagined that might occur at this time, I realized a lot! I felt like a unique particular person leaving at night time than after I bought there within the morning and that was a repetitive cycle time and again.
Sean Illing
We’re speaking as a result of I occurred upon this text about your expertise on death 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 death 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 death row named Phillip Hancock in Oklahoma, and he’s on the lookout for a non-theist chaplain and so they needed to know if I used to be . I mentioned I used to be completely . And on reflection, to be candid, I felt known as to do this from a non secular 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 mentioned, If you discover that I’m the appropriate particular person to symbolize you or be by your aspect in such a vital time, I’d love to take action, after which we talked and hit it off and began a journey of just about a yr.
Sean Illing
Did you have got robust emotions in regards to the death penalty earlier than you went to Oklahoma? Did the expertise change your views somehow?
Devin Moss
I didn’t have robust 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 situation 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 at all times the daughter, nobody says if it had been your son), and she or he was murdered and raped, that needs to be the litmus check 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 bought 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 father or mother needed to undergo that horrible, horrible situation, they’ve each proper to really feel that. And I’m not advocating that anyone can’t really feel these very robust and actual feelings however what I didn’t notice till I used to be truly within the soup is that there are loads 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 folks. It’s folks like me, it’s the corrections officers within the small cities the place that is greater than seemingly the one employment alternative they’ve and we’re those which are 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 mentioned, Everybody that has a hand in doing the execution itself, a part of them dies indirectly. Although that feels like a dramatic assertion, it’s completely one hundred pc 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 had been yours — what did you say?
Devin Moss
The entire factor was surreal. The entire 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 stage.
Normally, the non secular 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 making an attempt to keep up my poise and never get frazzled. And we went by means of this maze the place the pinnacle 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 could be within the room with us greeted me as a result of the corrections officers which are within the room have to be nameless. And then I might 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 might.
Earlier that morning, I had written an invocation, a prayer of kinds, that I knew wanted to be mentioned and I did it instantly as a result of I needed to say that house for Phil in order that we might 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 keep in mind the prayer that you just 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 a substitute 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 situation. And I had the reply to the Philippians riddle, Show me one thing actual, inform me one thing true. I seeded that inside the prayer, I needed him to know that he was liked 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 energy, of give up, and, curiously, I ended it with an amen simply because it felt proper.
I additionally understood too that there have been different folks in that room, apart from Phil and I, that I feel 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 liked human. He died properly, with grace. I made positive that he knew that he was liked 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’d like faith, or one thing like faith. The truth that you just felt known as to do that work speaks to this. Do you are 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 standard sense?
Devin Moss
I do imagine that. I do imagine 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 loads 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 imagine, wonderful. And if we’re flawed, then nice. But what’s extra vital is all the things that you just’re doing earlier than that second — that’s an important, not after. What occurs after is after, but it surely’s the transition that’s vital and the way you get there and all these micro-steps monitoring again all through your life.
So do we’d like spirituality as people? Yes, I feel 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 greater, there’s one thing actual there and we’d like to verify these factors are related.
Sean Illing
I’ve actually come to be irritated with a sure form of atheist that may solely strategy faith as a set of epistemological claims, as if scanning the Bible for bogus claims about biology or historical past will quantity to some death blow for faith. And I perceive the place that comes from. This has at all times been tough for me as a result of I do suppose faith has completed immense injury on the planet. I feel it has brought about loads of useless struggling on the planet. I feel it nonetheless causes loads of useless struggling on the planet.
There are folks 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 vital to say all of that. But it’s additionally vital to acknowledge that faith, at its finest, is a near-universal expression of this human want for connection and ritual and that means and it’s a mistake to not grapple severely with the implications of that, particularly for those who’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 could be as syncretic as it’s worthwhile to be simply to guarantee that it’s bringing intention all through your day.
The expression of spirituality could be your lived faith and we are able to see what that appears like. Even if it’s Sunday mornings, we’re going to comb up the sidewalks in Brooklyn and have espresso and cake, that’s an vital non secular expression and could be thought-about 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 strategy the tip?
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 stay and we don’t die properly in fashionable America. I’d most likely take out the border between religion and non-faith with regards to find out how to die properly and I’d simply say that dying properly requires work that’s to be completed when you’re nonetheless very a lot alive, whether or not you think about a supernatural energy or not.
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