Overview
- In a Dec. 17 video, the defense secretary announced a “top-down cultural shift” to refocus chaplains on religious ministry rather than counseling roles.
- He signed a directive for immediate elimination of the Army’s 112-page Spiritual Fitness Guide, denouncing it as secular and “unacceptable and unserious.”
- An Army spokesperson said the service is “aggressively moving forward” to discontinue the guide in line with the order.
- The department will replace the existing faith-and-belief coding system with a simplified list, with no specifics yet on which affiliations will be included or excluded.
- Conservative religious leaders and groups, including Franklin Graham and First Liberty Institute, welcomed the move as the Pentagon provided no further details beyond the posted video.