'Hoo boy': Pete Hegseth slammed by both sides after 'huge own goal' offends Christian sect

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Hegseth is a religious right wing bigot

'Hoo boy': Pete Hegseth slammed by both sides after 'huge own goal' offends Christian sect

— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) 2026-06-06T23:30:05.367Z

https://www.rawstory.com/hegseth-2677007794/

Pete Hegseth's decision to strip the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of its Christian designation in the Pentagon's new religion classification system has ignited a rare cross-aisle pile-on, with Republican lawmakers, conservative commentators and Democratic senators lining up to call it a mistake.

As Raw Story reported, Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) moved quickly Saturday to condemn the change as "unacceptable," saying he was working to reverse it. He wasn't alone.

Rep. Celeste Maloy (R-UT) — a Utah Republican congresswoman — stopped short of criticizing Hegseth directly but made clear where she stood on the underlying question. "Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are Christians," she wrote on X. "We worship Jesus Christ, strive to follow His teachings, and His name is even in the name of our Church. Just last year, President Trump himself recognized Latter-day Saints as Christians." She said she looked forward to "conversations that will ensure all service members receive the religious support and First Amendment protections they deserve."

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), whose handle is @BasedMikeLee, kept it simple: "Can anyone tell me why The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was left out of the list of Christian churches?"

The answer, based on the list published by Hegseth's office, is that the Pentagon placed LDS in its own standalone category — "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (CJ)" — separate from the two dozen denominations listed under the "Christian" umbrella.

Henry Olsen, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a prominent conservative commentator, said Hegseth shot himself in the foot: "Failing to characterize Mormons as Christians is a huge own goal by Hegseth."

[SheilaAnn]

1. Were Roman Catholics named as Christians? n/t

[Jim__]

4. Yes. I can't copy the video, but on the screen in this DU post you can see it.

DU post

[SheilaAnn]

6. Thank you so much.

[Jim__]

9. You're welcome.

[haele]

8. Oddly enough...yes and no.

Roman Catholic is not the only "Christian" Catholic in the US, there are some Opus Dei/Rad Trad types who believe that since Vatican II, Rome was no longer Catholic enough for them, and they only nominally listen the Pope.
Especially a lot of the pro - Fascist US Bishops who are butt-hurt over being called out for property/financial shady dealings and of course, the child abuse they had been indulging in since the mid-19th century. There's enough political tension around the US bishops and Pope Leo that some former (disgraced) bishops have been talking about a split, as there is with the various Eastern Orthodox churches.
So, as was explained to me by various Catholic devout over the years, using the term Christian Catholic does not necessarily mean Catholic following the Pope in Rome.
It could also mean member of a Latin Mass strip mall "Catholic" church run by a former deacon or Dominican seminary student who went Rad Trad.

[SheilaAnn]

10. Many thanks for your reply. I had heard about some of this but wasn't sure. Thanks again. n/t

[Mossfern]

2. I understand the outrage

but exactly are the consequences of not being listed as Cristian?

[haele]

12. Military Chaplins (who are also supposed to act as on site psychologists)

And the enlisted Religious Non-Comms who act in lieu of the Chaplin are determined/assigned by the recognized religions on the list.
As White Nationalism takes over, fewer and fewer religions will be recognized.
The first non "Christian" Chaplains were Jewish and Roman Catholic, appointed during the Civil War in 1862.
But I can guarantee there were probably Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, and other sects of religionists and non-religionists in the US military since the beginning to that time who weren't being served by the Chaplin Corps (who were also supposed to help the illiterate with news to and from home along with other personal issues affecting their ability to do their duties) because they didn't show up at services.
On edit.
If the US military "leadership" can limit the Chaplain's Corps to only reflect the "Official Religion", they turn the Chaplain's Corps into Political Officers instead of the Mental Health and Personal Ombudsman service they currently supposed to provide, which is a throwing away of trust between the Military Personnel and the State they serve.

