Hegseth’s faith row flares as DoD lists Mormons

Pentagon list – A Pentagon move to streamline its official list of recognized religions has reignited a fight over whether Mormons are considered Christians—after LDS officials objected when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was separated from other Christian gr

The Pentagon’s religion list has turned into a flashpoint of doctrine and power—one that now sits uncomfortably close to the faith of the man overseeing it.

Last week. the Department of Defense released a new list of 31 religions it officially recognized. edited down from more than 200 that had previously been accepted. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement that the purpose of streamlining was not to delegitimize any one religion. The goal. he said. was to “allow chaplains to quickly look at the religious composition of their units and determine how they structure resources to best provide for warfighters of all faith groups.”.

But the change landed harshly with some religious groups. Of the 31 groups listed, 22 were Christian. Atheists, pagans, and humanists—groups that had been on the original list—were excluded.

The louder complaints, though, focused on the list’s structure. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints said their faith was included but “sequestered” from other Christian faiths—something they viewed as part of a broader pattern in which some denominations refuse to recognize LDS members as fellow Christians.

Samuel Perry. a professor of rhetoric at Baylor University who studies Christian nationalism. pointed to history that preceded this week’s document. He said LDS recognition by mainline Christians didn’t settle into place until evangelicals rallied around LDS politician Mitt Romney during his 2008 run for president. Perry described that moment as “completely a political change in order to be able to move centrally around one candidate.”.

Utah’s two Mormon senators then made their objections public. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) tweeted, “Can anyone tell me why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was left out of the list of Christian churches?” Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) posted a sharper message:

“Latter-day Saints are among the most patriotic, service-oriented individuals in our country. They are also unequivocally Christian—just look at who is in the name of the Church. It is unacceptable for a government entity to characterize a faith in a manner that contradicts the… https://t.co/ywqk59ZtRz— Senator John Curtis (@SenJohnCurtis) June 6. 2026”.

The Pentagon’s second version came quickly. On Monday, the Department of Defense released a new list—and that version did list LDS as a “Christian” faith. The earlier perceived slight, however, kept spreading.

Some accounts rushed to defend the LDS church, while others went on the attack. Firebrand pastor Joel Webbon, with 111,000 followers, declared to his audience that “Mormons will go to hell.”

The question quickly became whether this was just an oversight or something more pointed. In a tweet about the newest version of the list, the Pentagon said the former. “The Pentagon list included redundant and unnecessary labeling,” the agency said on Monday, “and the mistake has been fixed.”

Yet in the past few days, arguments on social media shifted from the list itself to the person at the center of the administration’s religious battles.

Some accounts have pointed out that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth belongs to a Christian nationalist denomination called Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC). That group holds that Mormons aren’t Christians.

CREC’s founder, Doug Wilson, is a pastor in Moscow, Idaho. Wilson has described a vision of “a network of nations bound together by a formal. public. civic acknowledgement of the lordship of Jesus Christ and the fundamental truth of the Apostles’ Creed.” He has long argued in favor of Christian nationalism and has likened the community he built—described as including a church. school. college. and publishing house—to a “working prototype” for what Christian nationalism could look like.

A key distinction lies in theology. LDS members do not accept the Apostles’ Creed because it states that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all one entity. Perry said that LDS teaching instead holds that they are three distinct beings.

Wilson’s ideal version of America. Perry said. would require everyone to live by the Apostles’ Creed—whether they believed it or not. Perry described the consequence: “Anything that falls outside of the doctrinal vision that Wilson or CREC have would fall outside of what they consider to be kind of a true belief in Christianity. so there’s kind of an exclusivity that’s being cultivated.”.

That exclusivity has been paired, in Wilson’s public political orbit, with attention from prominent conservative figures. Over the last few years. Wilson has moved in influential political circles. speaking at the National Conservatism conference with Vice President JD Vance and appearing at an event about Christian political strategy with Project 2025 architect Russell Vought.

Wilson also expanded CREC’s footprint. Last year, he planted a new CREC church in Washington, DC, where Hegseth often attends services.

Most significantly, in February, Wilson delivered a sermon at the Pentagon—at Hegseth’s behest.

In an email, Wilson confirmed that CREC’s version of Christianity doesn’t include Mormons. “We would consider the Mormons to be a non-Christian faith with Christian terminology,” he wrote, adding that his church would consider LDS people to be “polytheists.”

The LDS Church did not respond to a request for comment for this story. The Department of Defense directed attention to its tweet about the most recent revision of the list.

What has emerged is a collision between bureaucratic intent and religious categorization—played out through a list of 31 religions. a rapid rewrite on Monday. and a wider debate online over who gets counted as Christian in the first place. And in the middle of it. the dispute has taken a personal turn: the Pentagon secretary’s own denomination has a defined view of LDS membership. and those convictions are tied to Wilson’s long push for government-shaped Christian influence.

Pentagon religion list Pete Hegseth Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches Doug Wilson Latter-day Saints LDS Christian designation Sean Parnell Mike Lee John Curtis Mitt Romney Apostles’ Creed Christian nationalism