Utah lawmakers are among those expressing discontent with the Department of Defense’s new list of recognized religious faiths and beliefs, specifically alarmed at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) being excluded as a Christian religion.
Last Thursday, Military.com was the first to report how the DOD drastically reduced its number of recognized religious faiths and belief systems by 180—from the 211 recognized in 2017, to this change nearly 10 years later that recognizes 31 faiths and beliefs. The change, communicated through the ranks via an internal May 20 memo obtained by Military.com, drew scrutiny from current and former chaplains and United States military veterans from different faith-based backgrounds who described it as the current administration’s continued efforts to push Christian theocracy across the armed services.
The change, now officially acknowledged by the DOD after Military.com’s initial reporting, has ruffled the feathers of LDS followers—who include Republican lawmakers at state and federal levels—openly criticizing the new list.
Among them are Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who on Sunday took to social media calling for 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!” Lee said on X.
“It’s just repugnant to any sense of decency, any sense of our common heritage and our common belief that the government needs to not weigh in on doctrinal disputes between various religious denominations,” Lee added in his video recorded rebuke of the policy.
Military.com reached out for comment to Lee’s office and the LDS Church.
On June 5, one day after the Military.com story broke, chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed the revised list on X and called it “long overdue.” The move allows the department to return to its original intent of collecting this data, Parnell added, which he said allows chaplains and religious support personnel to provide the best spiritual care to warfighters.
“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,” Parnell said. “Rather, it is designed to allow chaplains to quickly look at the religious composition of their units and determine how they structure resources to best provide for warfighters of all faith groups.
“The Department of War places a high value on the First Amendment and the free exercise of religion. Chaplains play an instrumental role in providing spiritual care and facilitating the Warfighters’ ability to freely exercise their religion of choice, or no religion at all. With this new change, we believe we can provide the best data to support our chaplains in that effort.”
Pentagon’s New List ‘Unacceptable’
Military.com reported June 4 that the revised list, according to obtained documents, includes Agnostics, Buddhists, Hindus, Islam (Muslims), Judaism, Sikh, and a wide range of Christian-based groups like Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans and Methodists. LDS is not recognized.
The full list is as follows:
- Agnostic (AN)
- Baha’i faith (BH)
- Buddhism (BU)
- Christian – Assemblies of God (AG)
- Christian – Baptist (BA)
- Christian – Brethren (BR)
- Christian – Catholic (CA)
- Christian – Church of Christ (CC)
- Christian – Church of God (CG)
- Christian – Church of the Nazarene (CN)
- Christian – Episcopal/Anglican (EA)
- Christian – Evangelical (EV)
- Christian – Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW)
- Christian – Lutheran (LU)
- Christian – Methodist (ME)
- Christian – Non Denominational (ND)
- Christian – Orthodox (OX)
- Christian – Other (CO)
- Christian – Pentecostal (PE)
- Christian – Presbyterian (PR)
- Christian – Quaker (QU)
- Christian – Reformed (RE)
- Christian – Scientist (SC)
- Christian – Seventh Day Adventist (SA)
- Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (CJ)
- Hindu (HI)
- Islam (Muslim) (IS)
- Judaism (Jewish) (JU)
- No Religion (NR)
- Other Religions (OR)
- Sikh (SI)
Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah), of the heavily Mormon state, said Sunday on X that the revisions made went too far.
“Latter-day Saints are among the most patriotic, service-oriented individuals in our country,” Curtis wrote. “They are also unequivocally Christian—just look at who is in the name of the Church.
“It is unacceptable for a government entity to characterize a faith in a manner that contradicts the religion’s own foundational tenets. I am working now to ensure a correction is made.”
Rep. Mike Kennedy (R-Utah) said the list does not “accurately portray” LDS followers, also taking to social media to “strongly urge the Department to correct the record.”
“The Pentagon’s decision to list The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apart from other Christian faiths is wrong and needs to be corrected,” Kennedy said on X. “No one needs to wonder where members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stand. We stand with Christ. We are Christians.
“On that ground, and on the much larger ground of shared faith, values, and purpose, Latter-day Saints stand alongside many Christians of every tradition in following the teachings of Christ.”
Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) wrote on X that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth “owes an honest explanation” about the new list.
“About 250,000 Latter-day Saints live in Maricopa County alone,” Stanton said. “There are hundreds of thousands of LDS veterans, & tens of thousands of active-duty LDS service members are serving our country, some in combat zones right now. They deserve to know why Hegseth excluded their faith.”
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