Pentagon backtracks on religious designations after Mormon outrage

Responding to anger and outrage from Latter-day Saint leaders, veterans and elected officials, the Department of Defense backtracked on a new list of religious designations that cut the military’s recognized faiths by 180 religions — from 211 to just 31 — and stripped the “Christian” label from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The list, released on Friday, identified the 31 religions, citing 21 as Christian.

That list drew anger over the weekend from Republican U.S. Senator Mike Lee, who said: “As of two days ago, the Pentagon recognizes every Christian faith in America as Christian.” He added: “Except one,” and said, “That’s not okay, and it needs to change—now.”

In a video, as CNN reported, Lee continued by saying: “I think it’s very unfortunate that the Pentagon has chosen to identify basically every faith group in America that professes faith in Jesus Christ as Christian with one exception: that is those belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Lee called it “offensive, not just because that happens to be my faith and not just because it happens to be the faith of tens of thousands of US 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.”

Also over the weekend, Lee said he had called President Trump over the Pentagon’s list.

Just past noon on Monday, the Defense Department’s Rapid Response social media account on X posted a new, updated list, which removes the Christian category.

Defending the Pentagon, the post claimed that the “goal of this effort is to simplify a previously out-of-control ‘belief’ coding system that had ballooned to over 200 codes.”

“The Pentagon’s job is not to adjudicate theological debates,” it declared, “but instead to ensure sincerely-held faith is respected and encouraged in our ranks.”

Other congressional members of the LDS Church had “previously bashed the first list,” The Hill reported.

“The Pentagon’s decision to list The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apart from other Christian faiths is wrong and needs to be corrected,” U.S. Rep. Mike Kennedy (R-UT) wrote on X on Sunday.

Some remain dissatisfied.

“This list is still a problem,” wrote Hemant Mehta, who pens the Friendly Atheist on Substack. “It separates non-denominational Christians from evangelicals. It lumps together atheists and ‘Nones’ who believe in a higher power. It combines a bunch of smaller religions into ‘Other.’ The 2017 list was better. This is just ignorant.”

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