Christianity Today August 12, 2026 5 min signal 2026-08-12

Canadian military chaplains can't mention God in public

Archived text mirror, captured for personal reading when the Signal ran. Formatting is approximate — read the original at the source.

Christianity Today

August 12, 2026

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Cole Burston / Stringer / Getty

While Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seeks to make US military chaplains more explicitly religious, the Canadian government is heading in the opposite direction as new directives ban chaplains from using religious language at public events.

Released on July 29, the instructions noted that members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) making public remarks at any type of public or semi-public event “shall uphold the principle of state religious and spiritual neutrality by not using words, actions, or symbols that are specific to a particular SFT [Spiritual or Faith Tradition] on the part of the Government of Canada.”

It also instructs chaplains not to offer prayer at official events, including military ceremonies or commemorations. If chaplains are asked to pray at a public event while serving as a representative of the CAF, they are told to instead offer a spiritual reflection without religion-specific language.

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Canadian evangelicals and conservative politicians have raised the alarm, saying that while the government is attempting to be inclusive, it is actually being exclusive.

“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, president emeritus of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) and a member of the Interfaith Committee for Canadian Military Chaplaincy. “This exclusion restricts the spiritual reflection of chaplains to a secularist and characteristically humanist expression.”

In addition to broadening the restrictions themselves, the new directive also affects all Canadian Armed Forces members, not just chaplains. Member of parliament James Bezan called the policy “unnecessary and regressive.”

“The Government’s new directive restricting prayer and religious expression in official military … events represents a disturbing departure from Canada’s longstanding commitment to religious expression,” Bezan wrote in an X post. “Instead of being inclusive, this Liberal government has excluded military members of faith and sent a message that they are no longer welcome in the Canadian Armed Forces.”

Derek Abma, a spokesman for Canada’s Department of National Defense, told Christianity Today the guiding principle behind the new directive is inclusivity. He noted that removing prayer is not a rejection of religion, but that “the aim is for ceremonial moments to bring people together, regardless of belief.”

He said that the Royal Canadian Chaplain Service is required to maintain religious neutrality based on the 2015 Canadian Supreme Court decision, Mouvement laïque québécois v. Saguenay. In that case, the court found that a municipal government was failing its duty to be religiously neutral by reciting a Catholic prayer before meetings.

“By avoiding language specific to any one worldview, chaplains respect the dignity of all, and help everyone present to engage with comfort, dignity, and a sense of belonging,” Abma said.

The new directive does not limit a chaplain’s personal beliefs or ability to provide personal spiritual or religious care, the Department of National Defence maintains, and military personnel are still able to offer prayers or speak at voluntary events or those organized for CAF members of a shared faith tradition.

“Chaplains are encouraged to organize and support these gatherings, which may focus on specific spiritual or religious faith traditions, with prayer, ritual, and theological discussions relevant to those who choose to attend,” Abma added.

Sharlene Henderson, chair of the Association of Alliance Chaplains, which is part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, said she can understand the intention of being inclusive of people with varying beliefs and believes that’s a goal worth taking seriously.

“My concern is with whether excluding references to God is the best way to achieve it,” she said. “Neutrality should mean making room for diversity rather than privileging one particular worldview—whether religious or secular—over others.”

Clemenger believes a better approach would be to include the various traditions, perhaps by rotating through chaplains of different faiths each time there is an event that requires spiritual reflection. He noted that being respectful of diversity means at times being present “for … a prayer from a different faith that we may not agree with. But it doesn’t mean we’re required to participate or follow along in the prayer or somehow be involved.”

As it stands, the policy amounts to “putting their faith under a bushel,” he said. “What it does is [it] neuters the language of God in the public square.”

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