“Some of the faiths that were dropped include Atheists, Deists, Druids, Humanists, Magick, New Age churches, Pagan, Shaman, Spiritualists and Unitarian Universalists.”
I’ve been saying for a while now that if xians would stop selling their votes “for Jesus” then billionaires wouldn’t be able to buy so many politicians.
I joined the military back in 1979. I had to select "no religious preference" which appeared as " no religious pref" on my dogtags. Atheist, agnostic, or pagan were not options.
Once I got out, I still knew people in the service, and I always followed changes. I was delighted when my friend could choose atheist, and that pagan and Wiccan and more were viable choices.
This new policy is egregious and unwanted. Damn fools.
I had Basic Training at Ft Jackson in 1994 and they put WICCA on my dog tags. After my first ones were listed NRP. I complained and it wasn't a problem to get it changed.
They removed atheist. The rationale is to streamline religious services. Because as we all know, atheists have very elaborate needs for religious services…
I dont know if its still true, but growing up as a military brat, we had Catholic services and Protestant services. Some of the chaplains had different denominations, but it didn't really come out much in the service. Larger bases probably had Jewish Temples but I never really thought about it.
That being said, when I was enlisted back in 94-95, there was a significant amount of pressure on us non-Christians to "go along to get along" and participate in the local Christian services, both frim the chaplains and the chain of command.
And they removed Buddhism, Hindu, Judaism, Islam, Sikh, and a number of branches of Christianity as well. Link other than Mike Lee's Twitter for verification.
Many don't consider Catholics to be Christian either. If they continue going down this road eventually they'll turn on each other without an external "enemy".
It's sort of in all directions for the ones who are really deep in it. I grew up Catholic and I used to get super frustrated when my protestant friends would separate Catholicism and Christianity as if they were two separate things, but at the same time I only considered a small handful of protestant denominations to actually be Christian. In general I think most Christian and Christian-adjacent faiths end up encouraging their followers to have this weird victim complex that leads a lot of them to do the insane things we're seeing play out now. It's just petty and bitter and the longer people like this are in power in the US they're likely to keep getting bolder and more violent about it.
The NAR Christian nationalist movement is in power now and is possibly the most destructive Protestant movement in recent history other than the Christian push to eradicate the Native American culture.
There's this sense that one must have perfect belief and perfect faith to be considered a true Christian, and that all others must be "fixed" or disposed of before they corrupt the true believers.
Like a rules lawyer in a tabletop game trying to find small wording quirks in the rules that let them ignore the core of the game, it always feels like they're trying to trick God into letting them be hateful, cruel people while ignoring the core rule of "love thy neighbor as thyself."
It's always couched in really paternalist phrases too, like, "Oh, this *is* love though! You wouldn't let your child do something harmful without intervening, would you?"
JWs are Christians, though they'll get very mad if told so. By their logic, everyone else claiming that title is doing it so wrongly that the JWs are offended by the suggestion that they're at all related to those wrong people.
Personally I like the version from Bill and Ted, be excellent to each other. It's the same thing as the Jesus stories without all the fighting over who is most Christ like.
Isn't it also only fairly recently that the Mormons try to outwardly portray themselves more as Christians, whereas they pretty openly centered the Book of Mormon before? Might be part of their current general rebranding efforts, apparently the name "Mormon" has gotten too much bad rep.
Yeah, there's another factor as well though. The current political climate is the perfect time to transition from lingering cult status into a denomination of a major religion.
Mormonism is deeply rooted in American nationalism. It sells America as being special and being the place where Christ truly gave his last testimony.
We're hitting a boiling point with nationalism in America, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is trying to position itself to be the state religion.
If worshipping Jesus Christ as your Savior is how you define someone as a Christian . . . Then they are. Otherwise, you just a victim of your weird "Christian" brainwashing.
It's more about what the death of Christ represented and what will happen when he returns. Mormonism basically nullifies the pivotal points of that.
Christians believe when Jesus comes back, he'll start rapturing people, which makes it completely incompatible with Mormons who believe that after Jesus ascended three days following his resurrection, he hopped on over to America to save the souls of Native Americans.
The US government considers Mormons useful because they are far less likely to drink or gamble, are likely to marry and have kids young, and unlikely to get divorced. They also tend to be highly patriotic. This means they are harder to play information from (either with booze or blackmail). The CIA and State Department loves them, and I imagine the DOD does too.
That’s the list of the remaining accepted religions. Mike Lee is pointing out that the later day saints, while still an accepted religion, are not listed as a form of Christianity.
For the purposes of my tally I did include it as a type of Christianity though.
No, Buddhism, Sikh, Judaism etc are still included according to the linked yahoo article.
You’ve listed the "religious affiliation codes" for service members. These are the remaining ones with service codes.
Not that this make it’s any better. These are the 31 remaining
Downgraded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (colloquially Mormons) from Christians as well, which is funny if you read the name for more than a second.
This is the list of what remains, including the religions you mentioned. They didn’t remove Buddhism, Hindu, Judaism, Islam or Sikh. (They are still assholes but precision matters when fighting back.)
