Colby Cuts Pentagon Religion Codes to 31, Adding Mormon Church
The mormon church remains on the Pentagon’s reduced religion list after the U.S. Department of Defense cut its recognized religious affiliation codes from roughly 211 to 31. The change followed a May 20 memorandum issued by Under Secretary of War Elbridge A. Colby and signed by Anthony Tata.
The department said the codes are used for dog tags, chaplain support and headstones for service members. It also said service members will not be limited to the list of Religious Affiliation Codes when selecting information for their identification tags.
Colby Memo on May 20
Colby’s memorandum removed 180 recognized faiths from the list. Native American religion was among the categories dropped from the code set and is now grouped under “other.”
The revised list includes 21 different sects of Christianity as distinct individual codes. The other ten codes are Agnostic, Baha’i faith, Buddhism, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Hindu, Islam, Judaism, No Religion, Other Religion and Sikh.
Native American Religion Shift
Frances Dupris, a Sicangu Lakota/Northern Arapaho veteran and former Air Force master sergeant, said Native Americans are once again placed in the other category. She asked, “Why not reduce it further? Why not just say ‘This individual has a religious preference.’ Why pick and choose only these faiths?”
The code change affects identification tags, chaplain records and headstone information, but the department said the removal of a distinct Native American code does not mean Native religious practices will no longer be protected or recognized. American Indian and Alaska Native service members have served in every major conflict for over 200 years.
Dog Tags And Headstones
Religious Affiliation Codes feed into details that service members can carry on dog tags and that can appear in burial records. Dupris’ objection points to the practical problem left by the new list: a narrower set of named categories, with Native American religion folded into “other.”
For service members who want a specific faith listed, the department’s statement leaves one clear point in place: the code list is no longer the only option for what goes on identification tags.
