Religious plurality and the Slovenian Military Chaplaincy

This study focuses on the relationship between attitudes to religious plurality and the Slovenian Military Chaplaincy’s staffing, pastoral work, educational provision and work in field missions in Muslim states. The chaplaincy's future is shaped by the fact that this is a post-Communist state with a historically Catholic majority, affected by a vibrant conflict over secular-religious relationships that is regularly evoked in debate between the politically dominant parties of the Left and Right. This study illustrates how chaplaincy staff are affected by this polarization. It also shows practical factors at stake in their work, which effect their treatment of religious plurality. Both the practical and political contexts have prompted the Chaplaincy to address religious plurality in ways that enable them to surmount the constraints placed on them by the polarization they experience, most preferring an inclusivist approach over any explicit religious pluralism.