Christian affiliation has continued to plummet in the Australian Defence Force as the proportion of service personnel identifying as not religious has surged, according to official Defence data released today.

More than six out of 10 personnel in the permanent Defence Force now identify as not religious, yet Defence continues to deny most of them suitable secular frontline wellbeing and pastoral support.

In the 2023 Defence Census, 61 per cent of personnel said they were not religious – up from 56 per cent in 2019.

Christianity fell to just 34 per cent, down from 40 per cent in 2019.

Yet, the Army and Air Force continue to rely almost exclusively on Christian chaplaincy – and increasingly Pentecostal and evangelical chaplains – to provide uniformed frontline pastoral care and wellbeing support.

Only the Navy provides some non-religious wellbeing support workers embedded in units and ships, with the Maritime Spiritual Wellbeing Officer (MSWO) roles having been introduced into the existing chaplaincy branch in 2020.

As the Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) reported last week, a review of the implementation of the MSWO roles found “strong demand” among Navy personnel and considered them to be a “complementary non-religious alternative” in helping to meet the mental health and wellbeing needs of personnel.

The latest Defence data, published online today, also shows that 6 per cent of Defence personnel are gay, lesbian or bisexual.

The change in religious demographics has been rapid in recent years, with ‘no religion’ recording 35 per cent in 2011 and 53 per cent in 2015.

For a number of years, the RSA has been advocating for secular reform of Defence’s religious-based chaplaincy model, arguing that religion puts up barriers to many personnel seeking wellbeing support.

In a submission to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide, the RSA also detailed evidence that religious chaplaincy was viewed as a ‘missionary’ activity in Defence and was unable to provide non-judgemental care.

Speaking today, RSA Executive Director Si Gladman said Army and Air Force must now follow suit and provide their non-religious workforces with appropriate secular wellbeing support.

“We will now step up our advocacy efforts in calling on Defence to make this much-needed reform across all three services,” he said.

“Defence and its chaplains continue to go around using the line that they provide support for all personnel, regardless of religion. But that is a myth. It ignores the fact that, for whatever reason, many personnel simply do not want to see a religious agent to speak about their problems.

“Religious personnel, quite rightly, should be able to access appropriate religious support. But non-religious personnel deserve the same opportunity in accessing the kind of wellbeing support and pastoral care that can meet their needs.”

The new figure for ‘no religion’ differs slightly from data reported last year by former Army Colonel and Defence statistician Phillip Hoglin. In an official Defence publication, he wrote that, as of January 2023, human resources management data, known as PMKeyS, showed no religion at almost 64 per cent.

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.

Image: Department of Defence/Commonwealth of Australia