Adventist installed as Navy chaplain chief

WASHINGTON — Rear Adm. Barry C. Black has been installed as the first Seventh-day Adventist and the first African-American to serve as Chief of Navy Chaplains.

Black was installed Aug. 18 at a ceremony at the Washington Naval Yard in Washington, D.C. He will manage a corps of more than 1,000 chaplains in the Navy.

Black told Adventist News Network that his denomination’s emphasis on religious liberty and keeping of the Sabbath has sensitized him to the need to accommodate the religions of all naval personnel. “The moment equal accommodation is permitted to be jeopardized it becomes an ethical slipper slope,” he said.

Before replacing Rear Adm. A. Byron Holderby as the Navy’s chief of chaplains, Black served for three years as deputy chief of chaplains.