Why removing a distinct religious code for Native American military service members will make their needs invisible

(The Conversation) — When the Pentagon cut roughly 180 faiths from its religious affiliation codes, shrinking the list from more than 200 categories to 31 in May 2026, it folded “Native American religion” into the broader category of “ other religion ” – one of many faiths the change pushes out of the military’s view.

As a scholar of Native American and Indigenous Studies , I recognize this kind of change as part of a long-running pattern. Native traditions have repeatedly been acknowledged in principle – named, counted, formally recognized – but weakly protected in practice.

What the codes convey Religious affiliation codes are short entries in a service member’s record in the Pentagon’s central demographics database. They are separate from dog tags , the metal identification tags worn around the neck, on which service members can still list any religion they choose.

A Pentagon spokesperson said the change was meant to fix a bloated system , noting that 82% of religious service members used only a handful of the codes.

The codes serve a real purpose. They let the military estimate how many service members practice a given faith, assign chaplains trained in that…