Mormon anti-LGBTQ+ Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) raged on social media after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth listed the Latter-day Saints as a religious sect separate from Christians on a newly revised list of military members’ faiths.
In a May 20 memo, the Department of Defense slashed the number of individual religious affiliations that military members can claim from 211 to 31. The memo said the revision was to help military chaplains better serve troops’ beliefs.
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In a video posted to X on Sunday, Sen. Lee said, “I find this offensive, not just because that happens to be my faith, not just because it happens to the faith of tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel, but it’s also just repugnant to any sense of decency, any sense of our common heritage and our common belief that the government needs to not weigh in on doctrinal disputes between various religious denominations. I respectfully am imploring people at the Pentagon to reconsider this, not just reconsider it but undo it. Secretary Hegseth, tear down that wall. This is not cool. Get rid of it. Get rid of it now!”
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In a separate X post, Mormon Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) wrote, “Latter-day Saints are among the most patriotic, service-oriented individuals in our country. They are also unequivocally Christian—just look at who is in the name of the Church.”
“It is unacceptable for a government entity to characterize a faith in a manner that contradicts the religion’s own foundational tenets. I am working now to ensure a correction is made,” he added.
On Monday morning, the Pentagon removed the Christian designations from its list of faiths, listing the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” as just one of the 31 options alongside “Lutheran,” “Methodist,” and other Christian sects.
Atheist blogger Hemant Mehta said the list is “still a problem” because it lumps atheists (people who don’t believe in religion) with “nones” (people who believe in a higher power). LGBTQ Nation recently discussed a similar phenomenon in national religious political polling.
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