Pentagon backtracks after Mormons protest its delisting of their religion

[Eugene]

Source: MS NOW

Pentagon backtracks after Mormons protest its delisting of their religion

Last week, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wasn’t on the Pentagon’s list of acknowledged Christian religions. On Monday, it was back (sort of).

Jun. 8, 2026, 4:38 PM EDT
By Ja'han Jones

Conservative Mormons, much like conservative Catholics, may be starting to realize they are not exempt from the Trump administration’s religious bigotry.

President Donald Trump and his administration’s crusade to cut off funding to Catholic groups that provide aid to immigrants, the condemnation by Trump officials of Catholic leaders for urging sympathy toward immigrants and Trump’s repeated attacks on Pope Leo for opposing his deadly war with Iran have created an environment in which even some right-wing Catholics have had to reckon with hostility toward Christians coming from some of their presumed allies in administration.

Lawmakers and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may be having a similar realization after the Pentagon, which is led by Christian nationalist Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, excluded the church from its list of recognized religions, along with 179 other faith traditions. The move was apparently a part of the Pentagon’s controversial push to slash the number of religious faiths it recognizes.

The move comes amid a long-standing resistance among some conservative evangelicals to classify Latter-day Saints as a branch of Christianity.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.ms.now/opinion/pentagon-mormons-religion-list-church-latter-day-saints

[Eugene]

1. BYU historian explains why LDS faith was left off Pentagon Christian list - KUTV 2

Jun 8, 2026
The Pentagon revised a religious classification list after pushback from Utah lawmakers, but questions remain about why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was left off the list of Christian religions in the first place.

BYU religious historian Joseph Stuart said the answer lies in a debate that has been going on for nearly 200 years.

After Sen. Mike Lee shared a post online asking if anyone could explain why the Pentagon removed the LDS faith from its list of Christian religions, Stuart said, “The discussion that I would have hoped to have had is to say, ‘You and I are both Christians. We love our Savior Jesus Christ. But that does not mean that people from other Christian groups define us that way.’”

[RockRaven]

2. They did not backtrack. They chose to eliminate the "Christian" designation from

all other denominations, rather than call LDS Christian too.

They would rather not call Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc Christians than call Mormons the same.

[marble falls]

4. In the general population of the US - Mormons, Lutherans are about equal: 1%, Baptists are 2%, Methodists and ...

... Presbyterians are each 3%. I guess I'm a cult member, too.

[marble falls]

3. Ir's so crazy. Mormons have a large presense in the Military ...

... https://thegunzone.com/what-percentage-of-the-united-states-military-is-mormon/