Air Force Officially Directs Every Airman, Guardian to Update Religious Affiliation to Align With DOD

The United States Air Force announced Friday that the service is updating its personnel data systems to align with the Department of Defense’s (DOD) standardized list of Religious Affiliation Codes. Dozens of Airmen and Guardians have already expressed concerns, Military.com has learned.

The service, issuing a message Sept. 25 through its public affairs office with a photo of an Air Force chaplain wearing a cross as religious insignia, said that the Military Personnel Data System and associated accessions systems had transitioned away from legacy “Faith and Belief Codes” as of Friday.

This notice comes roughly four months after DOD dramatically reduced its official number of recognized religious faiths and belief systems by approximately 180, from 211 to 31.

Military.com was the first to report how that new guidance, discovered through an obtained May 20, 2026, memorandum issued by the Under Secretary of War and signed by Anthony Tata, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness of the United States, represented the first time the list has been officially revised since a memo was issued March 27, 2017.

The Air Force guidance provides two deadlines all Airmen and Guardians must adhere to, obliged to take action to update their RAC in the Virtual Military Personnel Flight and to certify their Record of Emergency Data is accurate.

The service said “these mandatory actions must be completed” by Oct. 16, 2026, for active duty members and Nov. 9, 2026, for Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard members. Airmen and Guardians who fail to update their RAC within this selection window “will have their records automatically realigned according to an approved transition construct,” per the Air Force press release.

“Our commitment to the spiritual readiness and religious freedom of every Airman and Guardian remains steadfast,” said Richard Anderson, assistant secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, in a statement.

“Transitioning to these standardized codes ensures our Chaplain Corps has the accurate demographic data they need to provide tailored resources and support to our Service members, while continuing to respect their individual convictions,” Anderson added.

The Air Force also described the change as “strictly an administrative measure,” claiming that a standardization of codes improves demographic awareness, helps Department of the Air Force chaplains better understand the religious composition of their units, and optimizes resource planning.

The change in data codes does not indicate, nor will it result in any reduction or alteration of chaplain services or religious support, the service added.

A Pentagon official, when asked by Military.com for comment and whether other branches could adopt the same guidance moving forward, deferred remarks to the Air Force.

‘Confusion Turned Into Outrage’

Dozens of Airmen and Guardians, as well as concerned members from other services, immediately reached out to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) to express dismay with the new guidance.

One of them, a senior-ranking active-duty member of the Air Force who has served more than two decades, told Military.com under the condition of anonymity that their initial reaction upon seeing the Air Force’s statement was “confusion.”

“Previously, when updating my emergency data, atheist was always an option,” the individual, an MRFF client, told Military.com on Saturday. “But it didn’t take long to see that it was purposely excluded.

“So, my initial confusion quickly turned into outrage—not just for myself, but for the other Airmen and Guardians who may have the same belief system as I do, or belief system that isn’t one of the 31 options.”

The individual, who recalls seeing the DOD’s initial announcement in June but didn’t believe the faith list would get reduced to so few options, was “caught off guard” in part because the Air Force issued the new guidance late on a Friday—and purportedly not service-wide until Saturday.

Asked whether they intend to respond to the imposed deadlines, the individual said they are “still weighing my options whether to oblige this, which I feel would be an infringement on my religious liberty.”

“I really don’t want someone else choosing my religious affiliation for me, administratively or in practice,” they said. “I do plan to wait to comply with this directive until closer to the deadline, in hopes that it will be adjusted.”

Christian Chaplain Says Guidance Part of Broader Pattern

A former military chaplain who is a devout Christian and now an endorser told Military.com on Saturday that the new guidance is an “attempt to push Christianity onto the troops, and there’s implicit intimidation there.”

“It’s a pretty clear message that unless you fit in—[the Air Force’s official release] had the Christian cross right there on the chaplain’s uniform,” they said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It’s crystal clear.”

The individual said there are all kinds of logos that show distinct religions represented by the chaplaincy, suggesting different patterns or symbols for individuals whose faiths have been excluded from previous DOD guidance.

They view this as part of an ongoing effort at the top of the U.S. military “to push Christian nationalism.”

“I think that’s pretty plain,” they said. “Where does it go from here? At this point, I think next is the persecution of non-Christians, or at least non-Christians made to feel at best they are second-class service members.”

“There are people in the military, and of course, outside the military, who truly believe that this nation was established as a Christian nation, despite words to the contrary in both the Constitution and various founding documents,” they added.

Such efforts, they opined, represent a shift from biblical Christianity to a more nuanced view based on political proclivities.

Christianity is being “exploited for political purposes by the extreme far right, and that’s unfortunate,” they said.

Christianity’s Role in the Current Administration

Christianity and its role in the U.S. military has garnered widespread attention during the current administration, and under the leadership of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

In March, just days after the initial U.S. strikes against Iran as part of the ongoing military operation in the Middle East, MRFF received more than 200 complaints from service members.

They were tied to a combat-unit commander allegedly telling non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that President Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,” as originally reported by independent journalist Jonathan Larsen.

Hegseth has routinely held Christian prayer services at the Pentagon since May 2025, inviting guest speakers deemed controversial by some.

They have included Doug Wilson, a self-avowed Christian nationalist who has pontificated that women shouldn’t be able to vote and that the era of slavery perhaps had gray areas in how it was perceived.

Earlier this month, Hegseth quoted the biblical verse Isaiah 6:8, which says, “Here am I. Send me,” as a motivational war chant during a stop for his “Send Me Tour” recruitment drive when he spoke to the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University.

Christianity’s Role in the Current Administration

Mikey Weinstein, founder of MRFF who oversees more than 100,000 clients—including roughly 95% of which are Christian—told Military.com that as of early Saturday afternoon, the organization had received 38 complaints and counting.

Some concerns were relayed by those not in the Air or Space Forces, including two from the Navy and one from the Army.

“Just as Benjamin Franklin made his famous statement in answer to American colonists asking him ‘what type of government have you all created for us?’ at the constitutional convention in Philadelphia, when he said “a republic if you can keep it,’ Hegseth has made it clear in his speeches by saying that ‘we are a Christian nation if you can keep it,'” Weinstein said.

“What the Air Force and Space Force is doing here with this ‘religion census,’ which is absolutely and unconscionably unconstitutional, immoral, unethical and repugnant beyond description, is furthering the attempt to buttress a ‘forever Christian/nationalist republic.'”

He aligned this new guidance with recent MRFF efforts to prevent air force bases from issuing religious-based greetings upon entry. That occurred at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico and reportedly has ceased, though Air Force members have told Military.com that such greetings remain common on other installations.

Those efforts by MRFF were publicly maligned by Hegseth, who in a post on X that mentioned the Military.com story called MRFF “a radical anti-Christian, pro-atheist group that attacks any/all faith inside” DOD. The secretary added that they will “never cave.”

“The troops see it, they understand what’s happening, and they’re outraged at all levels,” Weinstein said, correlating this to Hegseth’s efforts to test the testosterone of male service members aged 30 and older. “Testosterone directly relates to whether you’re tough enough to be in our military, and the toughness really comes down to those four things: straight, white, Christian nationalist, and male.”

“This is a freaking outrage. They threw it out late on a Friday night. … Because people are afraid to respond, [DOD is] being the census: ‘You will tell us what your religious faith is, and if you don’t tell us, we’ll pick one for you.’ And do you think they trust Hegseth and everybody else, [Air Force Chief of Staff] Kenneth Wilsbach or [Air Force Secretary] Tony Meink, to do the right thing?”