Hughes, who is enthusiastic about incorporating Christian narratives into his work at the Pentagon, was shocked. Recently, the U.S. Department of Defense began to streamline the list of religious affiliations for military personnel. This reform unexpectedly sparked a controversy within the Republican Party.
According to a report by The Washington Post on the 9th, in response to Haggess’s reform requests at the beginning of the year to reduce the number of religious codes for U.S. military personnel, the Pentagon released a streamlined list last Friday, reducing the original 211 religious codes to 31. The new list categorizes 21 denominations such as Catholicism, Evangelicalism, and Methodist as “Christian”. The names are divided into two parts: the first part is uniformly “Christian”, and the second part is the name of each denomination. However, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Mormonism, is not included in this category with the word “Christian” preceding its name.
This move instantly angered several influential Mormon politicians within the Republican Party. In the United States, whether Mormons are Christians is a sensitive and complex issue: traditional Christian theology generally does not recognize the orthodox status of Mormonism, while Mormons consider themselves to be true Christians. There is ongoing conflict between the two groups on theological issues. The list issued by the U.S. Department of Defense represents an official judgment on this long-standing theological dispute.
Republican senators like Mike Lee, who comes from the Mormon stronghold of Utah, are extremely dissatisfied with this reform. All weekend long, he publicly criticized this reform as ‘repulsive’, stating that it deprives thousands of Mormon soldiers serving in the U.S. military of their sense of identity as Christians.
On Sunday, Li specifically pointed out that the government should not 'intervene in doctrinal disputes between different religious factions'. He also made an official call to U.S. President Donald Trump to 'report the situation', and subsequently claimed that there has been an 'exciting development' in the situation.
"We are very fortunate that President Trump loves Mormon believers." He wrote on social media X.
Not long after, on Monday, the Pentagon released another list, no longer prefixing any religion with “Christian”.
Before modification VS After modification
Regarding whether this adjustment was due to pressure from Lee and others, the White House has not responded, and the Pentagon has also refused to comment, stating that the version that was previously released was merely a ‘draft’ delivered to the media, with ‘duplicates and unnecessary markings’. Now, ‘the errors have been corrected’.
The statement emphasizes that “our role is not to adjudicate theological disputes, but to ensure that all sincere beliefs within the military are respected and tolerated.”
The Pentagon “kneeled down,” and that’s what made Li satisfied. He posted on X, stating that he agreed with this statement, and expressed his deep gratitude to Haggess for the modification.
The spokesperson also revealed that Mike has communicated with Trump and Hagersey regarding this matter. “Both of them assured him that the classification issue would be corrected.”
Last Friday, the Pentagon explained that the code name reduction plan was implemented because the original list was too lengthy and "difficult to manage."
Pentagon spokesman Sean Pennell said at the time, “This measure is designed to enable military priests to quickly understand the religious composition of their units and plan resource allocation, thereby providing proper services for soldiers from all religious backgrounds.”
This list was expanded to 211 religious denominations during the first administration of Trump in March 2017. At that time, following the recommendations of the Committee on Military Pastors under the Department of Defense, the military added over 100 non-traditional and minority religious denominations.
The reason at that time was also, “to provide the military chaplains with clear and easy-to-find information on the distribution of American religious personnel, thereby helping to better meet the religious needs of active-duty personnel.”
The script is the same, but whatever effect this change has, let alone anything else, the internal conflicts within the Republican Party have already erupted.
According to long-term surveys by organizations like the Pew Research Center, Mormons are one of the religious groups in the United States with the most pro-Republican tendencies. The person who is at the forefront of criticizing the Department of Defense this time is also a Republican congressman from a Mormon core constituency.
On Sunday evening, Mike Lee posted a video on X, strongly criticizing the government for interfering in religious beliefs and violating the core principle of freedom granted to citizens by the U.S. Constitution.
I am indignant about this. It’s not just because it happens to be my belief, nor because tens of thousands of American soldiers also follow that religion. It’s also because the government interferes in the religious disputes between various sects, completely violating basic morality, our shared traditions, and general consensus.
He cursed loudly, “I urge the people in the Pentagon to reconsider this matter. Not just reconsidering it, but to cancel it altogether. Secretary Hagens, this is too bad! Cancel it immediately!”
Mike Lee posted a video on X, expressing his outrage.
Also from Utah, Republican lawmakers Mike Kennedy and John Curtis have also made public statements. The latter emphasized that Mormon believers are "one of the most patriotic and dedicated groups in our country," and that they "undoubtedly belong to the Christian community."
Conservative political commentator Glenn Beck is also a Mormon. He said in a program on Monday that Trump called him late at night on Sunday, and he expressed his dissatisfaction with Trump regarding this matter.
Baker also said that Trump called again at 5:30 a.m. on Monday, telling him, "I've already dealt with this issue; it's absurd."
More subtly behind this controversy is that Hegseeth, who sparked the dispute, represents another major core voting bloc within the Republican Party—white Evangelical Christians.
From a theological standpoint, Evangelical churches have always been the main force opposing Mormonism. Previously, Hagersey hired Evangelical pastor Doug Wilson to preach in the Pentagon, who consistently argued that Mormonism does not belong to Christianity.
Pew Research Center survey of 2024
As of now, Hagee has not responded to this controversy. Given his long-term approach of integrating Christian principles into military management and military narratives, it is difficult to believe that his decision to step on a ‘minefield’ among his party allies was purely an accident.
And Mike Kennedy’s response seemed to hint at the underlying tensions behind the situation. While thanking Haggess for the list adjustments, he added meaningfully, “The government should not interfere in defining who is a Christian.”
