Hegseth's Pentagon slashes the number of religious faiths it officially recognizes [View all]
To a degree without modern precedent, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has used his powerful office to advance a Christian nationalist agenda. In recent months, Americans have seen him lead Christian prayer services in the Pentagon’s auditorium, invite radical Christian nationalist figures to speak at official prayer services, use social media to promote messages that suggest his faith should dominate other religious traditions and even argue during an official press briefing that Americans should take a knee and pray “in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Since the war in Iran began, the former Fox News host has intensified these efforts. The New York Times reported in March, “More than any top American military leader in recent history, Mr. Hegseth has framed U.S. military operations in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America as bigger than politics or foreign policy. Often he has imbued these actions with a Christian moral underpinning that suggests they are divinely sanctioned.”
Soon after, Hegseth explicitly likened the rescue of a missing American airman shot down over Iran to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The week after that, the Pentagon chief started equating journalists he doesn’t like with “pharisees.”
This week, however, a related problem emerged, though in an unexpected way: Instead of seeing Hegseth’s Defense Department take steps to elevate one faith tradition, Americans are seeing the Pentagon demote other faith traditions. The Religion News Service reportedThe Department of Defense is substantially reducing the number of religions it officially recognizes, reportedly excluding atheists, pagans, humanists and New Age faiths, an independent military-focused news website reports.
The reduction of recognized faith groups represents the first time the military has revised the list since 2017, when it vastly expanded the list of recognized faith groups to about 211. The new list includes 31 recognized faiths, as first reported by Military.com on Thursday (June 4).
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/hegseths-pentagon-slashes-the-number-of-religious-faiths-it-officially-recognizes
He certainly doesn't understand the meaning of the word "pharisee"!
= new reply since forum marked as read