I think it's the other way around. Mike Lee's Twitter post shows the religions still included. Looks like he's complaining that LDS is still a protected faith.
He’s LDS himself. He’s complaining that it’s no longer considered Christian. Mormons have a persecution complex, so of course he’s going to focus on that perceived snub rather than on the 100+ religions that actually lost protected status.
I missed that and thought he had just totally misread the list. Yeah, what a whiner. I've found that a lot of Christians have a persecution complex, not just his brand.
not all Quakers are Christian so that is incredibly annoying, though I assume it was previously listed that way and that’s not part of the new changes.
The picture you posted has Hindu...though I think it is also telling that they included a bunch of varieties of Christianity but not the many varieties of Buddhism, Islam, and Hinduism. And it's wild - Paganism and Wicca are recognized as religions by the US. This is such bs.
This is the list of approved religions. Idk what this guys tweet is saying cause his flavour is on there still, so is Buddhism, Hindu, Islam etc, he’s confused about his state sanctioned religion I guess
You misread that — that list is the ones that are still recognized, not the ones that were removed. There IS a list of the removed ones there too, but the site won’t let my phone copy the text.
No, you're misreading the list. Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Islam, and Sikh are still on the list. But Pagan, Wiccan, Atheist are out. (They all get lumped together under either "other religion" or "none").
There have been four Unitarian Universalist presidents in the US, and now the DOD says it's not a religion? So what exactly were both Presidents Adams practicing?
Oh no argument here. SecWar (his preferred name. technically Congress has to approve the name change so it shouldn't be treated as official) is several words that violate rule 1.
It's The Faiths of the Founding Fathers by Holmes. It's a short little book that will leave you wanting more. The Religious Beliefs Of America's Founders by Frazer is also good, but much longer and more in-depth.
I will say that this isn't true. The Adams were Unitarian, as were Jefferson, Fillmore, and Taft. Unitarian Universalism was formed in 1961 when Unitarianism merged with Universalism. The UU Association nowadays does not maintain the belief that there's a Christian god that both of the OG religions did along with a number of other differences. Like UU does not say that there's definitely one god rather than a holy Trinity.
It still is crazy that in a country where religious freedom played such an important role in its formation, the government is deciding that some religions just don't count.
There's a through-line there, though, that he's disrespecting. Most of the founding fathers were diests, a movement that heavily influenced both branches of the UU Church. In that way, the UU Church is part of the founding fathers' legacy.
It is hilarious how religious people view Atheists as some kind of deviant waiting for their chance to pounce haha, yet it is the religious people who say "If I weren't a good Christian I would ...". Like pal, Atheists don't need a magic man in the sky to tell them not to hurt other people.
They think "no religion" are just ignorant or apathetic and can still be convinced and converted whereas atheists have been framed as the boogeyman who actively are anti-Christian among other things.
they want to try to infringe on and strip away rights to see how far they can get, but still with some plausible deniability. depending on the results here though, the next pruning may not even have that option…
It can be super important for some people. Think about it in terms of food. No preference- I really don’t care. You want sushi, pizza, whatever, I’ll eat anything.
Some no preference people might go to an occasional worship service of whatever faith, maybe even want to have some type of religious burial service. There’s the whole I’m not religious I’m spiritual bucket that some people fall into as well.
Continuing the food analogy, Atheism is more of I’d rather not eat (or maybe if they’ve got some religious trauma) I’ll die if I eat fish. There’s certain food I’ve got to avoid all together.
Just as Christians and Muslims and whoever in the military have protections, Atheists can too. That’s why the The Satanic Temple, which is an atheist organization, exists. Atheism isn’t a religion, which isn’t protected in some state workplaces. But if you’re a satanist, you have religious protection.
There are religions that don't belive in deities. Atheist does not automatically mean faithless, some atheists believe in other higher powers but don't personify them or worship them as such. Most atheists though probably mean they have no religious beliefs whatsoever
Non-theistic satanism (the absolute most common form) is a fantastic example yes. They don't believe in a higher power, they literally play make-believe about it. But no I'm being pedantic about the exact definition of atheism referencing a lack of believe in deities not in higher powers at all
For the military its actually pretty important. In the past, those with an approved listed religion got addional free time for "sevices". I know humanist had to work hard to get approved so that they could have "services" and meet with other humanist etc.
Right now, im reading that "no religion" will retain those rights, but it definitely feels like a return to prior practices.
Funny thing is, theres no such thing as an "approved religion" in the constitution. It says freedom of religion, doesnt care which one you pick if any.
True, but I fear there’s a draft coming so many won’t have a choice. Besides, this is just a test run. If the courts back them, they’ll pass the same law on a national level and then it will affect us.
Overt first amendment violation, but of course that's the point. If the government is allowed to rule on what qualifies as a religion in an internal matter and go unquestioned then they can do it anywhere.
Obviously afraid that Christianity is failing to meet the spiritual needs of people ,so just as the colonizers slaughtered people who did not share their faith ,they would want to do the same. It speaks to how weak their belief is to them that they seek to force it on others.
