ISSN 1556-3723 (print) Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion __________________________________________________________________ Volume 8 2012 Article 10 __________________________________________________________________ God, Guts, and Glory: An Investigation of Relational Support Mechanisms for War Veterans Provided by Religious Communities Terry Shoemaker* Department of Philosophy and Religion Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, Kentucky *
[email protected] Copyright © 2012 Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion is freely available on the World Wide Web at http://www.religjournal.com. God, Guts, and Glory: An Investigation of Relational Support Mechanisms for War Veterans Provided by Religious Communities† Terry Shoemaker Department of Philosophy and Religion Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, Kentucky Abstract This article explores the mechanisms of congregational support provided by American churches to a sample of Christian soldiers who have been deployed into combat zones. I conducted qualitative interviews with six Christian soldiers to discover the congregational support provided by their faith communities. Additionally, one soldier who identified as atheist was interviewed. Through