The Rationalist Society of Australia welcomes the Australian War Memorial’s decision to meet with non-religious veterans and pro-secular advocates to discuss the domination of Anzac Day Dawn Services by Christianity.

The Canberra-based War Memorial has provided an opportunity for the RSA and non-religious veterans to soon meet with its staff following another request from the RSA Executive Director Si Gladman earlier this month.

The invitation for a discussion contrasts to the War Memorial’s position earlier this year when, leading up to Anzac Day, it turned down a request for a meeting because it “well understood” the RSA’s concerns and said a meeting would “not add benefit at this time”.

In early June, Mr Gladman urged the War Memorial’s director, Matt Anderson, to engage in consultation with non-religious veterans and Australians as part of the War Memorial’s review of this year’s Anzac Day commemoration and in preparing for next year’s event.

In April, more veterans spoke out about the imposition of Christianity in Dawn Services, with one asking in Crikey why it was that the non-Christian majority was “required to participate in religious tradition in order to pay their respects to the Anzacs”.

More than 1,000 people have signed the RSA’s online petition, calling on the War Memorial to stop imposing Christianity in Dawn Services.

Mr Gladman told Mr Anderson that a meeting would provide a good opportunity to hear from non-religious veterans about the impact on them of the War Memorial holding commemorations dominated by religion.

He also pointed to new analysis of Census data that showed veterans – and especially the younger age cohorts – had lower religious affiliation levels than people who have never served and those who are currently serving. 

Documents obtained by the RSA under freedom of information laws this year showed that the War Memorial had, in meetings with the ACT branch of the Returned & Services League (ACT RSL), raised public concerns about the religious nature of the Dawn Service. While the Dawn Service is hosted on the grounds of the War Memorial, the institution outsources responsibility for the content of the event to ACT RSL.

In response to the RSA’s complaint to the ACT Human Rights Commission last year, ACT RSL argued that the Christian nature of the Dawn Service was not discriminatory because the content of the service was “well known and has been broadcast for many years”. It also suggested people could attend “numerous alternative services” if they felt excluded and discriminated against.

The RSA has been calling for the War Memorial to take full responsibility for the Dawn Service to ensure that the event meets public expectations. The War Memorial’s own Corporate Plan 2023-27 identifies as a ‘strategic risk’ commemorations that “don’t meet community expectations or deliver social values in line with public expectations.”

Speaking today, Mr Gladman said non-religious veterans and the RSA were looking forward to meeting with staff from the War Memorial.

“We see this as a matter of human rights. All Australians should feel welcome in attending Anzac Day Dawn Services,” he said.

“We hope that the War Memorial will gain a clear understanding of how the imposition of religion on our nation’s most important day of commemoration at our nation’s most important site of remembrance alienates many people and puts up barriers to many veterans and Australians wanting to attend.”

The Rationalist Society of Australia is actively lobbying and advocating for secular reform of the Defence Force and military commemorations. 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.

Photo by Hannah on Flickr (CC)