The Australia public and military personnel are losing confidence in the Defence Force’s religious chaplaincy capability following a number of controversies, the Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) has told the government.
In the latest public controversy involving Defence chaplains, widows grieving the loss of their partners in an Army helicopter crash have made allegations of inappropriate behaviour by a chaplain.
In testimony given to the Inspector-General of Defence inquiry into the crash of the MRH-90 Taipan helicopter crash last year, one widow said that the chaplain told her: “…I’m young and I’ll find somebody new”.
Another widow who was considering holding the funeral for her partner on Father’s Day claimed the chaplain said: “…I needed to think about my dad, and how disrespectful that would be to the most important man in your life, and he was referring to my dad. And then he said I needed to be thinking about how that would affect my future husband and my future children.”
At Senate estimates earlier this month, Greens Senator David Shoebridge quizzed Major General Chris Smith about the allegations.
The chaplain has denied the allegations in a hearing of the Inspector-General of Defence inquiry.
In a letter to Defence Personnel minister, Matt Keogh, RSA Executive Director Si Gladman said the case was just the latest in a growing list of public controversies engulfing Defence’s religious-based chaplaincy capability.
Recently, Defence’s chaplaincy branches have been in the spotlight over accusations of abuse and bullying behaviour and revelations that chaplains have publicly expressed views on issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion that most Australians would find unacceptable and incompatible with providing nonjudgmental care.
Mr Gladman also noted that: Air Force chief Air Marshal Robert Chipman, had raised the problem of an “unhealthy mix of theological beliefs” in chaplaincy branch at the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide; and taxpayer-funded clerics with oversight of chaplaincy had been accused of “forcing out” one former top Navy chaplain who was advocating for secular reform.
“We are deeply concerned that these controversies are causing the Australian public and many Defence personnel to lose confidence in the chaplaincy branches and in the Defence Force’s reliance on religious chaplains…to perform the frontline pastoral care role/wellbeing support role,” wrote Mr Gladman.
Although the Navy has introduced a handful of secular roles into its chaplaincy branch, Defence relies mostly on religious chaplains – and increasingly Pentecostal and evangelical Christians – to provide frontline wellbeing support for a majority non-religious workforce.
In late 2022, a spokesperson for Minister Keogh told the RSA that Army and Air Force would conduct reviews to “examine the lessons” of Navy’s new secular roles (known as Maritime Spiritual Wellbeing Officers), with the outcome of such reviews due in 2024.
In his letter, Mr Gladman asked Mr Keogh whether the reviews had been completed and, also, on what grounds the Army and Air Force could continue to deny appropriate frontline pastoral care for their personnel.
“Defence’s current dependence on religious-based chaplaincy for frontline wellbeing support is, clearly, failing our service personnel,” he said.
“It is critical that the Albanese government implements secular reform to provide professional pastoral care/wellbeing support in the Defence Force. For the sake of our Defence personnel, this should happen sooner rather than later.”
The Rationalist Society of Australia is actively lobbying and advocating for secular reform of the Defence Force. See the latest updates here.
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Si Gladman is Executive Director of the Rationalist Society of Australia. He also hosts ‘The Secular Agenda’ podcast.
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