Pentagon removes – After Mormon lawmakers criticized the Pentagon’s religious affiliation list for not describing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Christian, the Pentagon updated the codes Monday—removing the “Christian” descriptor from other religions and retu
For days, the Pentagon’s religious affiliation list hung in the background of daily military life—something chaplains and commanders would point to when they needed to support service members’ faith. Then it became a flashpoint for a dispute that reached Capitol Hill.
On Monday, the Pentagon updated its religious affiliation codes after members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints criticized the list because it did not describe LDS as a “Christian” faith.
The fight traces back to a Friday change: the Pentagon cut the number of religious affiliation codes from over 200 to 31 to help military chaplains streamline religious support services. Those 31 codes included the Church of Latter-day Saints—but not as one of the 21 religions described as “Christian.” That omission angered members of the LDS community. including Republican Sens. John Curtis and Mike Lee of Utah.
Curtis called the earlier list unacceptable. “It is unacceptable for a government entity to characterize a faith in a manner that contradicts the religion’s own foundational tenets,” he wrote on X on Saturday.
Monday afternoon, the Pentagon released a new list that removed the “Christian” descriptor from other religions and provided just the code and the name of the religious faiths.
In a statement, the Pentagon said the list from Friday—posted on X to the public by chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell—contained “redundant and unnecessary labeling, and the mistake has been fixed.”
The statement also framed the update as an operational correction. “In order to clarify the work of chaplains. and simplify the work of commanders. the Pentagon has consolidated and simplified the list to roughly thirty codes – using the previously used labels for faiths. ” it said. “The Pentagon’s job is not to adjudicate theological debates. but to ensure sincerely-held faith is respected and encouraged in our ranks.”.
Lee responded the same day. On X, he posted, “I agree with this statement, and am grateful to [Secretary] Hegseth for correcting the error.”
The episode lands in the middle of broader changes under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. who has been trying to reshape the Military Chaplain Corps. Hegseth began monthly voluntary prayer services early in his tenure and has welcomed Christian evangelical pastor Doug Wilson to speak. Wilson has argued that Mormons are not Christian, and Hegseth often invokes his Christian faith.
Wilson. whose beliefs include that it was a mistake to give women the right to vote. made the argument directly in a video post from December. “Mormonism is not Christian. Not to put too fine a point on it – the Christian faith is monotheistic and Mormonism is polytheistic.” FAIR. a nonprofit civil rights organization that supports the LDS Church. said that claim is not true. arguing that the church believes in the Father. the Son. and the Holy Ghost. not multiple gods.
Before the Pentagon updated the codes, Lee had also warned the government against entering religious doctrine disputes. On Sunday, he said the government should not weigh in “on doctrinal disputes between various religious denominations.”
The list itself reflects the broader diversity of faiths the Pentagon says it supports. Some of the other religions represented include Presbyterian, Quaker, Church of Christ, Christian (Non-Denominational), Catholic, Episcopal, Islam, Hindu, Sikh, and Judaism.
The codes are part of Hegseth’s effort to overhaul the Military Chaplain Corps that he announced in December. His goal is to create “a top down cultural shift. putting spiritual wellbeing on the same footing as mental and physical health.” During that effort. the U.S. Army Chief of Chaplains Major Gen. William Green Jr. was fired from his position in April.
Hegseth initially announced the move to trim the codes from over 200 to just 31 back in March, after he said an internal review committee determined the roughly 30 codes were the most used by service members. But the Pentagon did not release the list publicly until Friday.
Monday’s update effectively adjusted what commanders and chaplains see—after criticism that the labeling embedded an unwanted theological judgment. The Pentagon’s latest version leaves behind the dispute in presentation: the revised list removes the “Christian” descriptor from other religions and provides just the code and the name of the religious faiths.
The controversy didn’t just hinge on semantics. It touched a rare intersection of military administration, religious identity, and lawmakers pressing a federal agency to avoid characterizing faith in ways that don’t match how believers describe themselves.
Pentagon religious codes LDS Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chaplain corps Mike Lee John Curtis Pete Hegseth Sean Parnell Military Chaplain Corps religious affiliation codes