New standardized “religious affiliation codes”
From: Active Duty USAF MRFF Client ID Information Withheld
Date: September 26, 2026 at 11:59:35 AM MDT
To: [email protected], [email protected]
Subject: Re: New standardized “religious affiliation codes”
Mr. Weinstein,
Thank you again for taking my call today. I have to admit I was a bit shocked to get the president of your organization on the phone on a Saturday. Was a very pleasant surprise.
As discussed, last night the DOD directed the transition from legacy faith and belief codes to a standardized list of religious affiliation codes. Active duty airmen have until 16 oct and guard/reserve have until 9 Nov to update their record of emergency data with these new codes.
I attempted to update my code this afternoon and to my outrage found that atheist is no longer an option, an option I have chosen for my previous 24 years of service. I never hid the fact that I was an atheist, and it never was a factor when i was leading or being led by people from many different religious backgrounds.
There are 2 options to choose from the shortened standardized list, “no religion”, or “other religion”, but that is not the point. I along with many other service members, are atheists that do not believe in god.
If my previous (exact number of years withheld, but it is a large number) years of service while being an atheist was good enough, why is it no longer?
Again, thank you for your work in protecting the religious freedom of our service members.
Active Duty USAF MRFF Client ID Information Withheld
Recent Posts
- October 5, 2026 | No comments
- October 1, 2026 | No comments
What’s the problem with choosing the “no religion” option? Is it because that could include not just atheists, but also people who believe in some kind of god, but don’t belong to any religion? Is there any difference in how the military treats those people and atheists? I don’t see how the military would care which of those categories a member is in, or why this writer apparently feels it’s so important to formally declare that he’s an atheist.
Tom O, there are many people who don’t want to make a positive declaration and others who don’t. I identified as “no religious preference” for the 20 years I was on active duty. Once I came into contact with neo-pagans, I got rather interested in neo-paganism. In the early 2000s, I learned about Unitarian Universalism. I found that UUs are comprised of theists, atheists, “refugees” from all kinds of religions — generally speaking, UUs are a wide-ranging bunch. If I’d known about them before I retired, I’d’ve listed myself as a UU!
That’s not an option today, though.
Here’s the thing, though: religion isn’t strictly about belief: it’s actually more about behavior. However, here in the USA, we tend to overemphasize the belief aspect. That may explain why someone might feel uncomfortable choosing “no religion”.
I spent my whole life, in and out of uniform, YELLING that atheism IS NOT A RELIGION, like not collecting stamps isn’t a hobby, so I have no problems with Athiesm being removed as a choice here.
What is wrong with choosing “no religion?” It’s accurate, it serves the purpose, and Atheist as a label is very vague anyway – it doesn’t indicate if you firmly believe there is no God or just haven’t formed an opinion, so what does “Atheist” say to the people needing the data that “no religion” doesn’t say?
“Atheist as a label is very vague anyway – it doesn’t indicate if you firmly believe there is no God or just haven’t formed an opinion.” Not true: atheists “firmly believe there is no God;” people who “haven’t formed an opinion” about that are referred to as “agnostic,” not “atheist.”
Atheists wish to be known as athiests and recognized as such. Fine! Does DOD have a problem with that? Yes, evidently so.
Why is Hegseth attending to this matter with such minute detail while the USS Lincoln runs short of supplies and the number of munitions borders on critical shortage?
Because talking heads are not qualified to run the Defense/War/whatever department. That’s why!
Atheist vs agnostic – TomO is correct, but to the average person the words mean the same thing. How firmly the person doesn’t believe in god(s) is the only difference. A newly sentient rock is agnostic. I’m agnostic, but as close to being atheist as logic allows. I make the logic-demanded allowance for the extremely remote possibility I’m wrong, so I’m agnostic. Either way, I don’t have a religion, and that is the question. I’m all for 86ing the secdef, I hate the god blesses at the gates, etc, but I can’t get excited about this one.
I have some thoughts about this topic and maybe it’s just because I’m a suspicious old one but the removal of the word Atheist wasn’t a chance decision. Those good old boys who wrote Project 2025 are all over the socials talking about how every knee will bend to their concept of deity. Every knee. They intend to rule the earth as their holy book hints at happening and to them the end totally justifies the means, even if their Lord and Savior is very specific about those who do such things.
In that light forcing current Atheists to choose “no religion” is a signal fire the size of Mount Doom to those who proselytize at the drop of a camera lens cap. No religion means you believe in deities but haven’t been attached to a denomination yet. MRFF is going to be so busy.
As I’ve learned, to Christian Nationalists no one “REALLY” doesn’t believe there are no deities. To the Nat-C’s such humans are confused, deluded, or lost.
This move is exactly how the Nat-C’s do things’; take the inch to test the waters. When the reaction is to not get too worried like I’ve read in some of the comments they go for the mile. And because the camel’s nose is already in the tent it’s not long before the whole camel is inside spitting, spreading sand, and totally making a mess.
To presume the SecDef is making these moves without a plan is to forget who he follows and it’s not the current president. Project 2025 wasn’t the current president’s plan but it was those currently running his administration.
Yep, I had thoughts.
