The Pentagon on Monday updated its religious affiliation codes after members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints criticized the list because it did not describe LDS as a “Christian” faith.
On Friday, the Pentagon cut the number of religious affiliation codes from over 200 to 31 to help military chaplains streamline religious support services. The 31 codes included the Church of Latter-day Saints – but not as one of the 21 religions described as “Christian,” which angered members of the LDS community, including Republican Sens. John Curtis and Mike Lee of Utah.
“It is unacceptable for a government entity to characterize a faith in a manner that contradicts the religion’s own foundational tenets,” Curtis wrote on X on Saturday.
The Pentagon released a new list Monday afternoon that removed the “Christian” descriptor from other religions and provided just the code and the name of the religious faiths.
In a statement, the Pentagon said the list from Friday, which was posted on X to the public by chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, included “redundant and unnecessary labeling, and the mistake has been fixed.”
“In order to clarify the work of chaplains, and simplify the work of commanders, the Pentagon has consolidated and simplified the list to roughly thirty codes – using the previously used labels for faiths,” the Monday statement said. “The Pentagon’s job is not to adjudicate theological debates, but to ensure sincerely-held faith is respected and encouraged in our ranks.”
In response to the statement, Lee posted on X, “I agree with this statement, and am grateful to [Secretary] Hegseth for correcting the error.”
Hegseth, who often invokes his Christian faith, began monthly voluntary prayer services early in his tenure and has welcomed the Christian evangelical pastor Doug Wilson to speak. Wilson, whose beliefs include that it was a mistake to give women the right to vote, has argued Mormons are not Christian.
In a video post from December, Wilson said, “Mormonism is not Christian. Not to put too fine a point on it – the Christian faith is monotheistic and Mormonism is polytheistic.” The nonprofit civil rights organization FAIR, which supports the LDS Church, argued that is not true – that the church believes in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, not multiple gods.
On Sunday, before the Pentagon updated the list, Lee said the government should not weigh in “on doctrinal disputes between various religious denominations.”
Some of the other religions represented on the list include Presbyterian, Quaker, Church of Christ, Christian (Non-Denominational), Catholic, Episcopal, Islam, Hindu, Sikh, and Judaism.
The list is part of Hegseth’s effort to overhaul the Military Chaplain Corps that he announced in December. His goal is to create “a top down cultural shift, putting spiritual wellbeing on the same footing as mental and physical health.” Amid this effort, the U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains Major Gen. William Green Jr. was fired from his position in April.
Hegseth initially announced the list of codes would be trimmed from over 200 to just 31 back in March after he said an internal review committee determined the roughly 30 codes were the most used by service members, but the Pentagon didn’t release the list publicly until Friday.
The codes are shown below:
