Canada’s government has raised alarms by instructing military chaplains that they may offer “inclusive” spiritual reflections at public events but cannot pray or mention God.
The personnel instruction released July 29 by the Canadian Armed Forces does not apply to funerals or voluntary worship services, but does apply to all other public events, including military parades, change of command ceremonies, commissioning of ships and historical commemorations.
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“The purpose of this instruction is to provide direction to commanders and all members of the CAF regarding their moral, ethical and legal obligation to respect freedom of religion and religious neutrality in the execution of their public duties … respecting the cultural and spiritual diversity of CAF members,” the government said.
Critics of the move chastised the military for relegating meaningful religious speech to private worship spaces and diminishing the unique role of military chaplains.
“This policy goes beyond banning prayer and prohibits even the acknowledgment to those gathered that some may believe in the divine and others not,” said Bruce Clemenger, senior ambassador and president emeritus of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC), and member of the Interfaith Committee for Canadian Military Chaplaincy. “This exclusion restricts the spiritual reflection of chaplains to a secularist and characteristically humanist expression.”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Jerry Pierce and originally published by Decision Magazine.
