Humanist Chaplains Entering Traditionally Faith-Based NHS Chaplaincy Teams

Abstract

Healthcare chaplaincy in the National Health Service (NHS) has rapidly changed in the last few years. Research shows a decline of people belonging to traditional faith frameworks, and the non-religious patient demographic in the NHS has increased swiftly. This requires a different approach to healthcare chaplaincy. Where chaplaincy has originally been a Christian profession, this has expanded to a multi-faith context. Over the last five years, humanists with non-religious beliefs have entered the profession for the first time, creating multi-faith and belief teams. As this is a very new development, this article will focus on literature about humanists entering traditionally faith-based NHS chaplaincy teams within the last five years in England. This article addresses the question “what are the developments resulting from the inclusion of humanist chaplains in healthcare chaplaincy?” Topics arising from the literature are an acknowledgement of a changing healthcare chaplaincy field, worries about changing current practices and chaplaincy funding, the use of (Christian) language excluding non-religious people and challenging assumptions about those who identify as non-religious.

Keywords

• healthcare chaplaincy
• National Health Service (NHS)
• humanist
• non-religious
• spiritual
• pastoral