- Utah Sens. Curtis and Lee oppose the Pentagon's reclassification of Latter-day Saints.
- The senators argue the Church of Jesus Christ is Christian, citing the Church's name and beliefs.
- The Pentagon reduced religious categories to 31, excluding some minority faiths.
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Sens. John Curtis and Mike Lee are pushing back after the Pentagon changed its categorizations for chaplains to not classify members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as "Christian."
The Republicans expressed their displeasure with the move on social media, and Curtis said he is working to correct the issue.
"Latter-day Saints are among the most patriotic, service-oriented individuals in our country. They are also unequivocally Christian — just look at who is in the name of the Church," he posted on X.
Latter-day Saints are among the most patriotic, service-oriented individuals in our country. They are also unequivocally Christian—just look at who is in the name of the Church.
— Senator John Curtis (@SenJohnCurtis) June 6, 2026
It is unacceptable for a government entity to characterize a faith in a manner that contradicts the… https://t.co/ywqk59ZtRz
His post stemmed from Secretary of War Senior Advisor Sean Parnell announcing the department made a "significant change" to its categorization of religious affiliation.
"In a long overdue move, we reduced the list from over 200 unmanageable categories to 31. With this move, we are returning 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," Parnell said on X.
Parnell said the reduction is not meant to create a list of "officially approved religions" or to "make any claims on the legitimacy of any faith or religious belief." The change is designed to allow chaplains to look at the religious composition of their units to determine structure resources for "warfighters of all faith groups," he said.
Lee also chimed in on X on Saturday morning, asking: "Can anyone tell me why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was left out of the list of Christian churches?"
"If only we, as Latter-day Saints, belonged to a church that had 'Jesus Christ' in its name and His image in its logo ... Oh wait," he added in a separate post.
Can anyone tell me why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was left out of the list of Christian churches? pic.twitter.com/t4u6PI29ON
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) June 6, 2026
The Department of War letter on the official change states it will "enhance delivery of targeted religious support from Chaplaincy." Service members will not be limited to the new list of religious affiliation codes when selecting information on their identification tags, the letter states.
The new list of religious affiliation codes identifies 21 Christian religions with a second identifying name, but then lists The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on its own.
Some other Christian faiths have questioned whether the Church of Jesus Christ is in fact Christian due to differing beliefs. But many members of Utah's predominant religion have taken issue with not being counted as Christians, as the faith is centered around the teachings of Jesus Christ.
"It is unacceptable for a government entity to characterize a faith in a manner that contradicts the religion's own foundational tenets. I am working now to ensure a correction is made," Curtis posted on X.
The new list of recognized faiths also drops minority groups, including deists, druids, pagans and various Wiccans, among others, according to Military.com.
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