[oasis]

3. Chowder headed idiot Pete's mind remains on vacation.

while his mouth is steadily working overtime.

[Celerity]

5. Mormonism has major differences with most of 'Christianity':

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=21287531

Link to tweet

[MineralMan]

7. Many, if not most, fundamentalist Christian churches say

that "Mormons aren't real Christians." I'd argue that most fundamentalist Christians aren't Christians, either, based on the words supposedly said by Jesus Christ himself, but what do I know?

Bottom line is that Hegseth is one of those fundamentalist, dominionistic Christians. They think they are the only arbiter of what is Christian and what is not.

This is all silliness. The military should have nothing to say about the categorization of religions. In fact it is prohibited from doing so by the Constitution. So is Hegseth.

[David__77]

11. Ridiculous attack against LDS.

And this articule saying “sect” is doing some major editorializing

[LetMyPeopleVote]

13. MaddowBlog-Hegseth's Pentagon slashes the number of religious faiths it officially recognizes

The defense secretary has spent most of his tenure drifting from one culture war priority to another. Evidently, he hasn’t gotten to the end of his list.

On the one hand, Hegseth is using his office to advance a Christian nationalist agenda.

On the other hand, his Pentagon isn’t just elevating one faith tradition, it’s also demoting other faith traditions, slashing the number of religions the Defense Department officially recognizes.

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-06-05T21:02:17.897Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/hegseths-pentagon-slashes-the-number-of-religious-faiths-it-officially-recognizes

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.”....

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 reported:

The 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).

The Military.com report was based on a memorandum issued by Anthony Tata on May 20. (Tata, the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, is perhaps best known for his record of anti-Muslim rhetoric and bonkers condemnations of Barack Obama, whom Tata described as a “terrorist leader.” Last year, Senate Republicans confirmed him anyway.).....

The secretary has spent most of his tenure drifting from one culture war priority to another. The list, evidently, continues to grow.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

14. MaddowBlog-Hegseth faces pushback after voicing anti-immigrant message at D-Day commemoration

This wasn’t CPAC or a conservative media interview; these were prewritten remarks from a U.S. defense secretary at a solemn event.

It’s not easy for a leading American official to screw up a D-Day commemoration ceremony in Normandy.

With his ugly anti-immigrant remarks, Pete Hegseth managed to find a way to do it anyway.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-06-08T13:23:53.048Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/hegseth-faces-pushback-after-voicing-anti-immigrant-message-at-d-day-commemoration

Soon after, the former Fox News host delivered his comments, at which point things went from bad to worse. NBC News reported:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used a speech marking the anniversary of D-Day in France on Saturday, commemorating 82 years since the 1944 push to liberate Nazi-occupied Europe, to lambast what he described as another “invasion” of Europe’s shores.

“Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies,” Hegseth said in a speech at the Normandy American Cemetery in ​Colleville-sur-Mer. “Beaches in Spain, in Italy, in Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion, or is ​it too late? I pray not, and I believe not.”

On D-Day, the lesson was supposed to be alliance, sacrifice, and the defense of democracy. Hegseth turns that memory into an anti-migrant “invasion” riff.

— The Steady State (@thesteadystate.org) 2026-06-06T23:00:03.785Z

That Hegseth has an anti-immigrant vision is unsurprising, but context is everything. This wasn’t CPAC or a conservative media interview, these were prewritten remarks at a D-Day commemoration ceremony.

A day later, even Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, the former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, conceded during an interview on ABC’s “This Week” that Hegseth’s remarks were “inappropriate.”

The Texan, who’s retiring at the end of his term, added, “Look, there’s a time and a place for these issues of immigration. That was not the day, not the anniversary of D-Day. I think out of respect to the veterans, and myself being the son of a D-Day veteran, those remarks were out of place. I think it should have been about their sacrifice, their service to their country, and what they did to protect the free world at a time of great peril against Nazi Germany.”