The Australian defence force has a disproportionately high number of evangelical chaplains, with one Australian Christian Churches chaplain for every member who identifies with that denomination, new figures reveal.
Critics argue ADF members shouldn’t be forced to receive care from someone with views that may differ vastly from their own – particularly when 80% of new recruits say they aren’t religious.
Documents provided to the Senate show there are 13 Australian Christian Churches (ACC) chaplains in the ADF even though there are only 13 serving members who self-identify as ACC.
ACC was formerly the Assemblies of God (AOG) which is still listed as a religious grouping by the ADF. It has eight chaplains for 65 serving members.
Overall, there are 312 chaplains serving 30,743 regular and reserve ADF members who are religious.
In total, there are 108 pentecostal or evangelical chaplains representing 1,607 members. That means one in three chaplains in the ADF are pentecostal or evangelical while only 5% of members identify as followers.
By way of contrast, there are five chaplains identifying as non-denominational “Christians” and 4,217 serving members who identify that way – a ratio of one to 843.
Critics are concerned some defence members might be reluctant to seek mental health support from someone who may hold conservative views on homosexuality, marriage breakdown and abortion.
Collin Acton, a former director general of chaplaincy for the navy, has told the ongoing royal commission into veteran suicides that 64% of the defence workforce was not religious – a figure that went up to 80% for new members. He said defence was “grooming its workforce to receive services from a religious minister”.
“The issue is that not everyone wants to see the religious bloke (they are mainly male and over 50) – some people are concerned about being funnelled into seeing a religious minister for support,” Acton said.
Chaplains were “ill-equipped” to provide support and their theology could “get in the way” when it came to discussing abortion, contraception, sex outside marriage and marriage breakdown, Acton said.
“The member ought to have access to a human service professional in the first instance, and if they also want/need the support of a religious minister then defence can arrange that from outside the unit.”
National Secular Lobby ambassador Associate Prof Paul Willis said the situation echoed the school chaplaincy program – which has also been criticised for being dominated by evangelical Christians.
“It’s about time that not just the fundamentalist chaplains, but chaplains in general … that someone put a plug in their rise,” he said.
Defence hired its first pentecostal chaplain in 2009. At the time, it said appointments were based on how many members described themselves as a follower of that faith group.
Senator Jacqui Lambie asked the defence department in estimates how many chaplains were in the ADF now, their denomination, and how many service personnel identified with each group.
In answer to a question taken on notice, defence provided statistics showing that of the 312 permanent and active reserve chaplains almost a third (93) were Anglican. There are 6,458 Anglican members giving a ratio of one chaplain for every 69 members.
The average across all denominations is 98.5 serving members per chaplain. There are fewer members per chaplain for those identifying as Muslim (67), Buddhist (60) and Jewish (11).
For Catholics, it’s one chaplain for 432 members and for those identifying under the “Roman Catholic” option it’s one chaplain per 277 members.
The pentecostal and evangelical churches are represented by Chaplaincy Australia (CA) which is run by ACC. ACC describes itself as “Bible-loving, evangelical and pentecostal”.
CA’s national director, Ralph Estherby, also advises defence via its religious advisory committee. There, he represents the ACC as well as the Baptist (12 members per chaplain), Churches of Christ (6), Lutheran (70), Salvation Army (31.5) and Seventh Day Adventist (13) churches.
Estherby was the first pentecostal chaplain appointed in 2009.
He said there was “not a quota system in place” and it was a case of “the best chaplain for the job”. Chaplains minister to people of all faiths and of no faith, he said.
For most issues, people “didn’t care what my flavour was”, Estherby argued, while for specific religious services, a chaplain could connect a person to a chaplain of another faith.
Guardian Australia asked Estherby if people could be reluctant to seek help from a chaplain whose beliefs and values they disagreed with.
“Maybe that’s your initial thought, but when you spoke to the chaplains you would find that they are chosen to be non-judgmental and non-sectarian,” he said.
They were highly trained and skilled, fully vetted and part of a larger support network, Estherby said.
Military mental health expert Associate Prof Lisa Dell – from the University of Melbourne’s centre for post-traumatic mental health – said the chaplaincy ratios raised the question of whether it was harder for some people to access timely support.
But research she has conducted for defence into detecting mental health problems early showed ADF members accessed a number of types of mental health support – including chaplaincy.
“Chaplaincy wasn’t the be-all and end-all of support. They would talk to leadership, to their peers, or access more formalised health support. I feel there is a place for chaplaincy but it’s just one piece of the puzzle.”
Defence has been diversifying its chaplain representation, including seeking non-religious alternatives, it said.
A spokesperson said the force accepted that “a person’s religious and spiritual belief system is a significant factor in their overall wellbeing.
“Defence aims to provide the best care it can for its people and chaplains play a pivotal role in providing this support to ADF members,” the spokesperson said.
Defence did not respond to a question about the higher representation of certain faiths or if there was an attempt to ensure chaplains reflected the religious makeup of the force.
* Two chaplains did not select a religion. Source: Department of Defence
• In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and ChildLine on 0800 1111. In the US, Mental Health America is available on 800-273-8255
