The Hill - The Pentagon has adjusted a list of religious denominations for active service members following backlash from Mormon lawmakers in Congress. Following up on a directive from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this year, the Department of Defense announced Friday that it reduced the number of religious designations that service members can register for from 200 to 31. He said the old system was “impractical,” with many designations not being used at all.
But the updated list received criticism over the weekend from multiple Utah members of Congress, who protested that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) was not labeled under “Christian.”....
An updated list shared Monday includes just 30 faith codes, including LDS, with no specification for which ones fall under Christian denomination.
“Last week, a proposed list of simplified faith codes was released to the media. The Pentagon list included redundant and unnecessary labeling, and the mistake has been fixed,” the Pentagon said on X.
The updated list allows service members to identify as various Christian denominations or as Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu, Bahá’i or agnostic. Other past options such as atheist, pagan and humanist have been left out.
No comments:
Post a Comment