Non-religious pastoral care, often called humanist or secular pastoral support, is the provision of emotional, existential and "spiritual" support to people in need, in settings such as hospitals, prisons, universities and the armed forces, from a non-religious rather than a faith-based standpoint. It has developed as a counterpart to traditional religious chaplaincy, responding to the reality that many of those facing illness, crisis, grief or death are not religious and may not wish for religious ministry, yet still need someone to talk to, to be present with them, and to help them find meaning, comfort and resolution in their circumstances. The non-religious pastoral carer offers attentive presence, listening and support grounded in shared humanity and a humanist understanding of life, without prayer, scripture or the framework of an afterlife, meeting the person on their own terms and according to their own beliefs and values.
The practice has grown as the number of the non-religious has risen and as institutions have sought to provide equitable care to people of all beliefs and none. Humanist pastoral carers now serve alongside religious chaplains in the health services, prisons and other institutions of a number of countries, and their inclusion in what were once exclusively religious chaplaincy structures has itself been the subject of advocacy and, at times, of dispute. Non-religious pastoral care reflects the recognition that the needs traditionally met by religious ministry, for presence in suffering, for help in facing mortality, for the search for meaning, are human needs not confined to the religious, and that they can be met in a wholly secular form for those who neither hold nor wish for a faith.