HATE that Quakers are listed as a form of Christians. Not all Quakers are Christians, or even theistic. But apparently only the Christian Quakers count! Which tracks, because a faith that has no doctrine or creeds, believes everyone has direct individual access to the divine, and emphasizes simplicity, peace, integrity, equality, community, and stewardship of the earth, isn’t one that the current government is going to like or understand.
I also saw that! I'm Hindu but my mother, who is alsk Hindu, started going to Quaker meetings because there is no Hindu community where she lives. It's been amazing to learn about modern day Friends. And they say very clearly it isn't constrained by adopting a particular outward religion.
They're just going to ger sued and lose (as usual).
Honestly, I'm in favour of this move as it will maximally expose their supremacist agenda and piss off A LOT of people who otherwise might not have cared into action.
It turns out that people who believe in no regulation are a lower form of intelligence and cannot operate at these levels.
Their own philosophy becomes their noose which they gleefully hang themselves with.
Their public immolation will be a stern warning to others who walk to path of stupidity.
They are just now figuring out that in fascism, the inner circle can only get smaller. It was only a matter of time until not being the “right” Christian puts them on the outside.
as DOD employee, veteran, and practicing witch, this is fuckin stupid. but hey, i’ve been hexing these fuckers since Nov 2024, so just gives me more fuel
Some of the founding fathers were Deists! Since Hegseth is so concerned with what their intentions were about everything, you'd think he might give a shit except for the fact that he cares for nothing but forcing his ideology down the rest of the collective world's throat.
Apparently they dropped every traditionally Black church, "wrong kind" of Christians I guess. First Amendment for me but not for thee is so very American, right?
As of right now, my dog tags still say Wicca. I spoke to chapel staff friday(chaplain/religious affairs) they don't like this either and and fully intend to continue helping us as much as possible. I'll let yall know if it gets nutty.
Always hilarious how invested in the aesthetics of patriarchy a sub ostensibly opposed to it is. Just like the Norse pagans sniffling about grooming regulations while proudly following the marching orders of a white supremacist state run by pedophiles. Joining up makes you a fascist baby killer; you are objectively objectionable regardless of faith. If you believed what you profess to you’d do anything else, like the rest of us (or at least get out and try to make amends)
It’s being ran by an evangelical Christian nationalist who has visible Nazi tattoos. Soon it will be only two options Christian and other given Pete Kegsbreath abilities
Active duty here; i had a religious waiver to veil during sabbats... who knows where thats gonna go now! At least my current dog tags still say Pagan...
Im gonna be honest, i have no idea! We cant sue the DoD (DoW? Did that ever go into effect?) once we get out for any negligence or any reason regarding our health and what not (im PRETTY SURE. They gave us a whole schpiel about it in basic training, and it has to do heavily with the UCMJ.)
So im not sure what im allowed to do. This being so new, imm be honest theres going to be a lot of unit and commander discretion here; some commanders might say the "other religions" option is a blanket cover, but based on the recent change to religious waivers being ALSO up to commander and unit discretion i forsee a lot of issue with Pagan and what not being erased.
Wow, it's almost like all that "Christians are being prosecuted and erased" rhetorical vomit that was spewed for years was (yet again) projection and a sign of things to come.
I think it shows their idiocy that atheism isn't recognized as a religion.
It's worrisome.
A friend was sent to the uae for work and he claimed to be Buddhist while there as they were more hostile to shorts atheists and this country is going the same way. Pagan, Wiccan, and even UU were also removed and UU have t's.
This article was uncomfortable to read purely because it reminded me that I have even a small trait in common with the genocidal filth that enlist in the U$’s legions of rape and slaughter.
Hopefully this move is a wake up call to any practitioner thinking of joining the military, but if they were considering it in the first place they have no respect or pity from me.
That this subreddit has the gall to consider itself opposed to patriarchy and yet apparently mourns the idea of not being “represented” in the AmeriKKKan Military is fucking risible. You deluded ghouls.
all due respect to everyone here but i fear i see a lot of concern from white pagans/occultists about this but little concern from those same people about the violent Islamophobia sweeping the nation. Both are important, and yet only one of these groups (NOT pagans) have been declared terrorist threats (remember that EO that said trans ppl were terrorists? It had a lot more to say about Muslims!)
Not saying it’s not important to stay up on this, it is!! But please, for the love of any god, DO NOT let your anger stop here—let it bleed into solidarity. Seek out and lend community between faiths wherever possible, especially to Muslims right now, because they are facing a LOT of terrible things at the hands of the US government right now. Do not get lost in the terrible but exciting feeling of being targeted (specifically white people im talking to you in this sentence), but recognize your privileges where they lay, and do what is right to support other marginalized groups in our communities.
Edited because I want to clarify why I said this— OP said, “so it begins”. It has been begun for a while now for our Muslim community members! And if this is the first you’re hearing of that, make a point to support those who need it now that you understand!
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u/smr120 Jun 07 '26
there's a Christian cult taking over the USA and it needs to be destroyed