On September 30, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo establishing an Office of Religious Affairs. Its director, “reporting directly to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary without intervening authority,” may “assume control over all duties and authorities necessary, as determined by the Director,” and takes over the Armed Forces Chaplains Board. Its listed responsibilities include “faith-based homeschool support for military families” and faith-based suicide-reduction initiatives. A budget plan is due in 60 days and a charter in 90. The memo states that nothing in it “shall be construed to compel religious participation.”
Announcing it at Quantico, Hegseth said “95% of our force recognizes an Almighty God.” Rachel Laser of Americans United for Separation of Church and State: “It's yet another example of Hegseth abusing the power of his government position to impose his beliefs on others.” It follows his cut of the military's recognized faith groups and his public use of Christian imagery (see Hegseth Cuts the Military's Recognized Religions From About 211 to 31, Dropping Wiccans, Pagans, Humanists, and 170 Others, Hegseth Carries a 'Deus Vult' Bible, Quotes Pulp Fiction as Scripture at the Pentagon, and 200+ Troops Report Religious Coercion and Hegseth Tells 600 Troops That Some War Reporting Is 'Treason, Actually' and Repeats His 'No Fatties, No Trannies' Line).
Update (October 2, 2026): the Freedom From Religion Foundation said it will file a Freedom of Information Act request for records on the office's creation, operation and funding, asked Congress to scrutinize it, and will use the results “to determine whether further legal action is warranted”; no lawsuit has been filed. Military Times reported that the memo also has the office sponsor research and analytical tools to assess spiritual fitness and readiness across the military, and gives the military departments 90 days to report all “unfunded and underfunded religious affairs requirements.” At Quantico Hegseth said, “Political correctness and secular humanism got a vote — chaplains did not,” according to The Daily Wire, and, “Our department is, you might say, putting on the full armor of God because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual,” according to Military Times.
Legal scholars quoted by HuffPost, as reported by Military.com, located the risk in how the office is run rather than in its existence. Eugene Fidell of Yale Law School said, “As a matter of bureaucracy, he can probably do this,” and added, “The problem is the First Amendment.” Richard Garnett of Notre Dame said the memo is not necessarily unconstitutional as written. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation condemned the office; The Daily Wire argued it does not violate the Constitution.
Update (October 8, 2026): Retired chaplains voiced concern about the office. “I wouldn't want any member of the military - or certainly the constituency, our population of the United States - to believe we wage war in the name of Jesus Christ,” said retired Maj. Gen. Howard Stendahl, a former Air Force chief of chaplains, American Homefront reported. Retired Maj. Gen. William Waff said Liberty University, which recently formed a partnership with the Pentagon, has its own endorsing officer and is “flooding the zone.”