In a highly controversial move the United States (US) Department of War has dropped around 180 of the religious designations it had previously recognised.

A revised list of officially recognised faiths now lists 31 religions. This follows a pledge by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in March that the system of recording religions would be reformed as the then-existing system (with 211 possible options) was “impractical”. It would be matched by changes to the chaplaincy system, which would replace rank insignia with religious insignia.

The new list was set out in a memorandum last month signed by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. It included all sizeable Christian denominations – for example, Catholic, Baptist, Assemblies of God, Lutheran, as well as “Christian-Other” – Agnosticism, the Baha’i faith, Buddhism, Mormonism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Sikhism. In addition, the list includes “Other Religions” and “No Religion”.

The memo clarified: “The new list will provide chaplains with clear, readily available information that will better enable them to anticipate the religious support needs of service members and to provide religious support activities that align with service members’ personal faith and practices.”

Personnel not falling within any of the designations on the list would not be limited as to which religion they could have recorded on their dog tags.

Among the excluded belief systems are Atheism, Deism, Humanism, and various minority, New Age, and neo-pagan beliefs, such as Heathenism, Asratru, Shamanism, and Eckankar.

The designations assist in planning for religious facilities and chaplaincy services.

Interestingly, the expansion of the list to include many of the religions that have now been removed was undertaken in 2017, under the first administration of President Donald Trump.

Hegseth had previously said that 82% of personnel identified with just six of the codes, while many were not used at all.

Media reports on the matter pointed out that the move was criticised in some quarters as being contrary to the US commitment to religious freedom. Hegseth has also been accused of promoting a form of Christian nationalism in the military, such as by allegedly framing the war with Iran in religious terms. An organisation named the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been established to receive complaints about the matter (it claims that 95% of its supporters are Christian).

It is not apparent how withdrawing explicit recognition of these religions will influence the ability of their adherents to practise, and whether chaplaincy services are available to all of them at this point.

The US has a long tradition of separating church and state, but also maintains a high level of religious adherence. These two dynamics are frequently in conflict. The US population has also historically been Christian with a significant Jewish minority. Immigration and a dynamic market in spiritual beliefs have driven religious diversity in the country.