For nearly a decade, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been engaged in a top-down rebrand meant partly to solidify its focus and bona fides as a Christian religion.
The U.S. Department of Defense, led by conservative evangelical Pete Hegseth, appears unconvinced.
On Friday, spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed on social media a report that the department had trimmed its list of recognized religious affiliations, used by its chaplains, from more than 200 to 31.
The Latter-day Saint faith was among those to make the cut. But there was a catch.
The list denotes 20 faiths as Christian, including Catholic, Orthodox Christian, Baptist and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Not, however, the Utah-based faith.
Asked by The Salt Lake Tribune if this omission was intentional, a member of the department’s press team pointed to the statement posted by Parnell.
The Office of the Secretary of War is announcing a significant change to the Department’s categorization of religious affiliation. In a long overdue move, we reduced the list from over 200 unmanageable categories to 31. With this move, we are returning to the original intent of… https://t.co/dgHX5ytzjJ pic.twitter.com/eho537O08J — Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellASW) June 5, 2026
“This decrease in religious affiliation codes is not designed to make any claims on the legitimacy of any faith or religious belief, nor is it intended to provide a list of ‘officially approved’ religions,” he wrote. “Rather, it is designed to allow chaplains to quickly look at the religious composition of their units and determine how they structure resources to best provide for warfighters of all faith groups.”
However, an accompanying video by Hegseth seemed to suggest the change wasn’t entirely one of streamlining bureaucracy.
“In previous administrations, our Chaplain Corps was infected by political correctness and secular humanism,” he said. “…Faith and virtue were traded for self-help and self-care. We started correcting that drift [in December], and today we’re going further.”
Asked if the church planned to respond, a spokesperson for the faith pointed to the FAQ portion of its website. It reads: “Latter-day Saints believe God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to save all mankind from death and their individual sins. Jesus Christ is central to the lives of church members.”
Utah Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis, both members of the church, took to social media Saturday to condemn the seeming snub, with Curtis stating he is “working now to ensure a correction is made.”
Among those eliminated were Unitarian Universalists, various Wiccans, deists, atheists and others, according to Military.com, the first to report the news.
This is hilarious because when I was unfortunately living there (and generally speaking here, of course), if you called a mormon a christian, it was seen as an insult. At least back then, they typically thought of themselves as better than (with a lot of things, but in this case, better than christians). Now that the christian fascists are in charge of the country, the mormon church suddenly wants in on the grift and they claim that they were always christian.
Also, Mike Lee is a dumbass.
I’m honestly surprised by your comment. Is this based on one specific experience you had with someone?
I have also lived there, but I never met any member of that faith who would be offended by being called a Christian. It has always been the opposite experience for me.
I had this experience with multiple people in high school, actually. Maybe it was just where I grew up? I was fairly close to Utah county (although, thankfully, not in it) which could have changed things.
The first time I had someone get offended over it, I kind of brought it up in a joking but curious manner. They explained that they don’t consider themselves Christian and that the bible should never be used on its own (meaning it should always be supplemented by the Book of Mormon). While that’s definitely just the base of the Mormon religion, they very much explicitly told me that they were not Christian, and were not very happy at all. This was especially confusing to me because they do use the bible, just not as their primary text.
Another time in high school, it somehow came up in a conversation with a few (Mormon) of my peers, and while this time they weren’t unhappy to my face, they did the whole fake, friendly smile thing (the same one they used when they made fun of me for not being Mormon) and laughed at me, basically saying that “no, silly, we are not Christian.”
It was a long time ago and the exact details are fuzzy, but I do remember several times where they did not appreciate being called Christian.
I think that may have been more to do with high school kids not understanding their own religion. Mormons have always been Christians. The kids probably thought christian meant the same as protestant. Which Mormons definitely disagree with. They consider themselves restorationists, not protestants. But they’ve always thought of themselves as Christians.
In my experience, nearly every xtian denomination thinks they are better than other sects. Otherwise, why would they choose that particular lifestyle brand?
Also: I remember my amusement when I first learned that LDS refer to outsiders, including non-Mormon xtians and Jews, as “gentiles”.
Some use gentile to mean anyone not in the religion. Most understand it in the biblical sense despite this.
Definitely. I think Mormons excel at this however, I don’t fully know how to explain it though. Growing up non-Mormon (a gentile, as you say, lmao) in that area was… interesting. I was sometimes bullied for it, not in a physical sense but they would definitely make fun of me, to my face but mostly behind my back. In a way, it was almost more insidious than normal bullying, because they’d be all cheery and happy to my face and then they’d make fun of me when I wasn’t around or when they thought I couldn’t hear them.
Utah is a huge bubble, and most people there don’t end up leaving, even when they become adults. The primary way Utah Mormons experience the world outside of their bubble is through their missionary programs and other church functions. Where Christians are pretty much everywhere in the US and don’t have a “home base” bubble, Mormons are the opposite. This makes them feel super empowered to put themselves above the other religions, if that makes sense.
Just more proof about what religion actually is at the end of the day.
Never forget that the LDS church is one of the biggest real estate holders in the US. They own billions and billions of dollars worth of real estate, all tax exempt. They make tons of money off of that, along with the 10% minimum tithe. They’re probably one of the richest organizations in the US.
There needs to be stronger regulations on religious organizations. But something outside of taxing them. Taxation gives representation. And I don’t want religion feeling like it has a right to be heard in politics. There are enough religious zealots already trying to ruin government.
I need to start a church. Maybe happen upon some golden tablet.
Take some shrooms and go digging in some field, I’m sure you’ll be able to start something based on what you find!
Lol go check my video posts, there’s a good one on how to start a cult. Funny enough it’s kind of a thin line sometimes between cult and culture… just a collection of stories people maintain and inoculate their children with.