We need your support to send a strong message to the Australian War Memorial.

For a number of years now, we’ve been calling for the War Memorial to stop imposing Christianity at its Anzac Day Dawn Service. But the War Memorial has dodged responsibility for this, as it outsources the hosting of the event to the ACT Returned and Services League (RSL).

This is simply not good enough.

Allowing Christianity to dominate the event alienates many Australians, including veterans and currently serving Defence personnel.

So we’ve launched a new petition calling on the War Memorial to take full responsibility for the conduct of the national Dawn Service and ensure that it meets public expectations.

Click the button below, add your name to the petition, and share it with friends.

In Crikey on the weekend, Army veteran Sam Proctor supported our call for secular reform of Dawn Services. Speaking about his experience of attending Dawn Services dominated by Christianity, he said: “The only thing that [stopped] me walking off in disgust was sheer good manners.”

Professor Peter Stanley, a former principal historian at the War Memorial, said accepting that Australian society had changed and its national rituals needed to do the same was “beyond the imagination or the courage of the RSL and the AWM”.

We have been engaging with the War Memorial on this issue (catch up on our recent reporting here). And we’ll be seeking a meeting with its director, Matt Anderson, in coming weeks.

With your help, we can achieve change.

Si Gladman
Executive Director