US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has drawn criticism after announcing a new Office of Religious Affairs at the Pentagon, with people arguing that the move risks giving Christianity a greater role in military policy.
Hegseth announced the office during his State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia on September 30.
The new Office of Religious Affairs, or ORA, will report directly to the defense secretary and is intended to provide what the Pentagon described as “first-class religious support” while advocating for military chaplains and religious support at the department’s highest level. The ORA will coordinate religious and spiritual resources across the Defense Department, according to the Pentagon. A Pentagon memo says the religious affairs director will oversee resources including faith-based homeschool support for military families and faith-based initiatives aimed at supporting department-wide suicide reduction. The Pentagon said the office will not compel religious participation, favor one faith over another or diminish the rights of service members who follow any faith or have no religious affiliation.
The announcement quickly prompted reactions on social media, including criticism focused on the First Amendment and the separation of church and state. The leader of the office has not yet been named. Hegseth, however, used explicitly Christian language while announcing the initiative.
Earlier reporting noted: US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has announced the creation of a Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs (ORA), marking the latest in a series of faith-related reforms at the Department of Defence headquarters.
Earlier reporting noted: “Our department is, you might say, putting on the full armour of God, because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual,” Hegseth said in his address at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. Earlier reporting noted: According to a Pentagon statement, the ORA will advocate for military chaplains and religious support “at the highest level of the Department.” Huffman, a California Democrat, pointed to the First Amendment’s prohibition on government establishment of religion and Hegseth’s own wording when announcing the new office. “First Amendment: ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.
Hegseth: ‘Today, at my direction, I’m establishing the Office of Religious Affairs,’” Huffman wrote on X.
