Pentagon's new Office of Religious Affairs under Hegseth: What we know

The Secretary of Defense announced the new office during his first "State of the Force" address. Published Oct. 2, 2026 U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the creation of an Office of Religious Affairs at the Department of Defense on Sept. 30, 2026, during a speech he called the "State of the Force" address. Hegseth suggested the Office of Religious Affairs would address urgent spiritual needs among the troops, which he said had long been neglected. He said the office would report directly to him and that budgets would be guaranteed both for chaplaincy and infrastructure, such as "base chapels." Hegseth said that "less than 5% of our force identifies as non-religious," without citing his source for the number. A 2019 congressional report found that while 2.3% of the force identified as agnostic or atheist, the affiliation of 24.4% of active duty personnel fell under "Other/Unclassified/Unknown." Snopes will update this report if, or when, additional information surfaces. We have reached out to the DOD to ask what concrete actions the office will take. We also reached out to the American Humanist Association and are waiting for responses. In October 2026, a rumor spread that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had announced the creation of an Office of Religious Affairs at the Pentagon. The claim spread on social media, including X. One X post included a video of Hegseth speaking on a stage with a U.S. flag background (archived): "Today, at my direction, I am establishing the Office of Religious Affairs," Hegseth says in the video. "Starting today, and for secretaries of war after me, the Office of Religious Affairs will report straight to the top. No staff filters. No bureaucratic dilution. A direct line to the secretary." Meanwhile, several Snopes readers searched the website seeking more information about the supposed Office of Religious Affairs. It is true that on Sept. 30, 2026, Hegseth gave a speech he called the "State of the Force" address. In this speech, he said he had ordered the creation of an office dedicated to religious affairs, which Department of Defense spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed in an X post (archived): We reached out to the DOD seeking more details about the initiative and will update this story if we learn more. Here's what we know about the new DOD office so far: Office of Religious Affairs In his speech, Hegseth said the initiative would address what he described as long-neglected spiritual needs among the troops (starting around the 50:25 mark of the DOD's recording of the speech): After describing how significant the loss of a religious community could be for military personnel assigned to a new location or deployed abroad, Hegseth said that "political correctness and secular humanism" had allowed budgets for religious support to dwindle and infrastructure such as "base chapels" to go into disarray. Religious diversity in the force Hegseth said that "less than 5% of our force identifies as non-religious," without citing his source for the number. A 2019 congressional report found that while 2.3% of the force identified as agnostic or atheist, the affiliation of 24.4% of active duty personnel fell under "Other/Unclassified/Unknown" (PDF Page 51). Meanwhile, the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers, an organization that advocates for nonreligious military members but is not associated with the DOD, said 2.05% of the force identified as "Humanists" in 2018 (Humanism is a non-theistic belief; Humanists believe in a moral and ethical code without believing in God). That report also said the chaplaincy did not represent the religious diversity of the military, with an overrepresentation of evangelistic Christians, when only 13.31% of the troops identified as such. We reached out to the MAAF for comment on the creation of the office. A spokesperson told us the group was in the process of dissolving and directed us to the American Humanist Association, a nonprofit that advocates for secular humanism. We will update this story if the AHA returns our request for a statement on the possible impact of the creation of the office on nonreligious service members. In May 2026, the DOD released a list of recognized religions in a memorandum signed by Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata. The memo included 31 religions, down from 211, according to Military.com, the news outlet dedicated to reporting on the U.S. Military. Twenty-two of those 31 were Christian denominations. Hegseth then announced the creation of the Office of Religious Affairs, designed to report directly to him in the Pentagon organizational chart. In his announcement, he said (around 52:32 of the video embedded above): This won't be a paper pushing shop. It will have real teeth. It will protect budgets, demand infrastructure, and strengthen religious support. The experts, our chaplains, will finally have an advocate at the highest levels. Policy and resources will serve the mission, not smother the mission. 