Dear Friend,
On December 13, President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) held its fourth meeting in Dallas, Texas, at the private enclave of billionaire Harlan Crow, the same conservative megadonor who for years lavished Justice Clarence Thomas with undisclosed gifts and financial favors.
It was the first time the RLC met anywhere other than the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C. They came to Texas to discuss religious liberty in the military, but while the venue changed, the Christian Nationalist grievance narrative did not.
Veterans, retirees, and active-duty service members testified at the hearing that “religious conviction is the source of America’s moral strength” and that the Obama Administration “de-emphasized” military chaplains. Some speakers suggested chaplains should try to convert service members. One witness said nonsectarian prayers violated their rights. Pseudohistorian David Barton of WallBuilders alleged there was “widespread suppression of” and “hostility against” religion in the military. And the hearing was dominated by discussion about religious exemptions for “unsafe and ineffective” vaccine mandates.
When one of the few non-Christian witnesses, a retired Sikh Marine Corps Captain, raised legitimate concerns about discrimination against minority faiths, including revised grooming standards advanced by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, commissioners didn’t question whether those policies should be reversed. Instead, they asked why turbans and beards matter to Sikhs.
That’s because the RLC isn’t interested in addressing real religious liberty issues, like discrimination or state-sanctioned religious coercion. Their objective is to portray public and nonsectarian institutions as being anti-them. But that framing represents a major misunderstanding of chaplains operating in otherwise secular institutions. As scholar Hans Zeiger put it, “No office in America is so delicately balanced between church and state as that of the military chaplain.”
Chaplains don’t just provide religious services. They are charged to care for the “spiritual, moral, and emotional well-being” of military members and their families. And although they are not qualified mental health professionals, they are frequently the first point of contact for service members seeking care for mental health concerns, including PTSD, substance use, sexual assault, and marital problems.
They’re accessible, and their interactions are confidential, which can be appealing in a high-control environment and alpha-masculine culture that stigmatizes needing support. And they are constitutionally required to respect the rights and beliefs of service members of all faiths and none. Chaplains are not there to evangelize but to empathize—and increasingly so with people who don’t adhere to the religion de soi.
A 2019 Department of Defense study found approximately one-third of active-duty personnel are non-Christian. A 2012 survey by the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers found service members listed over 100 distinct religious affiliations or preferences. And more recent polling showed “No Religious Preference” is now the single largest affiliation in the military, at nearly 23 percent.
But the Chaplain Corps has long lagged behind changing demographics. For decades after the First Amendment was ratified, military chaplains were required to be Protestant Christians. Faiths beyond Christianity, Catholicism, and Judaism weren’t considered until after World War II. The first Muslim chaplain was commissioned in the 1990s, the first Buddhist in 2004, and the first Hindu not until 2011. To this day, the Corps excludes credentialed atheist and Humanist chaplains, who a Republican congressman once suggested would refer to dead soldiers as “worm food.”
None of these facts deterred Hegseth from announcing a sweeping overhaul of the Chaplain Corps on Tuesday (just days after the RLC hearing). He ordered the immediate elimination of the Army’s Spiritual Fitness Guide, which he claimed was “pushing Secular Humanism” and alienating “warfighters of faith.”
Complaining that the manual mentions “feelings” 11 times and “God” once, Hegseth declared a “top-down cultural shift” to refocus chaplains on ministry alone and openly yearned for a return to the 1950s—two decades before women were admitted to military academies or permitted to serve as chaplains (which tracks since he doesn’t believe women should serve in combat or even be allowed to vote).
He also promised to “streamline” the military’s faith and belief coding system so chaplains could “minister better to the flock.” But doing so will reverse long-overdue expansions that allow nonreligious service members to accurately describe who they are. (Prior to 2014, the system recognized over 100 Christian denominations and only seven non-Christian options.)
Service members who don’t adhere to a favored faith aren’t just a casualty; they’re the target. The secretary has repeatedly declared the U.S. a “Christian nation,” overseen the release of Christian promotional videos by the Department of War, and hosted evangelist Franklin Graham at a Pentagon “Christmas worship service” just this week.
Hegseth and the RLC aren’t defending religious liberty for all Americans. They’re likely (mis)using public dollars to advance a Christian Nationalist agenda that treats pluralism as a problem and the First Amendment as an obstacle to be sidestepped in their pursuit of power and privilege.
American Atheists is fighting back. We stand for secular service members who may be afraid to speak out. We hold public officials accountable. We oppose religious coercion in all 50 states, and we are committed to rebuilding the wall between church and state.
Our work is so critical, especially now. Please consider making a gift before the year is through if you believe, as I do, in defending religious freedom for all.
In solidarity,
Melina Cohen
Director of Strategic Communications & Policy Engagement
American Atheists is a 501(c)(3) non-partisan, nonprofit educational organization that relies on the support of members like you. Contributions are tax-deductible. Our Federal Tax ID Number is 74-2466507.
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