Department of War Is Going to Make the Chaplain Corps Great Again
On December 17, 2025, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced sweeping reforms to the military’s Chaplain Corps, declaring the need to restore the chaplains’ role as spiritual and moral leaders, not emotional support officers.
He ordered the immediate elimination of the Army’s current Spiritual Fitness Guide, criticizing it for promoting secular humanism and “new age” concepts while mentioning God only once and emphasizing feelings and playfulness instead of faith and virtue.
Hegseth stated that chaplains are meant to be “pastors and shepherds of the souls entrusted to his care,” citing the 1956 Army Chaplain’s Manual, and emphasized that the role is a “high and sacred calling”
He criticized the 2017 expansion of the Pentagon’s religious affiliation codes to 221 categories, including Wiccan, pagan, and atheist groups, calling it a product of “political correctness” and an “ongoing war on warriors”
The reforms are part of a broader effort to refocus the military on faith, virtue, and discipline, with Hegseth also criticizing the physical fitness of troops and senior officers in the same remarks.