I completely agree, Anonymous! “Pagan” was also removed and I plan to use every legal means I can to file a complaint until it’s restored. It’s reprehensible that this administration is persecuting and targeting other religions when I’m 100% sure if a Democrat administration did the same and erased 100s of CHRISTIAN denominations even the minority ones, we’d drown in Christian tears and they’d never stop their constant whines of “religious persecution” but it’s completely acceptable for them to do that to US??
ProudPagan is correct. The hypocrisy here is obviously outrageous. But I’m beginning to believe that Humanists, Pagans, and others who share belief systems disfavored by this administration are inevitably going to lose in trying to appeal to the administration’s understanding of fairness, decency, and the constitutionally-mandated principle of religious freedom. The people controlling the administration and the Pentagon obviously don’t believe in fairness, decency, or religious freedom (or laws they don’t like) and accordingly went out of their way to show a lack of respect for non-theistic belief systems and others they don’t respect. And much of the public thinks that’s just fine. So using arguments appealing to these values (and laws) are going to fail.
It’s become apparent that the minority belief groups now being officially deleted will have to engage in the culture conflicts in kind by working on electing people in currently disfavored and excluded groups and then, once those folks are in control, encouraging them to feel empowered to officially recognize or not recognize various groups at their whim. There might simply be no other way to make sure the rights of the currently deleted groups are acknowledged and respected. And there might be no other way to convince religious bigots that officially deleting belief groups they personally dislike and treating them as second class citizens is a policy that can be applied to them as well as to Pagans, Humanists, etc.
Dominionists aka Seven Mountain Dominionists aka all the different names adopted by what are in essence theocrats declared war on anyone “not them” decades ago. Of course they made these declarations in the privacy of their churches even as they invaded and overtook many entry level government positions so knowledge that we’ve been at war for a while is just now making it into the public square.
So, we are at war. This latest salvo is a doozy. Disagree with all the faiths of our fellow citizens and military service critters? Easy peasy, just erase all the names. Fait accompli, oui?
Our laws are written because our founding fathers were all too aware that tyranny comes from an unregulated majority imposing their will on the minority. I know Grey One, I can hear you saying… so, what of it?
Our service critters can appeal to existing laws and regulations for now. But make no mistake, our opponents were quite clear (saying such things during interviews both online and over the airwaves) that they consider the USA in a “post Constitutional era”. Not sure why those statements didn’t get more coverage back in the day. Oh wait, I’m totally sure. Greed. Money. Our corporate Overlords saw the money signs as clicks and likes accumulated in their pockets. Constitution? What Constitution? Doesn’t hurt when the owners of said media are theocrats (one mountain down, seven to go!)
So how to win this war? Vote like it’s the last time you will get that right. Double and triple check your voter registration. Do it every week as the court cases allowing theocrats in each state to purge voter registration are being settled in favor of the theocrats every day (two mountains down, five to go).
Another way to win this war is to volunteer as a Poll worker. Consider this a “get to know the neighbors” kind of assignment. You will meet with folks who have one goal; the accurate counting of ballots submitted by your fellow citizens. IYKYK.
As for the everyday resistance I’m in favor of malicious compliance. Theocrats in charge love (and I mean LURV) to issue orders. OK – take that order and pick it apart. See where complying throws sand into the gears of our dying bureaucracy. Throw that sand, enough to maybe even break the teeth of those gears. WeThePeople owe no loyalty to those trying to take over our country via subversion and outright rule breaking.
Violence won’t work here. There are decades of Soldiers for Christ who’ve been trained at the pulpit on Sundays and every Wednesday at church school lessons, services, and potlucks. Trained for what exactly? Well, if you’ve been listening to the podcasts I’ve had to listen to you’d know they are willing to die for their faith. Look in the eyes of a diehard MAGA. You’ll see the extremism and hatred of all things not MAGA. At least I see it. Your milage may vary.
We are at war folks. If there is ever a question of do I file that suit or do I challenge a ruling the answer is yes. Throw that sand. Every grain is needed. Maybe, just maybe WeThePeople will win this war even if it’s by the seat of our pants.
I know, the regular defenders of the Constitution already know this stuff. I’m writing for the new faces who are commenting (welcome!!!) and for the new readers who are just learning what they thought was just cultural clashes are in fact full out battles in a war they never knew existed before now. Lot to take in. Remember to hydrate and keep snacks handy. It helps.
Good luck in your endeavors. And for this issue. Oh, MRFF has this. Their team is already on top of it and it’s up to us to support them, in whatever way fits best for you.
Sending loves because that is just what I do.
The curse of a literal mind – I said welcome to the new commentators but not the new readers. Oops. It was implied but not said. As someone who doesn’t catch implications without hints (ruining the point of an implication) I had to address the issue.
Another point is this invasion has been going on for decades. Those theocrats who invaded the low level governmental positions are now in Congress.
For the record? The theocrats attempt at conquering the mountain of entertainment has been well, entertaining to watch because a theocrats idea of what is funny is horrible!!! They punch down when they should punch up but because they are hierarchical in nature they can’t do that! Hilarious. Their latest attempt is to just purchase the big studios – Ellison merger agreement anyone?
Although this site is military specific the war against the USA is multifaceted. The theocrats started in the military because as it was put to me back in the day, soldiers are a bountiful field of fruit for those who proselytize. Hopefully here is where WeThePeople can stop them. I say hopefully because Sun Tzu taught me the greatest enemy of winning any war is over confidence.