{"id":2616669,"date":"2026-06-20T12:29:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T16:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/war-department-whittles-down-number-of-religions-it-recognizes\/"},"modified":"2026-06-20T12:34:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T16:34:44","slug":"war-department-whittles-down-number-of-religions-it-recognizes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/war-department-whittles-down-number-of-religions-it-recognizes\/","title":{"rendered":"War Department Whittles Down Number of &#8216;Religions&#8217; It Recognizes"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwar-department-whittles-down-number-of-religions-it-recognizes%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2616669&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The excerpt discusses the U.S. War Department&#8217;s recent revision of its list of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pope-francis-set-to-visit-prominent-mosque\/\" title=\"Pope Francis Set to Visit Prominent Mosque\">officially <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/indonesian-christian-minority-under-threat-from-new-blasphemy-laws\/\" title=\"Indonesian Christian Minority Under Threat from New Blasphemy Laws\">recognized religions<\/a><\/a>, reducing the number from 211 to 31 to streamline religious support for service members. This change was announced through a memo signed by Anthony Tata, aiming to improve the accuracy and utility of <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >religious preferences collected<\/a> in the military. Notably, many previously recognized faiths, including various pagan, New Age, and minority spiritual groups, were removed from the list. The updated roster now emphasizes major Christian denominations, along wiht faiths such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, and options for no religion or other. The move aligns with efforts by Pentagon leadership, notably Secretary Pete Hegseth, to enhance the practicality of religious support structures within the military, focusing on the moast frequently used faith codes to better serve service members&#8217; needs.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>The War Department reduced the number of religions it formally recognizes from 211 down to 31, condensing some of the list and entirely removing other options.<\/p>\n<p>Military.com <a href=\"https:\/\/www.military.com\/dod-officially-drops-180-faiths-from-militarys-recognized-religion-list\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reported<\/a> on June 4 that a memorandum released last month made the adjustments, which were the first amendments to the officially recognized religions list since 2017.<\/p>\n<p>The change was made to \u201cstreamline the DoW collection of religious preferences collection for service members to enhance the delivery of targeted religious support from the Chaplaincy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Anthony Tata, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness of the United States, signed the memo.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The US Military just made a bunch of changes to their list of Faith Codes.<\/p>\n<p>The gist is that the old list used to include every <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-biden-administrations-way-of-addressing-racial-disparities-includes-making-personal-decisions-for-black-americans\/\" title=\"The Biden Administration\u2019s Way Of Addressing \u2018Racial Disparities\u2019 Includes Making Personal Decisions For Black Americans\">single type<\/a> of Baptist in a separate entry. Now, they are all under a single umbrella, \u201cChristian \u2013 Baptist\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another interesting choice is that LDS\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ULRdjMnSbq\">pic.twitter.com\/ULRdjMnSbq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ryan Burge \ud83d\udcca (@ryanburge) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ryanburge\/status\/2063318920258339316?\">June 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe new list will provide chaplains with clear, readily available information that will better enable them to anticipate the religious support needs of service members and to provide religious support activities that align with service members\u2019 personal faith and practices,\u201d Tata wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The new list removed designations such as Atheists, Asatru, Deists, Druids, Eckankar, Heathens, Humanists, Magick, New Age, Pagan, Rosicrucianism, Shaman, Spiritualists, Troth, Unitarian Universalists, and Wiccans.<\/p>\n<p>The new list includes nearly two dozen branches of Christianity \u2014 ranging from Roman Catholic and Orthodox to Baptist and Presbyterian \u2014 as well as Agnostic, Baha\u2019i, Buddhism, Mormonism, Hindu, Islam, Judaism, and Sikh.<\/p>\n<p>No Religion and Other Religions are also options on the list.<\/p>\n<p>Military.com noted that the move comes as War Secretary Pete Hegseth leads the Pentagon toward an embrace of the Christian heritage that has long shaped the American military.<\/p>\n<p>Hegseth <a href=\"https:\/\/www.war.gov\/News\/News-Stories\/Article\/Article\/4444113\/hegseth-announces-reforms-to-chaplain-corps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced<\/a> an effort in March to reform the Chaplain Corps, which included amending the list of recognized religions.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We are going to make the Chaplain Corps great again. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xbKZBdbiSR\">pic.twitter.com\/xbKZBdbiSR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SecWar\/status\/2001113071108882526?\">December 17, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe previous system had ballooned to well over 200 faith codes\u2026 It was impractical and unusable, and many codes were never used at all,\u201d Hegseth said.<\/p>\n<p>The vast majority of service members only used six of the codes, meaning that reducing the size of the list also made practical sense.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis brings the codes in line with its original purpose, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hegseth-slashes-faith-codes-in-move-to-make-chaplains-the-spiritual-backbone-of-the-us-military\/\" title=\"Hegseth Slashes &#039;...&#039; in Move to Make Chaplains the Spiritual Backbone of the US ...\">giving chaplains clear<\/a>, usable information so they can minister to service members in a way that aligns with that service member\u2019s faith background and religious practice,\u201d Hegseth continued.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #171717; display: flex;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;line-height: 1.5;margin: 24px 0;padding: 18px 20px 18px 30px;text-align: left;\">\n<div style=\"align-self: stretch;border-left: 3px solid #171717;flex-shrink: 0;padding-left: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<p><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/\">Choose The Western Journal as your preferred source on Google and never miss reporting that defends truth, protects freedom, and advances Western civilization<\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey == typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts = { \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs = [ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]] = document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display = 'block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display = 'none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src = firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display = 'inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id'] = firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting = jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display = 'none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display = 'block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/body><\/html><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The War Department cut recognized religions from 211 to 31, streamlining the list<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2616670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Michael-Featured-Image-1182.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[40105,39947,81467,81468,62768],"class_list":["post-2616669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-government-regulation","tag-military-policy","tag-religion-recognition","tag-religious-diversity","tag-war-department"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Michael-Featured-Image-1182.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2616669"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2616673,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2616669\/revisions\/2616673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2616670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2616669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2616669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2616669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}