In this episode, former Navy top chaplain Collin Acton OAM speaks of being “forced out” of the Australian Defence Force for publicly advocating for reform of the military’s religious-based pastoral care and wellbeing support provided to service personnel. Earlier this year, the taxpayer-funded Religious Advisory Committee to the Services (RACS) – consisting of religious clerics – complained to the Chief of Defence Force about a media appearance by Collin on ABC radio. As Director-General of Navy Chaplaincy in 2020, Collin was instrumental in having secular wellbeing officer roles introduced for the first time into the Navy’s chaplaincy branch to help meet the needs of non-religious personnel. The majority of ADF personnel identify as not religious.
In this episode, former Navy top chaplain Collin Acton OAM speaks of being “forced out” of the Australian Defence Force for publicly advocating for reform of the military’s religious-based pastoral care and wellbeing support provided to service personnel. Earlier this year, the taxpayer-funded Religious Advisory Committee to the Services (RACS) – consisting of religious clerics – complained to the Chief of Defence Force about a media appearance by Collin on ABC radio. As Director-General of Navy Chaplaincy in 2020, Collin was instrumental in having secular wellbeing officer roles introduced for the first time into the Navy’s chaplaincy branch to help meet the needs of non-religious personnel. The majority of ADF personnel identify as not religious.
The Rationalist Society of Australia is campaigning for reform of the religious-based chaplaincy model in the Australian Defence Force. See our campaign page here.
In April this year, Collin Acton was interviewed for ABC Radio’s ‘Conversations’ program. Listen to the interview here.
The theme music of the Secular Agenda podcast is called 'Curiosity', and it's by Shimmer.
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