Have you heard the one about the priest, the rabbi and the imam who walk into a military canteen and security guards escort them off the base, warning them never to come back? Yes, I know that isn’t funny. Did I say it was a joke?.In December 2020, Prime Minister Trudeau gave the nod to the Minister of Defence for the establishment of an advisory panel, whose mandate was to “seek out the policies, processes and practices that enable systemic racism and discrimination in the Department of National Defence (DND) and [Canadian Armed Forces].”.The final report of the panel was released last January. Needless to say, the panel found that “inequality in representation persists in every corner of the Defence Team.” The failure of the Defence Team to be representative of Canadian demographics was found to be “rooted in the system that was created by European settlers.” “Canada’s colonial past” is at the root of inequality within Canada. There is quite a lot more breast-beating I won’t bore you with. Let’s hop down to Number 6: “Redefining Chaplaincy.”.According to the CAF website, chaplains are “responsible for fostering the spiritual, religious and pastoral care of [CAF] members and their families, regardless of religious affiliation, practice and/or belief.” But, say the members of the advisory panel, it is necessary to recognize that for some Canadians “religion can be a source of suffering and generational trauma.” People like LGBTQ members of society. Or “indigenous Peoples” who have “suffered unimaginable generational trauma and genocide at the hands of Christian religious leaders through initiatives such as residential school and Indian day school programs.”.Uh oh. There it is: “Some chaplains represent or are affiliated with organized religions whose beliefs are not synonymous with those of a diverse and inclusive workplace.” Can you hear the rumbling of the tumbrils, coming for your Abrahamic religion, soldier? You will, if this report’s recommendations are accepted. “some churches’ exclusion of women from their priesthoods violates principles of equality and social justice, as do sexist notions embedded in their religious dogmas. In addition, certain faiths have strict tenets requiring conversion of those they deem to be ‘pagan,’ or who belong to polytheistic religions. These faiths’ dogmas and practices conflict with the commitment of the Defence Team to value equality and inclusivity at every level of the workplace.”.And the solution to all these distressing violations of social justice principles? Yep. Sorry, Christian, Jewish and Muslim chaplains, your time is up, or at least this panel would like it to be up. The CAF “cannot justify hiring representatives of organizations who marginalize certain people or categorically refuse them a position of leadership.” So, as Fr Raymond de Souza put it in a scathing critique of the report in the National Post, “The advisory panel’s view is that if a soldier who’s been wounded in battle, or even dying, calls for a chaplain, the CAF should not provide one unless it approves of the theological beliefs being offered.”.The CAF, the report goes on, “cannot consider itself supportive of inclusivity when it employs as chaplains members of organizations whose values are not consistent with National Defence’s ethics and values — even if those members express non-adherence to the policies of their chosen religion.”.So out with the Abrahamic faiths. Is there any faith they approve of? Oh sure, as long as they are shamanistic and polytheistic. “Select chaplains representative of many faiths including forms of spirituality beyond the Abrahamic faiths. … Find ways to grant educational equivalencies, for example to knowledge keepers, rather than strictly adhering to the prerequisite that all chaplains must have a master’s degree,” the report says. They mean Indigenous beliefs (even though over 63 percent of Indigenous people are Christian, and would be the losers alongside white Christians if Christian chaplains were dumped.).The panel’s report is, of course, only advisory, and while it is easy to imagine Justin Trudeau seriously considering removal of Christian chaplains, given his past shows of contempt for Christians who hold sincere beliefs about abortion and euthanasia, it is a little more difficult to imagine Trudeau giving the middle finger to Jewish chaplains, and in all honesty near impossible to imagine him braving the blowback he would receive from Canadian Muslims if he were to countenance the dismantling of the Muslim chaplaincy on the grounds that Islam isn’t “compatible” with the polytheism..From this report, one seriously has to wonder what the Department of Defence thinks is its primary function? Is it defending the nation, as most of us would presume? Because if that is the case, they really want to make sure their recruitment strategies reflect that function.. At present, the CAF is short by 7,000 members. Is now really the best time to bruit the message that Christianity is a religion so distasteful to CAF governance that believing Christian members will be henceforth denied access to spiritual counsel and comfort? As one former CAF member put it to me, regarding this report, it’s “one more sign of the military’s state of ‘managed decline’.”.I singled out Christians for special sympathy, because they are by far the majority of the membership, and also, historically, the “market” from which most of the CAF membership has come up to now, and is most likely to come in the foreseeable future. The message such a recommendation, if implemented, would send to potential Christian recruits is, “Hey, come lend us your bodies for service that may prove lethal, but know that if you do, you have to put your soul on ice for the duration, because we don’t like the cut of your religion’s jib..“But don’t worry! Don’t think of it as losing a chaplain; think of it as gaining a new religion, a much better one than you had. And what’s more, your new religion – the religion of Woke - will offer you evidence of its presence everywhere you turn. Instead of services only on Sunday, you’ll find yourself at worship every day. Woke chaplains will be at your elbow and available, even when you have no use for them. In fact, there’s no atheists allowed in this man’s/woman’s/nonbinary army. ‘Tenshun!!.Barbara Kay is a senior columnist for Western Standard New Media Corp.kbarb@westernstandardonline.com
