A few months ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth complained that the Pentagon had officially recognized too many faith traditions, which he characterized as “impractical.” A few weeks ago, the Defense Department acted on those concerns, shrinking the list of recognized religions from 211 faiths to 31.
The rather dramatic shift did not go unnoticed, though no one in American politics responded with greater fury than Sen. Mike Lee of Utah — ordinarily, a conservative Republican closely aligned with Trump administration — who said it was “repugnant” to see the Pentagon’s list exclude his own faith, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (whose members are generally referred to as Mormons), from among the identified Christian faiths.
The pushback appears to have worked. As my MS NOW colleague Ja’han Jones reported:
The outcry seems to have prompted a reversal from the Defense Department. On Monday, a social media post from the department included a new list with a caption that said the previous one “included redundant and unnecessary labeling, and the mistake has been fixed.”
The new list’s codes no longer identify which of the recognized faiths are considered Christian, which raises the question of whether Pentagon officials consider the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be a form of Christianity, or if they would simply prefer not to flaunt their beliefs on the topic in public.
A spokesperson for the Utah Republican said, “Senator Lee spoke with President Trump and Secretary Hegseth over the weekend and received their assurance that the Pentagon’s religious classifications would be fixed. He appreciates the administration’s action to address this issue.”
Whether the Pentagon is prepared to make additional changes remains to be seen, but as the dust settles on this dispute, it’s worth pausing to appreciate the context.