Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. -- First Amendment, US Constitution
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/opinion-hegseth-must-stop-using-170000582.html
Opinion - "Hegseth must stop using the government to promote his own religion"
Richard Davis, opinion contributor
Fri, June 12, 2026 at 10:00 AM MST
The recent furor over the Pentagon's reclassification of religious affiliations points to a deeper problem occurring in the Pentagon and the Trump administration today. That is the effort to "establish religion" in government, and particularly Christianity. But even then, it is only Christianity as defined by government officials like Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth considers himself an evangelical Christian. Evangelicals tend to be more orthodox in their Christian views than more liberal Christian churches. For example, Evangelicals stridently believe members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not Christian. And they are critical of mainline Protestant denominations that they believe have abandoned the Gospel.
That Hegseth has those beliefs is not necessarily a problem. Top government officials often hold personal religious beliefs that they keep private or do not attempt to interject into their public duties. For example, President Joe Biden said he personally opposed abortion in line with his Catholic faith, but he did not attempt to make such views public policy.
However, Hegseth has gone beyond a public official with personal religious beliefs. He has attempted to translate those beliefs into Pentagon policy and practice. He has used his government platform to promote his personal religious views.
Last year, Hegseth established a monthly religious devotional at the Pentagon, which he personally hosts. Hegseth invited his own pastor to speak at one of the sessions. At these prayer meetings, he has used Christian language to justify war. At one Pentagon prayer meeting, he read a prayer that included: "Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation." He has specifically called on Americans to pray for the military "in the name of Jesus Christ."
The prayer meetings are ostensibly optional for the military who work at the Pentagon. However, servicemembers report they have felt pressure to participate in the meetings. Some claim the Pentagon is keeping records of who attends.
The latest was determining which religions were Christian and which were not, and, not surprisingly, labeling the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as non-Christian. The Pentagon ended up backtracking after LDS criticism and reorganized the list by removing the faith designations from all faith codes.
Hegseth has diminished other religions besides his own by creating broad categorizations that minimize the distinctions among religious groups. For example, there is a significant difference between Reformed Judaism and Orthodox Judaism. But Hegseth's list suppresses those differences with one category — Judaism. Similarly, one categorization for "Lutheran" ignores the fact that conservative Lutherans tend to belong to the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, whereas more progressive ones are members of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. That may be trivial to someone like Hegseth, but paramount to a believer in either of those churches.
The Pentagon claims the new listing "will provide chaplains with clear, readily available information that will better enable them to anticipate the religious support needs of service members." But the opposite would be true. The new list gives a chaplain less information about someone they are counseling. Chaplains typically understand the differences among faiths. But they need to have that information to counsel someone of that faith, not a broad categorization that misses key distinctions.
The most neutral means for guiding chaplains is to simply list the names of actual religious organizations, as occurred previously. The Pentagon should return to that list and drop the attempt to blur the distinctions that are real in the lives of military members. Not only will chaplains be better served, but so will the religious service members they minister to.
It is not the job of the secretary of Defense to promote a particular religion or religion at all. The fact that Hegseth is doing so is a threat to religious liberty. If he will not cease injecting his personal views through his government platform, Congress needs to act to stop him.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/opinion-hegseth-must-stop-using-170000582.html
@Suzianne saidAcknowledging your personal beliefs is simply acknowledging them; it isn’t forcing anyone to accept them one way or another. Neither is it establishing anything; now you want him to stop, which would be a prohibition on free speech. You are acting as if being exposed to a view you disagree with is a crime or something along those lines.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. -- First Amendment, US Constitution
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/opinion-hegseth-must ...[text shortened]... him.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/opinion-hegseth-must-stop-using-170000582.html
@moonbus saidThis is why, for the last 250 years, we've had a separation of church and state.
@Suzianne
Freedom of religion includes freedom from religion, especially in the goobermint.The goobermint has no call telling anyone what to believe, when or how to pray, or even whether to believe or pray.
This is not a theocracy.
@KellyJay saidThe First Amendment is in black and white.
Acknowledging your personal beliefs is simply acknowledging them; it isn’t forcing anyone to accept them one way or another. Neither is it establishing anything; now you want him to stop, which would be a prohibition on free speech. You are acting as if being exposed to a view you disagree with is a crime or something along those lines.
It doesn't care what you, personally, think.
It is what America is about. Trying to change it is trying to change America, and there are people who will fight that until they die.
As a government employee, I took an oath (I'm sure you know what an oath is, it is a solemn promise) to support and defend the Constitution from all enemies. This oath is not given lightly. This (the First Amendment) is not going to be yet another in the long list of Amendments that have been ignored over the years (the 14th Amendment, especially, has been the target of this Administration).
The current government oath of office:
"I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
This is not a joke. It means something. Except to this president and most of his Cabinet. Fealty means more to them (and him) than the Constitution.
@Suzianne
Their memory of state-sponsored religious persecution was not only fresh, but a raw open wound.
There is a village near where I live in Switzerland with a memorial to Anabaptists who were slaughtered there, which dates to just a few years before the founding of America. The remaining Anabaptists left the village for America not long after.
@moonbus saidA high percentage of the first groups to America came because of religious persecution.
@Suzianne
Their memory of state-sponsored religious persecution was not only fresh, but a raw open wound.
There is a village near where I live in Switzerland with a memorial to Anabaptists who were slaughtered there, which dates to just a few years before the founding of America. The remaining Anabaptists left the village for America not long after.
The Founding Fathers were not keen to see that continued here.
@Suzianne saidI made that oath as well, serving, and?
The First Amendment is in black and white.
It doesn't care what you, personally, think.
It is what America is about. Trying to change it is trying to change America, and there are people who will fight that until they die.
As a government employee, I took an oath (I'm sure you know what an oath is, it is a solemn promise) to support and defend the Constituti ...[text shortened]... this president and most of his Cabinet. Fealty means more to them (and him) than the Constitution.
@KellyJay saidThis is not about what you believe. It is about a foundational document which limits what government can do or advocate.
Acknowledging your personal beliefs is simply acknowledging them; it isn’t forcing anyone to accept them one way or another. Neither is it establishing anything; now you want him to stop, which would be a prohibition on free speech. You are acting as if being exposed to a view you disagree with is a crime or something along those lines.