US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth is facing backlash following claims that he is pressuring service members to practise Christianity.
In a video posted on 16th December, Pete Hegseth claimed that the Chaplain Corps has been “weakened” and “degraded” by “political correctness” and “Secular Humanism.”
According to IB Times UK, he also criticised the Army’s 112-page Spiritual Fitness Guide. The guide was designed to support service members of all faiths and belief systems. In his video, Hegseth mocked the guide for its focus on emotional well-being and inclusive language. He also criticised it for references to “feelings” and for only mentioning God once.
Concerns have grown after he characterised the guide as “unserious” and announced that he would sign directives to eliminate its use immediately. He hinted that secular and non-Christian approaches to spirituality would no longer be accepted as he works to “simplify” faith and belief codes used by service members.
As USA Today previously reported, Hegseth’s actions align with a wider push to purge “wokeness” from the military. The Secretary of Defence has been vocal about a vision of the military being guided distinctly by Christian faith and has introduced monthly Christian prayer services within Pentagon settings. These actions are sparking fears that non-Christian service members are being alienated.
Following Hegseth's comments, Fish Stark, executive director of the American Humanist Association, and Ben Iten, president of the Humanist Society, condemned the Secretary.
“Pete Hegseth has no right to tell anyone what to believe or how to pray,” the two wrote in a joint statement. “Hegseth’s broadside against the Army Spiritual Fitness Guide – including putting scare quotes around ‘faith’ traditions he doesn’t recognise or value – is an attack on any member of the military who doesn’t practise his form of conservative Christianity.”
In a separate statement, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter to Hegseth objecting to his actions. The organisation also filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking all records related to the directives, internal communications about chaplaincy reform, and any planned changes to religious affiliation coding practices.
“Chaplains exist to ensure the free exercise rights of all service members, not to serve as instruments of religious conformity,” wrote FFRF’s legal counsel, Chris Line.
He continued: “Any attempt to transform the chaplaincy into a mechanism for privileging particular religious doctrines or encouraging service members to believe in a particular religion would violate service members’ constitutional rights and undermine the very purpose of the corps.”