# Hegseth's Pentagon is drastically reducing the number of religions recognized by the military **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [June 5, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649 "2026-06-05T19:42:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/1 "2026-06-05T19:42:35Z")
[Hegseth’s Pentagon slashes the number of religious faiths it officially recognizes](https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/hegseths-pentagon-slashes-the-number-of-religious-faiths-it-officially-recognizes) In less of a nod and more of a complete prostration to the Religious Right, the Pentagon is reducing the number of official religions recognized by the military from 211 to 31. "The Department of Defense is substantially reducing the number of religions it officially recognizes, reportedly excluding atheists, pagans, humanists and New Age faiths, an independent military-focused news website reports. The reduction of recognized faith groups represents the first time the military has revised the list since 2017, when it vastly expanded the list of recognized faith groups to about 211. The new list includes 31 recognized faiths, as first reported by [Military.com](http://Military.com) on Thursday (June 4) " By the way, the [military.com](http://military.com) link has the full list, and most of the 31 recognized religions are “Christian”. Well…hell. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/2 "2026-06-05T19:53:49Z")
They didn’t have agnostic (AN) when I joined. So my closest was NR for No Religion. Looks like 150 formerly recognized ones will now fall under OR, Other Religion. The only drop that surprises me is Unitarian Universalists. Hegseth is probably the worst person to head the Dept of Defense/War in several lifetimes. The only one I’m sure was worse was [John B. Floyd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Floyd#Secretary_of_War) under Buchanan, our second worst President. Floyd took up arms for the Confederacy. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/3 "2026-06-05T20:10:45Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > The only one I’m sure was worse was [John B. Floyd](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Floyd#Secretary_of_War) under Buchanan, our second worst President. Floyd took up arms for the Confederacy. Floyd did worse than that. While he was still serving as Secretary of War for the United States, he shipped large amounts of American weapons and military supplies to storehouses in the south. This was at a time when southern states were already talking about seceding. When they did secede, the new Confederate government seized the military supplies that Floyd had sent to them and used those supplies against American troops after declaring war on the United States. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/4 "2026-06-05T20:18:19Z")
Why Christian, Islam and Judaism, rather than Christianity, Islam and Judaism or Christian, Islamic and Jewish? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/5 "2026-06-05T20:22:16Z")
What do you mean? Are you quoting something? I can’t figure out what you’re questioning. If you 're wondering about the order, it is literally alphabetical and starts with Agnostic & Baha’i faith. ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/6 "2026-06-05T20:29:46Z")
It should be more consistent with whether it lists the religion’s name (Agnosticism, Christianity, Islam, Judaism) or the adjective (Agnostic, Christian, Islamic, Jewish) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/7 "2026-06-05T20:31:17Z")
That seems pretty unimportant overall. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/8 "2026-06-05T20:34:38Z")
The full list of recognized religions, as provided by [Military.com](https://www.military.com/dod-officially-drops-180-faiths-from-militarys-recognized-religion-list). Multiple flavors of Christianity, but no recognition of differences within other faith traditions. 1. Agnostic (AN) 2. Baha’i faith (BH) 3. Buddhism (BU) 4. Christian - Assemblies of God (AG) 5. Christian - Baptist (BA) 6. Christian - Brethren (BR) 7. Christian - Catholic (CA) 8. Christian - Church of Christ (CC) 9. Christian - Church of God (CG) 10. Christian - Church of the Nazarene (CN) 11. Christian - Episcopal/Anglican (EA) 12. Christian - Evangelical (EV) 13. Christian - Jehovah’s Witnesses (JW) 14. Christian - Lutheran (LU) 15. Christian - Methodist (ME) 16. Christian - Non Denominational (ND) 17. Christian - Orthodox (OX) 18. Christian - Other (CO) 19. Christian - Pentecostal (PE) 20. Christian - Presbyterian (PR) 21. Christian - Quaker (QU) 22. Christian - Reformed (RE) 23. Christian - Scientist (SC) 24. Christian - Seventh Day Adventist (SA) 25. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (CJ) 26. Hindu (HI) 27. Islam (Muslim) (IS) 28. Judaism (Jewish) (JU) 29. No Religion (NR) 30. Other Religions (OR) 31. Sikh (SI) ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/9 "2026-06-05T20:37:45Z")
Like the Trump administration policies on immigration, before we get to how it harms people, I have to simply ask… Why??? How does this benefit anyone? I don’t even see how this benefits Christians really, which one presumes is foremost in the mind (if I may use the term loosely) of someone like Hegseth. What’s the point? I can only guess that this is what ideologues do, and other ideologues regard this as somehow smart. As much as I’d like to be able to understand the opposition position, I just don’t get this. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/10 "2026-06-05T20:48:14Z")
Let’s be clear, this a step on the road to reducing this number to exactly 1(one) state sanctioned Christian nationalist denomination. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/11 "2026-06-05T20:53:34Z")
Except for the token number of Jews required for the Christian Nationalist end-times fantasies. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/12 "2026-06-05T20:55:01Z")
Outside of Atheist, all those dropped were apparently representing less than 1% of the population. Atheist, I’m sure Hegseth dislikes, he seems like the type. But the argument is that Atheist is not a religion so NR covers it. I’m surprised Agnostic was allowed to stay as also not a religion. The mass expansion of Religions coded by the Military only happened in the last 15 years. This is a silly thing to worry about for the military, but it just rolled back to prior simpler classifications covering 95% of those serving. Again, allowing for Atheist to be covered by NR, Non Religious. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/13 "2026-06-05T20:55:53Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Jews required for the Christian Nationalist end-times fantasies. Your forgetting their end times fantasies involve all the Jews converting to Christianity ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/14 "2026-06-05T20:57:30Z")
I could look it up, but what is Christian Nationalist? I don’t see that listed by the way. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/15 "2026-06-05T20:57:35Z")
No, it involves all the Jews that Jesus doesn’t murderer, 2/3rds of them, converting to Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/16 "2026-06-05T20:59:46Z")
Where’s Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/17 "2026-06-05T21:09:53Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > Like the Trump administration policies on immigration, before we get to how it harms people, I have to simply ask… Why??? No doubt it will free up our military and help them become more effective warfighters. Okay, I got nothing. As with many initiatives under the Trump administration, cruelty seems to be the point. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/18 "2026-06-05T21:10:19Z")
Makes me proud to be an American to hear about this! God damn autocorrect- I meant sick, not proud. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/19 "2026-06-05T21:36:12Z")
I think the part that perplexes and infuriates me is all the noise about getting back to warfighting and combat effectiveness, etc, and then what they actually go about doing is entirely politically motivated stuff that likely makes it hard to keep force levels high, retain experienced military people, and generally antagonizes even more. I mean, if you’re about combat effectiveness at any price, you _want_ your people to feel like their religion is going to be respected if they’re killed. You _want_ to retain people of all races, sizes, and beard status, if they’re able to do their jobs. You _want_ them to feel assured that the promotion process does not have stuff like race-centric favoritism. You want to know that the higher-ups adhere to the same discipline regarding communications you are required to, and you certainly don’t want to get killed because he’s off posting it on unapproved, insecure platforms where there are unapproved users. You want to know that they take all this warfighting stuff just as seriously as you do; you certainly don’t want them to go haring off on political witchhunts and ideologically motivated purges. I can’t imagine that military morale has been improved by any of this. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2026, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/20 "2026-06-05T21:38:52Z")
I’m amazed that Islam survived the cut. But why should we give a fuck about what the military recognizes as legitimate religion? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649.md?page=2)