Pentagon Narrows List of Recognized Faiths for Military Chaplains

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is pushing through changes to military chaplaincy. According to Military.com, his department has significantly reduced the number of religious communities entitled to provide military chaplains, cutting the previous list of more than 200 recognized groups to 31.

The new list includes Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and several Christian denominations, among them Catholics, Lutherans and Baptists.

Hegseth announced the move months ago, describing the previous list as impractical and "unusable." He said most US troops subscribe to only six faiths and that the list needed to reflect that reality.

Groups that have been removed include New Pagan movements, practitioners of shamanism and druidism, several New Age churches and other specific movements.

A further change stipulates that military chaplains are no longer to wear rank insignia on duty, but religious insignia instead. Hegseth argued in March that a US Army chaplain is a clergyman first and an officer second.

The reform has been sharply criticized by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. Its founder, Mikey Weinstein, called it unconstitutional, immoral and unethical, and accused the department of trying to promote "Christian nationalism".

(katholisch, bak)