Pentagon Sparks Controversy by Listing Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Separately from 'Christian' Faiths

The cofounder of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Christian denomination called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a "non-Christian faith" — just days after controversy erupted over its placement in a Pentagon list of recognized religions.

Doug Wilson, senior pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, made the comment in an email to Mother Jones, the progressive news outlet reported Wednesday.

"We would consider the Mormons to be a non-Christian faith with Christian terminology,” he wrote.

Wilson, a cofounder of the archconservative Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, also reportedly described Latter-day Saints as "polytheists," or people who believe in or worship multiple gods.

Hegseth attends a CREC member church outside Nashville, Tennessee, and arranged for Wilson to deliver a 15-minute sermon at a Pentagon prayer service in February.

In response to an inquiry from The Independent, the Defense Department referred to a social media post last week by chief spokesman Sean Parnell.

It said, in part, that the department "places a high value on the First Amendment and the free exercise of religion."

In a email to The Independent, Wilson didn’t deny making the remarks cited by Mother Jones, saying that Mormon beliefs were “essentially polytheistic (many gods)."

A spokesperson for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints didn’t immediately return a request for comment.

Parnell's post on X announced what he called a "significant change to the Department’s categorization of religious affiliation" that "reduced the list from over 200 unmanageable categories to 31."

It listed 21 alphabetical "Christian" faiths — from Assemblies of God to Seventh-Day Adventist — followed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which wasn't labeled as "Christian."

The move sparked outrage among Mormon lawmakers and the Pentagon on Monday released a revised list that removed the "Christian" label and also reduced the number of religious affiliations to 30.

In a social media post, the Pentagon said the initial list "included redundant and unnecessary labeling, and the mistake has been fixed."

"The Pentagon’s job is not to adjudicate theological debates, but instead to ensure sincerely-held faith is respected and encouraged in our ranks," the statement added.

Last year, Hegesth reposted a video of a 7-minute CNN report that featured Wilson saying, "I'd like to see the town be a Christian town. I'd like to see the state be a Christian state. I'd like to see the nation be a Christian nation. And I'd like to see the world be a Christian world."

The video also included a pastor from Wilson's church saying he supported repealing the constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote.

Hegseth, who has tattoos associated with Christian nationalism and the Crusaders, wrote in his post, "All of Christ for All of Life."

In 2024, Hegseth told Fox News that he was blocked from serving with the National Guard at Joe Biden's presidential inauguration because "members of my unit in leadership deemed that I was an extremist or a white nationalist because of a tattoo I have, which is a religious tattoo."

"It's a Jerusalem cross. Everybody can look it up, but it was used as a premise to revoke my orders to guard the inauguration,"

A report by The Associated Press later said that Hegseth was flagged as a possible "Insider Threat" over a different tattoo of the words "Deus Vult,” Latin for "God wills it."

The event took place two weeks after thousands of rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to prevent certification of the 2020 election in which Biden defeated President Donald Trump.