Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is launching a Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs that reports directly to him, a faith-first move critics contend elevates Christianity in military policy.
Hegseth made the announcement in a Wednesday speech to military chaplains at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. He framed the new office as essential support for troops who face more than just physical threats.
“Our department is, you might say, putting on the full armor of God, because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual,” Hegseth said.
Just The News reported the Office of Religious Affairs, or ORA, will offer “first-class religious support” and sit under the secretary himself. A director has not yet been named.
The move fits a clear pattern under Hegseth’s leadership at the Defense Department. He has hosted Christian worship services for employees, spoken of the United States as a Christian nation, and pressed the military school system toward coursework drawing from conservative and Christian influences.
Those same leadership choices have drawn intense outside scrutiny and personnel drama, including Army Secretary Dan Driscoll’s resignation after clashes at the top.
A Pentagon statement said the ORA will advocate for military chaplains and religious support “at the highest level of the Department.” It will not “compel religious participation, favor one faith, or diminish the rights of personnel of any faith or lack thereof.”
Chaplains ordered to stand firm and preach truth
Hegseth used the Quantico address to give chaplains direct marching orders. He wants them focused more on God and less on therapeutic “self-help and self-care.”
“Live your calling. Stand firm. Preach truth. Minister to the flock,” he told them.
He also quoted Scripture: “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do unto me?”
In a related order, chaplains no longer wear rank on their uniforms. They are identified instead by religious insignia. The military has grown more dependent on chaplains to help troops in mental health distress.
A Pentagon memo adds that the religious affairs director will coordinate spiritual resources. Those include “faith-based homeschool support for military families” and “faith-based initiatives supporting Department-wide suicide reduction.”
Hegseth has also moved to reshape the force’s religious landscape itself. The Defense Department slashed the number of officially recognized religious affiliations from more than 200 down to 31. The shorter list no longer includes atheists, Unitarian Universalists, pagans, and Wiccans.
Personnel decisions of this scale have become a hallmark of his tenure, much like when Hegseth blocked six more Army officers from two-star rank in a separate shakeup.
Critics claim the office elevates one faith
Rachel Laser, head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, condemned the announcement. Her group has already sued the Pentagon over its worship services.
Laser said the Pentagon “owes it to the nation’s service members to defend religious freedom.” She added that “Hegseth’s latest announcement violates that promise by elevating Christianity to an even higher role in shaping U.S. military policy.”
The Associated Press detailed those objections alongside the official rollout. The criticism treats support for chaplains and open Christian expression as a threat rather than a resource for the force.
Yet faith-based offices are not new in Washington. Other federal agencies established religious or faith-based offices under President George W. Bush. Those efforts continued in different forms under the Obama and Biden administrations.
President Donald Trump established a White House Faith Office and ran a similar effort in his first term. Hegseth’s ORA simply brings that same priority inside the Pentagon’s chain of command.
Even so, questions about Hegseth’s broader management style continue to surface, with Republican critics joining Democrats in probing his leadership after high-level departures.
Earlier religion office had a different mission
Shaun Casey, a religion scholar who led the State Department’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs in the Obama years, drew a sharp contrast. That earlier office did not promote religion or spiritual well-being inside the government.
“It was there to understand what were the political implications of lived religion in the various hot spots around the world,” Casey said.
Breitbart noted the same core facts: the new office reports straight to Hegseth, aims to deliver first-class religious support, and arrives amid the reduction of recognized affiliations and the chaplain uniform change.
Hegseth is not hiding the goal. He wants chaplains free to do the job they signed up for and troops free to draw on faith when the pressure is highest. The ORA gives that work a direct line to the secretary.
Speculation about his future has followed nearly every major move, including a Democrat operative’s prediction of a firing by Thanksgiving that the White House and Pentagon rejected.
The Office of Religious Affairs is still taking shape. No director has been announced. The memo and statement set the boundaries: advocate hard for chaplains and spiritual resources, compel no one, and favor no single faith on paper.
What is already clear is the direction. Hegseth is treating spiritual readiness as part of military readiness. He is putting the machinery in place to back chaplains who preach truth and minister to the flock instead of managing feelings.
Service members who carry the nation’s hardest burdens should not have to check their faith at the gate while bureaucrats and activists police every prayer.
