Utah Delegation Defends LDS Church as 'Christian' After New Pentagon Classification
The Pentagon cut religious codes from more than 200 to 31, a move Utah Republicans say wrongly separates LDS from Christian denominations.
- On Friday, the Pentagon announced a reduction in religious affiliation codes from more than 200 to 31, placing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a standalone category separate from the "Christian" umbrella.
- Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell framed the move as a "streamlining" effort, stating the list helps chaplains assess unit demographics to better support "warfighters of all faith groups" without making claims about religious legitimacy.
- Republican Senators Mike Lee and John Curtis of Utah criticized the change on Saturday, calling the omission of their faith from the Christian list "unacceptable" and demanding an immediate correction.
- Beyond the LDS reclassification, the directive consolidated numerous minority designations, directing service members identifying as Wiccan, Pagan, or Humanist to register under generalized labels like "Other Religions" or "Agnostic."
- Critics argue this sweeping administrative change risks erasing distinct identities within the military's spiritual support infrastructure, while lawmakers continue pressing the department for a corrective update to ensure accurate representation.
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Mormonism Left Off Hegseth’s Christian List, and Senator Mike Lee Isn’t Happy
Many of us who grew up in evangelical churches went to Sunday school classes in rooms with a poster on the wall titled “Christianity, Cults & the Occult.” The wall chart listed various religious traditions and placed them in categories that essentially described which ones would get you to heaven (Christianity), which would land you in hell but seemed nice (Cults), and which would get you to hell but were also really scary (the Occult). Among th…
Department Of War Significantly Slashes List Of Recognized Religions * 100PercentFedUp.com * by Danielle
The Pentagon announced on Friday that it reduced its list of recognized religions from over 200 to 31, removing 180 faiths. “The Office of the Secretary of War is announcing a significant change to the Department’s categorization of religious affiliation. In a long overdue move, we reduced the list from over 200 unmanageable categories to 31. With this move, we are returning to the original intent of collecting this data – to allow our chaplains…
Utah delegation defends LDS Church as 'Christian' after new Pentagon classification
The Church Office Building for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City is seen in this undated photo. | Steve Griffin, Deseret News via KSL SALT LAKE CITY (KSL) — Utah Sens. John Curtis and Mike Lee are pushing back after the Pentagon changed its categorizations for chaplains to not classify members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as “Christian.” The Republicans expressed their displeasure with the mo…
'Hoo boy': Pete Hegseth slammed by both sides after 'huge own goal' offends Christian sect
Pete Hegseth's decision to strip the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of its Christian designation in the Pentagon's new religion classification system has ignited a rare cross-aisle pile-on, with Republican lawmakers, conservative commentators and Democratic senators lining up to call it...
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