DOD fixes religious affiliation list after LDS members protest non-Christian label
The Department of Defense is walking back its recent revision to the military’s faith codes, which it released last week, that offended members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The revision sparked bipartisan outrage after it reduced the list of about 200 identified religions to 31.
The department announced on Friday that it was cutting the number of religions it officially identifies. While the LDS church, often referred to as Mormons, was still on the list, it wasn’t categorized as “Christian” beside others. Among the groups listed as officially designated Christian religions were Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Baptists and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
But in a Monday post by the DOD’s rapid response team, the department said it had corrected its mistake when revising its “redundant and unnecessary” labels.
“The goal of this effort is to simplify a previously out-of-control ‘belief’ coding system that had ballooned to over 200 codes,” the department wrote. “The Pentagon’s job is not to adjudicate theological debates, but instead to ensure sincerely-held faith is respected and encouraged in our ranks.”
How did Utah respond?
Utah has the largest LDS population of any state, with 42% of the state identifying as LDS, according to the Journal of Religion and Demography. Following the announcement of the first revision, many Republican lawmakers in the state, which overwhelmingly voted for President Donald Trump in the past three elections, criticized it.
Utah Republican Sen. John Curtis said he was working with the DOD to make sure a “correction is made.” Rep. Mike Kennedy, R-Utah, also criticized the revision, telling a local news station that the list was “wrong and needs to be corrected.”
“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,” he told FOX 13 News. “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. We only ask to be accurately portrayed.”
After the department removed the Christian distinction from the other religions, many of the Republicans who criticized the Trump administration and the military thanked them for their quick response.
“Thank you to the [DOD] for listening to our concerns, engaging thoughtfully and respectfully with my office on this issue, and for delivering a swift correction,” Curtis wrote in a follow-up post.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, also commended the administration’s fast change, saying he was “grateful to [Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth] for correcting the error.”
What does the list do?
In the United States, everyone is entitled to practice whatever religion they want. It was the main reason the founding fathers established the U.S. government. The military’s list of religious affiliations does not mean the religions that aren’t on it aren’t official religions. Instead, it helps military officers and the Chaplain Corps better understand the spiritual demographics of their troops.
The list allows officers to more easily determine whom to send specific spiritual resources to and ensures troops have the right access to appropriate support, events or dietary accommodations.
Chaplains are trained and have to provide moral and personal support to all service members, regardless of their religious or non-religious background, according to military policy. The list was one way to help chaplains by identifying who practiced what.
The list also includes “no religion” and “agnostic” options, allowing troops who don’t practice a religion to state they don’t adhere to any religious practices. Military officials removed multiple non-religious and nontheistic designations, like atheist and humanist, in favor of the broader “no religion” and “other religions” categories.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
