In the twenty-first century, university chaplaincy is often organised around a multifaith model, under the auspices of a full-time coordinating chaplain who is most likely to be Anglican. Consequently, chaplaincy is simultaneously predominantly Christian and multi-faith. Chaplains are becoming more religiously diverse, reflecting the increasing religious diversity of the student population. This was noted in Clines’ study over a decade ago, and it is more so today. A decade since Clines’ 2007 study, there has been a rise in the proportion of chaplains who are Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Baha’i, as well as a significant rise in numbers who are humanist, inter-faith, or Pagan, as Table 1.1 shows. [Our telephone interviews were conducted in 2017, 10 years after Clines’ research, to enable a 10-years-on comparison.] The Christian proportion has fallen from 70% to 59% (if Quakers are not included within the label ‘Christian’), or 63% (if Quakers are included). [To enable comparison with Clines’ study which subsumed ‘Quaker’ under ‘Christian’, we cite both figures. Quakers are increasingly eschewing being identified as Christian. Figures from a longitudinal study of British Quakers demonstrate a declining proportion identify as Christian, from 51.5% in 1990, to 45.5% in 2003, to 36.5% in 2013 (Dandelion, forthcoming).]
| Tradition | 2007 Proportion | 2017 Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Christian | 70% | 63% |
| Muslim | 7% | 9% |
| Jewish | 8% | 8% |
| Buddhist | 3% | 5% |
| Hindu | 3% | 4% |
| Sikh | 2% | 2% |
| Baha’i | 1% | 2% |
| Other | 6% | 7% |
Table 1: Religion of chaplains 2007 and 2017
One in five chaplaincies are called ‘multi-faith’ chaplaincies or centres, up from one in ten in 2007. This signifies universities’ increasing desire to meet the religious needs of students from diverse religious backgrounds, perhaps in response to the Equality Act 2010, which treats religion or belief as an equality issue and ‘protected characteristic’ equal to gender, ethnicity, disability and others.
Should chaplaincy be multi-faith or single-religion? There are some tensions or differences in how universities and chaplains view the notion of ‘multi-faith’ chaplaincy. Multi-faith is sometimes a term favoured by university managers charged with prioritising equality and diversity as a way of signalling an inclusive campus. A ‘multi-faith’ centre is viewed by managers as somewhere many or all faiths are welcome. But the reality of chaplaincy is that although most chaplaincy teams comprise members of several different religions, as well as several different Christian denominations, Christians do the lion’s share of chaplaincy work and are much more likely to be paid and work full-time. Christian chaplains often lead multi-faith chaplaincy teams, but this does not mean they are ‘multi-faith chaplains,’ and asking them to be so risks alienating them. While most chaplains are committed to inter-faith and multi-faith work, they are also committed to representing their own religious organisation; they wish to do (and are charged by their religious organisation with doing) ‘Jewish chaplaincy’, ‘Sikh chaplaincy’ or ‘Roman Catholic chaplaincy’. They are not commissioned by their religion or belief body as a ‘multi-faith chaplain’. Chaplains have to deliver single-religion chaplaincy in universities that might prefer them to be ‘multi-faith’ chaplains. This has to be negotiated continually, and as universities increasingly rename their chaplaincies as ‘multi-faith centres’, they must ensure that chaplains are able to practice single-religion chaplaincy alongside their colleagues from other faiths. Moreover, unless universities are paying chaplains’ salaries (see below), how much they can or should shape what chaplaincies or individual chaplains call themselves is debateable.
Whether the space of the chaplaincy is multi-purpose/multi-faith or singlefaith- specific is also a live issue for chaplains. Space reflects prioritisation. The traditional model of one or more Christian chapel, combined with one or more smaller space for other religious groups is starting to be replaced by either shared spaces, bookable by different groups at different times, or by multiple spaces for use by each specific group, with some religion-specific requirements for some (for example wudu facilities for Muslims). Shared spaces hold potential for student inter-faith engagement, but it is up to their users to mould them in this way; otherwise, the danger is that they become spaces which different groups of religious students use at different times, never communicating with each other.
Moreover, chaplaincy’s student users are not evenly spread across faith groups – the majority are Christian and Muslim (in most universities the majority are Christian, but in a few Muslims now outnumber Christians, at least among regular users of chaplaincy services), because these are the largest religious groups in the UK among students. These student users often come to the chaplaincy seeking a place to express their religion, and while chaplaincies do (and should, in our view) encourage students to relate well to those of other faiths, their desire for chaplains to help them understand or practice their own religion must be respected.