DoD cuts recognized religious affiliations to 31

The U.S. Department of Defense has significantly reduced the number of religious affiliations it officially recognizes for service members, cutting the list from over 200 to 31. The change was formalized in a memorandum issued Thursday by Anthony Tata, the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.

The memo states the new list is intended to streamline data collection and improve the chaplaincy's ability to provide targeted religious support. It will provide chaplains with clear, readily available information to better anticipate the needs of service members and align support activities with their personal faith and practices, Tata wrote. The decision follows a reform initiative announced in March by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who called the previous system impractical and unusable. Hegseth stated that the list had ballooned well beyond its original purpose and that a significant majority of service members used only six of the more than 200 codes.

The updated list includes major world religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism, alongside a range of Christian denominations including Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans, and Methodists....