The Department of Defense is drastically reducing the number of religious faiths and belief systems it recognizes in its personnel records, from 211 to just 31.
The military’s revised list of religious affiliation codes removed 180 previously accepted ones, according to a May 20 memo signed by Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata. The codes are used to identify troops’ faith and help plan religious support services for them. The memo notes that the changes will not impact what religion is marked on troops’ dog tags.
Two-thirds of the revised list are different Christian denominations. The new list excludes beliefs and faiths such as Druids, Pagan and Unitarian Universalists.
Military.com first reported on the change on Thursday, citing Tata’s memo. On Friday, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed the changes, calling the previous list “unmanageable” and saying that the change returns to “the original intent of collecting this data – to allow our chaplains and religious support personnel to provide the best spiritual care to our warfighters.”
