Religious Greetings at Gate of Air Force Base Provokes Controversy with Defense Secretary

 A new controversy over religion in the military has erupted between Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the advocacy group Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). According to an MRFF, by Sept. 2 it had received 27 complaints from military personnel at Kirtland Air Force Base that guards at the base entrance were greeting everyone entering with "God bless you." MRFF in turn complained to the Air Base and the greetings stopped.

Responding on Sept. 4 with posts on X, Secretary of War Hegseth said:

The MRFF is a radical anti-Christian, pro-atheist group that attacks any/all faith inside the @DeptofWar. We will never cave to them. The @usairforce will confront this.

And Air Force Chief of Staff, General Ken Wilsbach posted:

Defenders at our gates not only protect our installations by also welcome everyone entering courteously and professionally. The Department of the Air Force's Policies are unchanged. We are not restricting the use of common greetings while entering our bases.

Military.com reports on the controversy.

Defense Department's Streamlining of Religious Affiliation Codes Got It into Theological Debate

On June 5, Assistant Secretary of War Sean Parnell officially released on X (Twitter) the full text of a May 20 Memo streamlining the Religious Affiliation Codes used by the military to collect religious preferences of military personnel. The official announcement comes after the Memo was first publicly reported by Military.com. The new list reduces the number of religions listed from 211 to 31. However, service members are not limited to these 31 faiths for listing on their identification tags (dog tags).  The new list labelled 21 of the 31 faiths as Christian denominations. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, including Utah Senator Mike Lee, criticized the list because while LDS was listed as a religion, it was not designated as a Christian denomination. A theological debate exists over whether to classify the LDS church as Christian. On June 8, the Department of War announced on X (Twitter) that the new list of Religious Affiliation Codes had again been revised. While all the same denominations are now listed, none of them are labelled "Christian". The X post said: "The Pentagon’s job is not to adjudicate theological debates, but instead to ensure sincerely-held faith is respected and encouraged in our ranks."

[Thanks to Scott Mange and Thomas Rutledge for the lead.]

Defense Secretary's Wartime Prayer Services Draw Criticism

Last week, Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Defense Department seeking information about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's monthly Christian Prayer & Worship Services at the Pentagon. (Full text of complaint in Americans United for Separation of Church and State v. U.S. Department of Defense, (D DC, filed 3/23/2026)). Military Times last week reported on the religious services in an article titled Hegseth Prays for 'Overwhelming Violence' During Pentagon Christian Service. Pope Leo XIV's Palm Sunday Homily seemed to aim criticism at Hegseth. The Pope said in part:

Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: “Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood” (Is 1:15).