Pentagon updates list of recognized religious affiliations after backlash from Mormon lawmakers

Summary

• The Pentagon revised its list of recognized religious affiliations for service members after criticism that Latter-day Saints were excluded from a list of Christian designations.
• Some lawmakers including Senator Mike Lee, who is a Mormon, objected to the original list that labeled 21 faiths as Christian but not followers of the Mormon church.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office adjusted the list so that faiths are not grouped.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

The Pentagon has updated its list of verified religious affiliations for service members used in HR systems and removed the “Christian” designation from several faiths after facing backlash over the weekend that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not designated as Christian.

A list shared online last week by Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell formalized 31 religious categories that service members could identify as — 21 of which were identified as variations of Christianity. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was not identified as Christian, a fact immediately criticized by Mormon lawmakers including staunch Trump supporter Sen. Mike Lee.

“I think it’s very unfortunate that the Pentagon has chosen to identify basically every faith group in America that professes faith in Jesus Christ as Christian with one exception: that is those belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” Lee said in a video posted online on Sunday. “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 US 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 to not weigh in on doctrinal disputes between various religious denominations.”

Another Republican Utah lawmaker, Rep. Mike Kennedy, called the Pentagon’s list “wrong” and said it “needs to be corrected.”

Monday, the Pentagon released a second version of the list, which removed the “Christian” identifier from the various faiths and denominations.

“The Pentagon’s job is not to adjudicate theological debates, but instead to ensure sincerely-held faith is respected and encouraged in our ranks,” a post by the Pentagon’s rapid response account on X said.

Lee welcomed the updated list of religious codes on Monday, saying he was “grateful” to Hegseth “for correcting the error.”

The changes come as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has vowed to overhaul to the military’s chaplain corps, saying in a video on social media in December that the chaplain corps has been “degraded” and “minimized” in recent decades. He announced the changes to the military’s religious codes in March this year, though the actual list itself wasn’t released at the time.

Hegseth said the number of codes used by service members to identify their faiths had “ballooned to well over 200 faith codes,” calling it “impractical and unusable.”

“Our internal review committee recommend that going forward the department use 31 religious affiliation codes,” Hegseth said. “This brings the codes in line with its original purpose, giving chaplains clear, usable information so they can minister to service members in a way that aligns with that service member’s faith background and religious practice.”