# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/181 "2026-06-21T17:21:16Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > (Jews for Jesus didn’t even make the old long list, for one data point.) Sure they did: “Baptist”. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/182 "2026-06-21T17:32:51Z")
> Sure they did: “Baptist”. Bravo! That is exactly correct. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/183 "2026-06-21T17:34:26Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Hegseth won’t be swayed by Civil War movies. The move away from beards was only partially due to changes in fashion. The chemical warfare of WWI brought gas masks into the inventory. A beard makes it difficult to impossible to get a seal on your mask. The counter argument to that last point is that it’s easy enough to make it conditional upon deployment to an area where gas attacks are a risk. During the height of Iraq the AF required annual mask training for everyone, but that eventually moved to a pre-deployment training requirement due to cost. Beards are temporary, after all. It really comes down do the fact that by and large, the peplle who were being accused of “getting away with something” didn’t look like the type of people Hegseth and his alpha jock white nationalist friends would hang out with. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/184 "2026-06-21T17:34:28Z")
OK, John the Baptist. That I get. But some in the modern religion - religions, really - like the Southern Baptists have a reputation of being antisemitic, even if that is officially condemned. A poor attempt at a joke or am I missing some Christian nuance? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/185 "2026-06-21T17:37:22Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > OK, John the Baptist. That I get No. Jews for Jesus are a Baptist front group. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/186 "2026-06-21T18:02:27Z")
And some Baptist groups being antisemitic is closely related to the fact that Jews for Jesus is a Baptist group. The thinking goes that the only reason for anyone to be Jewish is as a step towards becoming Christian, so they’ll help those poor misguided Jews to complete their right and proper journey. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/187 "2026-06-21T18:41:45Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > No. Jews for Jesus are a Baptist front group. That’s rather simplistic. But yeah the founder was a Baptist Minister, back 50+ years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/188 "2026-06-21T19:19:53Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > A beard makes it difficult to impossible to get a seal on your mask. Yet one of the notoriously exempt beard wearers in the military are Navy SEALs who need to be ready to wear scuba gear. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/189 "2026-06-21T19:29:51Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > A beard makes it difficult to impossible to get a seal on your mask. > > Yet one of the notoriously exempt beard wearers in the military are Navy SEALs who need to be ready to wear scuba gear. Scuba masks don’t seal in the same places as CBRN masks. Special Operations personnel are only supposed to have relaxed grooming standards while on an operation and when it’s needed. Now all SPECOPS are not created equal. Tear 1 like Team 6 and Delta probably justify it all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/190 "2026-06-21T19:51:33Z")
Jesus Christ, that’s a nuance I never knew. ---
**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 21, 2026, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/191 "2026-06-21T19:56:57Z")
I don’t think they ever targeted “Jews For Jesus” in any way, shape or form. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2026, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649/192 "2026-06-21T23:51:00Z")
Rex Kramer, OTOH did have to briefly deal with them in _Airplane!_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hegseths-pentagon-is-drastically-reducing-the-number-of-religions-recognized-by-the-military/1030649.md?page=9)