Pentagon reworks 'offensive' policy affecting LDS after Mormon lawmakers loudly protest

Source: The Hill

06/08/26 12:10 PM ET


The Pentagon has reworked a list of religious designations service members can register as after Mormon lawmakers in Congress blew up over a previous list that did not label The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) under “Christian.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this year declared the Pentagon would cut down the faith codes – the recognized faith groups meant to provide more accurate demographic data on religious beliefs held among service members – from 200 to just 31. He called the former system “impractical and unusable” with many codes never used at all.

On Friday, the Pentagon announced service members could only register one of those 31 religions on their personnel records. But LDS was not listed under one of the 21 Christian labeled denominations to choose from, upsetting several Utah lawmakers, including Sen. Mike Lee (R), who called the new designation “very unfortunate.”

“I find this offensive, not just because that happens to be my faith, and not just because that happens to be the faith of tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel, but it’s also just repugnant to any sense of decency, any sense of our common heritage and our common belief that the government needs to not weigh in on doctrinal disputes between various religious denominations,” Lee said in a video posted on X on Sunday. “I’m imploring people at the Pentagon to reconsider this—not just reconsider it, but undo it,” he added. “Secretary Hegseth, tear down that wall! This is not cool! Get rid of it, get rid of it now!”

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5914835-pentagon-christian-list-controversy/