The Pentagon has cut its recognized religious faith and belief codes from 211 to 31, a sweeping change that removes roughly 180 identities from military personnel records and chaplain support systems. The revision was ordered in a May 20, 2026 memorandum signed by Anthony Tata, the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and directed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The memo said the change is meant to streamline the Department of War collection of service members’ religious preferences and improve targeted support from the chaplaincy. It also said the faith and belief codes must be revised within 60 days.
The new list keeps broad categories such as Agnostics, Buddhists, Hindus, Islam, Judaism, Sikh and several Christian-based groups. But it drops a long list of minority faith and worldview identities, including Atheists, Asatru, Deists, Druids, Eckankar, Heathens, Humanists, Magick, New Age churches, Pagan, Rosicrucianism, Shaman, Spiritualists, Troth, Unitarian Universalists and various Wiccans.
That cut is the sharp edge of the policy. The memo says the narrower list will help chaplains provide clearer, more readily available support and better anticipate service members’ religious needs. At the same time, it leaves many nontraditional and minority belief systems outside the recognized codes that feed the military’s records and support planning.
The revision is the first official update to the military’s faith list in almost 10 years. Military.com said the list had not been officially revised since March 27, 2017, when a memo expanded and standardized the codes to improve identification of religious preferences, demographic tracking, support planning and assessments of chaplain corps capabilities and requirements.
That earlier system is now being pared back just as the Pentagon says it wants more precise chaplain support. The unanswered question is what specific concerns from service members or chaplains led officials to remove so many faith codes in one stroke, and how the military will handle the excluded identities once the 60-day revision window closes.
