Outrage spreads over Hegseth plan for Religious Affairs office at the Pentagon

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has created an Office of Religious Affairs inside the Pentagon, and church-state watchdogs and religious freedom groups are objecting loudly. Announcing it to troops and officials at Quantico, Virginia, Hegseth said the unit would give military chaplains a direct channel to him and an advocate at the top of the department. A memo says it will take chaplains under his direct control and fund research and tools to measure spiritual fitness, readiness and resilience. The same memo states that no one will be forced to take part in religious activity, according to The Independent.

Critics see a Christian nationalist agenda and a threat to First Amendment protections. Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the plan hurts everyone serving. Democratic Representative Jared Huffman called Hegseth a committed Christian nationalist who hates separation of church and state.

The move comes as several active-duty chaplains tell the Military Religious Freedom Foundation they fear retaliation, because leadership appears to be gauging whether they share the secretary's views. Separately, the Defense Department has lowered chaplains' ranks and cut its recognized faiths from 200 to 31, dropping atheism, paganism and humanism; 22 of those left are Christian.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Independent’s reporting. Read the full story at The Independent →