Overview
- A May 20 memorandum signed by Undersecretary Anthony Tata formally reduces the Defense Department’s religious affiliation codes from about 211 options to 31 and orders the change to be implemented within 60 days.
- The new grid keeps broad categories for major world religions and many Christian denominations while folding many smaller or minority belief systems into general labels such as “Other Religions” or “No Religion.”
- Reported removals include explicit listings for atheists, pagans, humanists, Wiccans, Unitarian Universalists and several New Age and earth‑based traditions, which advocates say could make faith‑specific chaplain access harder to identify and provide.
- The code cut is part of Secretary Pete Hegseth’s wider chaplaincy reforms that also direct chaplains to wear religious insignia in place of visible rank insignia, a change that supporters say clarifies ministry roles and critics say raises constitutional concerns.
- Civil liberties and minority‑faith groups, including the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, have warned of First Amendment problems and signaled possible legal action while the Pentagon says the move is administrative and meant to help chaplains better allocate services; the 2017 expansion to roughly 211 codes was originally intended to improve demographic tracking.