Pentagon cuts Latter-day Saints from Christian category in new military religious list

PHOENIX - The Department of War, also known as the Department of Defense, reduced the number of religious affiliations that it officially recognizes that troops could choose from. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is affected by the decision.

What we know:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is still on the list, but the big controversy is that they are not recognized under a Christian religion. 

The ones that are listed under Christian religions are Catholicism, Orthodox Christian, Baptist, and Jehovah's Witness. The list has broad categories of some Christian traditions like Baptist, Presbyterian, and Methodist, but does not specify their denominations. 

By the numbers:

The department went from having about 200 choices of religion down to 31. The list also gets rid of atheists, Unitarian Universalists, pagans, and Wiccans. 

What they're saying:

A spokesperson from the Pentagon says this decrease is not because they are making any claims on the legitimacy of any faith or religious belief. They added that it's not intended to provide a list of officially approved religions. 

Instead, the spokesperson says it is designed to let chaplains quickly look at what religions their units are and decide how they structure resources. He said that they respect troops to practice religion or not have any religion in their life.

The other side:

Many are criticizing the decision. 

"There are hundreds of thousands of Latter-day Saints veterans, and tens of thousands of active-duty Latter-day Saints service members are serving our country, some in combat zones right now," Democrat Representative Greg Stanton said. "They deserve to know why Hegseth excluded their faith."

Meanwhile, Republican Utah Senator Mike Lee says he wants the Pentagon to undo this decision.

"It's also just repugnant to any sense of decency, any sense of our common heritage and our common belief that the government needs to not weigh in on doctrinal disputes between various religious denominations," Lee said.

Dig deeper:

Senator Ruben Gallego agreed with Lee and said this needs to be fixed as soon as possible. 

Local perspective:

Inquiries were made to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Phoenix metro area. Representatives say they are not going to be giving out any statements about this issue.

ReligionPoliticsGreg StantonNewsU.S.