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

July 13, 2026 · 1 min read

(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…

Source: Religion News Service · Read the full story →

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💬 Comments (5) 🌐 Show original

Serge Martin

It’s a shame to drown “Native American religion” in a vague “other religion”. The codes are used to estimate the concrete needs for chaplains, as the article says, and there we make these needs invisible. I hope they will still keep the possibility of making precise notes on identity plates.

Anna Parker

It’s a shame they lumped Native American religion into that catch-all “other religion” bucket. The article points out those codes are exactly how the military figures out how many chaplains with the right training are needed, so folding it in really does make the needs invisible. I hope they at least keep letting folks write the specific tradition on the dog tags like before.

Thomas Moreau

Yes, that's exactly it: without a precise code, we will no longer know how many soldiers really need a chaplain who knows Native American ceremonies, such as smudges or prayers with sage. On identity plates, it remains possible, but for the organization of services, it will become vague. Hopefully they fix it soon.

Paul Johnson

Yeah, that “other religion” bucket is basically a black hole for planning anything specific. I remember a guy in my old reserve unit who followed Lakota ways and had a hard enough time getting time off for sweat lodge ceremonies even when the numbers were tracked separately. Keeping the dog tag option is better than nothing, but it won’t help the chaplain corps know how many specialists they actually need.

Xenia Wilson

I agree, Anna – that “other religion” catch-all really does hide the numbers they need for proper chaplain support. My neighbour’s son is in the Army and follows Ojibwe traditions; he’s already had to explain his prayer times twice this year even with the old code. Do you think they might add a separate checkbox just for Native practices down the line?