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An Interview: with an Air Force Chaplain

From the July 1977 issue of The Christian Science Journal


is no ordinary Chaplain. He has none of the self-consciousness some people feel about their religion, nor does he think within denominational bounds. He's a natural, visible Christian Scientist, who will show the same concern for a conservative Baptist as he will for someone of his own church. And it's readily apparent he really cares for people and backs up that care with prayer.

There are eight Chaplains at Spain's Torrejon Air Base, and a telephone operator there made the comment, "If we get fifty calls in our chapel, thirty-five of them are for Chaplain Q." John Qualtrough, it's been said, shakes people up. He makes them think. The ideas of Christian Science often contrast very strikingly with general opinion. John has made this contrast very appealing. He is thought of in the Air Force chaplaincy as one of the most creative individuals they have. They recognize his approach to problems and situations is unique. This uniqueness, of course, is Christian Science, and it has attracted many.

When the United States Air Force sought to put together a film for Chaplains around the world, to show what could happen when religious services were designed to really meet the need of the congregation, it went to hear Chaplain Qualtrough. At that time there were over three thousand attending his Protestant services at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, and it was the joy, freshness, and love characterizing these services that caught the Air Force's attention.

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