The new Pentagon office will report directly to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and oversee efforts involving military chaplains, spiritual readiness, religious resources and faith-based support while the department says participation will remain voluntary and no faith will receive official preference.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has established a new Office of Religious Affairs at the Pentagon, placing religious support and what the department describes as the spiritual readiness of U.S. service members under an organization that will report directly to the defense secretary.
Hegseth announced the office during his Sept. 30 State of the Force address at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, describing the initiative as an effort to strengthen religious support for troops and give military chaplains a more prominent voice inside the Defense Department.
The Office of Religious Affairs, or ORA, will advocate for military chaplains and religious support “at the highest level of the Department,” according to the Pentagon. Hegseth said the goal is to ensure service members have access to “first-class religious support.”
“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,” Hegseth said.
The Pentagon said the office is intended to strengthen the “moral, ethical and spiritual readiness” of service members while coordinating religious resources throughout the armed forces. A Defense Department memorandum establishing ORA says the office will be responsible for obtaining funding and resources for religious-affairs programs and evaluating spiritual fitness, readiness and resilience.
The memorandum also directs the new office to review unmet needs throughout military religious programs. Within 90 days, ORA is expected to produce a department-wide assessment identifying unfunded or underfunded religious-affairs requirements.
The director of the new office has not yet been publicly named.
Hegseth said ORA and its director will have direct access to him, a structure intended to elevate religious-affairs issues above layers of Pentagon bureaucracy. He has argued that military chaplains should be able to provide explicitly religious guidance rather than having their work shaped primarily by lawyers or secular administrators.
The office will also coordinate programs involving military families. According to the Pentagon memorandum, its responsibilities will include “faith-based homeschool support for military families” and religious initiatives connected to suicide prevention across the department.
Hegseth has increasingly emphasized the role of chaplains in addressing spiritual and emotional problems affecting military personnel. The armed services have long maintained chaplain corps representing numerous religious traditions, with chaplains providing worship services, counseling and religious accommodations for service members and their families.
During his Quantico address, Hegseth spoke directly to those chaplains.
“Live your calling. Stand firm. Preach truth. Minister to the flock,” he said.
He later quoted Scripture: “The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do unto me?”
Hegseth has described spiritual strength as a component of military readiness alongside physical and mental preparation. The Office of Religious Affairs is designed to raise what he calls “spiritual health at the same level as physical health.”
The department says the new office will not require service members to participate in religious activities or privilege one religion over another.
According to the Pentagon, creation of ORA should not be interpreted to “compel religious participation, favor one faith, or diminish the rights of personnel of any faith or lack thereof.”
The department memorandum similarly says the initiative is not intended to diminish the free-exercise rights of service members, civilian employees or military families, including people who profess no religious faith.
The assurances come as Hegseth’s broader religious policies at the Pentagon have generated both support and criticism.
Under his leadership, Christian prayer and worship gatherings have been held at the Pentagon, and he has repeatedly incorporated biblical passages and Christian themes into public remarks. Hegseth has also ordered changes affecting the military chaplain corps, including directing chaplains to display religious insignia rather than officer rank insignia on their uniforms.
The Defense Department has separately reduced the number of religious-affiliation codes it formally recognizes from more than 200 to 31. The revised list has drawn criticism because some previously listed categories, including atheists, Wiccans, pagans and Unitarian Universalists, are no longer included as separate classifications.
Supporters of the new religious-affairs office argue that it could strengthen chaplain programs that have lacked sufficient funding and institutional influence.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services said it “appreciates” creation of the office, while evangelist Franklin Graham called the initiative “a great idea” and argued that chaplains play an essential role in caring for military personnel.
Other religious leaders have raised questions about how ORA will fit into the military’s existing command structure.
The Rt. Rev. Ann Ritonia, bishop suffragan for Armed Forces and Federal Ministries in the Episcopal Church, said the proposal could provide needed resources to underfunded chaplain programs but expressed concern about granting the new office direct access outside traditional chains of command.
Civil-liberties groups have raised separate church-state concerns.
Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the Pentagon has an obligation to protect religious freedom for all service members and argued that Hegseth’s approach risks giving Christianity an elevated role in military policy. The organization has previously challenged Pentagon religious programs in court.
The creation of a federal religious-affairs office is not itself unprecedented. Previous presidential administrations have maintained faith-based or religious-engagement offices in other parts of the federal government. President George W. Bush established faith-based initiatives across federal agencies, subsequent administrations continued versions of those programs, and President Donald Trump established a White House Faith Office.
The Pentagon office differs in its focus on the armed forces, military chaplains and what Hegseth describes as spiritual readiness among warfighters.
The office is one of several initiatives Hegseth announced during his Quantico address as part of a broader restructuring of Defense Department priorities. Other initiatives focused on autonomous warfare, military technology, installation resilience and officer development.
For Hegseth, however, the religious-affairs initiative reflects his argument that military readiness cannot be measured exclusively through weapons, training and physical fitness.
“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,” he said.
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