Richard Fidler

They would often censor the mail.

They would act as the officer's treasurer for the mess.

Presumably the clergyman was the most reliable of the officers.

And so it was

Define your own role.

And the good chaplains, and there were many of them, like Dexter, would actually mingle with the men during the day, just being friendly and building relationships.

Definitely.

And a number of chaplains comment on this, you know, one of them talking about the irony of being on a mission of war at Christmas as he's running the services.

But these are also men who are raised within the British imperial ideology, which was, it viewed God, king and country as a kind of a unified entity.

The sense that the British empire had global dominance because God was enabling it to carry the Protestant gospel to the world.

So they didn't necessarily see going to war as a conflict, especially against Germany, which was seen as a militaristic government, not a democracy.

It was seen as liberal in its theology.

And so it was a kind of a political religious crusade.

Were they seen as a bit of feet as well in a very blokey military culture, these chaplains?

Absolutely.

Religion at the time was seen as a feminine concern and already churches were 60% women, 40% men.

No.

And in fact, when you read the accounts of the chaplains, one phrase keeps coming through over and over again, the emphasis on their manliness.

because religion was for sooks.

But Dexter is a man's man.