Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slashed the number of religious affiliations recognized by the Pentagon from more than 200 to 31 and set off a political firestorm in the process.
The loudest reaction came when U.S. Sen. Mike Hill, R-Utah, and other Mormon members of Congress learned the Church of Christ of Latter-day Saints had been removed from the list of recognized Christian traditions.
Sen. Mike Lee (Photo by Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images)
“I find this offensive not just because that happens to be my faith and not just because it happens to be the faith of tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel, but it’s also just repugnant to any sense of decency, any sense of our common heritage and our common belief that the government needs not to weight in on doctrinal disputes between various religious denominations,” Lee said in a video posted June 7.
Lee went on to “implore” the Pentagon to “not just reconsider it but undo it. Secretary Hegseth: Tear down that wall. This is not cool. Get rid of it — get rid of it now.”
On June 8, the military did just that by issuing a revised list with Mormons included among Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Methodists, nondenominational, Orthodox, Seventh Day Adventists, Quakers and 10 other Christian groups.
Additional religious affiliations the Pentagon retained included agnosticism, Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism and “no religion.”
All others fell into the “Other Religions” category. Those lumped into that categroy include Deists, Druids, ECKists (followers of Eckankar), Humanists, New Age practitioners, Pagans, Unitarian Universalists, and various Wiccan traditions.
The controversy began with a May 20 memo from Under Secretary of War Anthony Tata announcing the Pentagon’s “categorization of religious affiliation” would be reduced from “over 200 unmanageable categories to 31” in order “to allow our chaplains and religious support personnel to provide the best spiritual care to our warfighters.”
Hegseth also has directed that chaplains replace rank insignia on uniforms with symbols of the faith they represent.
The streamlining of “religious affiliation codes” is part of Hegseth’s wider effort to transform military chaplains from counselors to “the moral anchors of our fighting force” by making them free to talk openly about God and faith. Hegseth also has directed that chaplains replace rank insignia on uniforms with symbols of the faith they represent.
“A chaplain is first and foremost a chaplain, and an officer second. This change is a visual representation of that fact,” Hegseth said. “Specifically unique to the role of a chaplain, they are first and foremost called and ordained by God. And, while they will retain rank as an officer to those they serve, their rank will not be visible.”
The revamped faith codes, he added, fit into the picture by making it easier for chaplains to assess the religious and spiritual needs of airmen, Marines, sailors and soldiers. “The previous system … was impractical and unusable, and many codes were never used at all,” he said. A “significant majority of service members — 82% of whom identify as being religious — use only six of the codes.”
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell added that the new designations are about efficiency, not legitimacy. “This decrease in religious affiliation codes is not designed to make any claims on the legitimacy of any faith or religious belief, nor is it intended to provide a list of ‘officially approved’ religions.”
Hemant Mehta
But that claim seems not to have convinced or consoled members of the belief systems eliminated in Hegseth’s remaking of religious expression in the U.S. armed forces.
“It’s yet another example of the Trump administration just doing away with useful information as part of their irrational war on ‘wokeness,” Hemant Mehta wrote on his “Friendly Atheist” Substack.
Paring the list diminishes the effectiveness of chaplains by limiting available information about the spirituality of the military personnel they are attempting to serve, he said, claiming this can be particularly harmful to atheists and other humanists who already receive fewer resources than those affiliated with recognized faiths.
“Since religious beliefs must be accommodated, the same rationale that allows Christians in the military to gather for Bible study can be used by Humanists to meet up and talk about philosophy. They can all have time off to attend worship services regardless of what that looks like,” Mehta said. “If there are enough people with a particular label, they may be able to have a dedicated space to gather. And, of course, if you die in combat, you can be assured you’ll be treated in accordance with your beliefs instead of some generically Christian one.”
The Unitarian Universalist Association said it is collaborating with legal counsel and partners to “craft a strategic response” to the Pentagon’s action and the detrimental effects it could have on UU service members.
“This eliminates the code for Unitarian Universalists, as well as Humanists, Atheists and Pagan traditions, and many others. Along with dozens of other religious traditions, UUs will be categorized broadly under ‘Other’ in military’s religious affiliation codes,” the association explained.
“Universalist service members will not be able to select their specific religious identity in their personnel records. This may make it more difficult for our uniformed UUs to access the spiritual care that they need.”
Military.com reported the last time the Department of Defense altered the number of authorized belief systems was in 2017 — during President Donald Trump’s first term. At that time, more than 100 alternative and minority traditions were added.
“That change at the time was said to better expand religious planning for multiple reasons, including better tracking for more accurate demographic data, better planning for religious support for the force and providing a better assessment of the capabilities and requirements of each military service’s chaplain’s corps,” the website noted.
The conservative evangelical branch of Christianity Hegseth represents routinely denies Latter-day Saints are truly part of the Christian tradition, even though the LDS church calls itself Christian.