'Spiritual readiness' and 'spiritual resilience' A memo issued on the same day confirmed the creation of the office. It read, in part: The Department of War is committed to fulfilling its duty to support the Department's Service members, their families, and the Department's civilian personnel in the free exercise of religion as protected by the Constitution of the United States and applicable Federal law. While the Department accomplishes this mission primarily through the chaplaincies of the Military Departments established under title 10, U.S. Code, the establishment of the ORA will ensure resources are adequately provided and, where necessary, policy is properly aligned to prioritize the free exercise of religion and the spiritual readiness across the Total Force. Still, Hegseth's memo said, this effort to support the spirituality of military personnel should not "be construed to compel religious participation or to diminish the free exercise rights of any Service member, civilian employee, or family member of any faith or no faith." The memo also said the new office had 90 days to present a plan of action to rebuild the spiritual force of the military: Within 90 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretaries of the Military Departments, in coordination with their respective Chiefs of Chaplains, will submit to the Director a comprehensive baseline report of all unfunded and underfunded religious affairs requirements, including, but not limited to, delivery ofreligious ministry, facilities and infrastructure, logistics, chaplain-led programs, chapel youth programs, faith-based homeschool support for military families, programs related to suicide reduction, and contracted services from faith-based non-Federal entities; research, technology, and analytical tools to support spiritual fitness, spiritual readiness, and spiritual resilience; chaplain in-service procurement programs, chaplain and religious support team training and education. For further reading, Snopes examined another announcement Hegseth made that day, the launch of "Project Meridian," set to study the "future of warfare." Sources Department of War. STATE of the FORCE ADDRESS. YouTube, 2026, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQPnYP-eq1I. Accessed 1 Oct. 2026, Video.Diversity, Inclusion, and Equal Opportunity in the Armed Services: Background and Issues for Congress. 2019, www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R44321/R44321.15.pdf. Accessed 2 Oct. 2026.Hegseth, Pete. 'SUBJECT: Establishment of the Office of Religious Affairs'. Department of Defense, 30 Sept. 2026, media.defense.gov/2026/Sep/30/2004009308/-1/-1/1/ESTABLISHMENT-OF-THE-OFFICE-OF-RELIGIOUS-AFFAIRS.PDF. Accessed 2 Oct. 2026.———. 'U.S. Department of War'. U.S. Department of War, 30 Sept. 2026, www.war.gov/News/Speeches/Speech/Article/4616486/secretary-of-war-pete-hegseths-state-of-the-force-address-as-delivered/. Accessed 1 Oct. 2026.'Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers'. Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers, 2018, militaryatheists.org/demographics/. Accessed 2 Oct. 2026.Mordowanec, Nick. 'DOD Officially Drops 180 Faiths From Military's Recognized Religion List'. Military.Com, 4 June 2026, www.military.com/dod-officially-drops-180-faiths-from-militarys-recognized-religion-list. Accessed 2 Oct. 2026.Rascouët-Paz, Anna. 'Hegseth Named Musk, Gingrich to Lead "Project Meridian." Here's What We Know About the Plan'. Snopes, Snopes.com, Oct. 2026, www.snopes.com/news/2026/10/01/hegseth-musk-gingrich-project-meridian/. Accessed 2 Oct. 2026.Tata, Anthony. 'SUBJECT: Implementation Guidance for Updated Religious Affiliation Codes'. Department of Defense, 20 May 2026, www.spirit-filled.org/documents/2026_Faith_and_Belief_Codees.pdf. Accessed 2 Oct. 2026.'U.S. Department of War'. U.S. Department of War, 2025, www.war.gov/About/Biographies/Biography/Article/4249574/anthony-j-tata/. Accessed 2 Oct. 2026. By Anna Rascouët-Paz Anna Rascouët-Paz is based in Brooklyn, fluent in numerous languages and specializes in science and economic topics. Got tips? Reach out to her on Signal at rascouetsnopes.41 or via email at anna@snopes.com. Article Tags