Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth is putting his stamp on religion and its role in the military.
He tossed out the Army's spiritual fitness guide in December, lamenting its lack of explicit references to God in favor of broader spirituality. He's held Christian prayer services at the Pentagon with controversial pastors and framed elements of the war in Iran in biblical terms.
He announced in March that the Pentagon would reduce the number of recognized religious affiliation codes, which are used in part to connect service members with necessary faith resources, and that military chaplains would no longer display, but still retain, their rank insignia.
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The shakeups continued in April.
On the same day Hegseth asked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and immediately retire, two other high-ranking officials were ousted, including Maj. Gen. William Green Jr., the Army’s chief of chaplains.
The removal of the Army's top chaplain was "extraordinarily odd," one expert said, and a former high-ranking chaplain said Green's removal leaves an "enormous gap" for the Army.
Any gaps between chiefs of chaplains in the past have usually been the result of a pre-planned retirement, said Ronit Stahl, a University of California, Berkeley professor and author of the book "Enlisting Faith: How the Military Chaplaincy Shaped Religion and State in Modern America."
The position has a four-year term and often spans presidential administrations. Green began the position under former President Joe Biden’s administration in December 2023.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has received “several scores” of complaints from service members “infuriated” by Green’s removal, according to the organization’s founder and president Mikey Weinstein, a retired Air Force officer.
The Pentagon referred USA TODAY to the Army, which said chaplain services remain ongoing.
“Religious support operations continue under the guidance of the Deputy Chief of Chaplains,” Army spokeswoman Heather Hagan said. Col. Rich West, an ordained Anglican priest, currently holds that position.
No chief of chaplains leaves an ‘enormous’ gap, retired chaplain says
The chaplaincy’s ultimate goal is “ensuring religious freedom and pastoral care for those willing to lay down their lives” for the nation, said the Rev. Jonathan Shaw, director of church relations for the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, who retired as a colonel after nearly 40 years of military service in 2020. Shaw was an Army chaplain and was working as the Army Chaplain Corps’ director of operations at the time of his retirement.
Faith is a pivotal component of many service members' lives, he told USA TODAY, and military chaplains must grapple with the tensions that come with the job. There’s the opportunity and challenge of accommodating a diverse array of religious traditions, but he said there are also tensions in being both a religious and moral figure, a government employee and a faith leader.
“You’re in the business of being willing helpers to those who must take people’s lives,” Shaw said.
Not having a chief of chaplains to guide that work leaves an “enormous” gap, he said. While those in the chaplaincy can largely continue to workas they previously were for now, Shaw said “you can’t ride that very long” in a “very dynamic profession.”
It has arguably been even more dynamic under Hegseth’s tenure given the changes he has made to the chaplaincy in recent months.
In announcing chaplains would no longer display their rank insignia in March, Hegseth said they would be “seen among the highest ranks because of their divine calling” and added that the Pentagon is “not even close to being done” in taking steps toward “restoring the esteemed position of chaplain.” Shaw said he appreciates Hegseth’s push to prioritize chaplains’ religious responsibilities.
Weinstein, however, is among those who have condemned what they perceive as Christian nationalism’s creeping influence on the military under Hegseth’s leadership.
He previously told USA TODAY his organization had received “far greater than” 200 complaints related to religious freedom from service members amid the Iran war as of early March. Among them was an allegation that a commander told non-commissioned officers in a briefing that President Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”
Christian nationalism refers to a "belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way," according to scholar Paul D. Miller. Many Christian nationalists believe in erasing the boundaries between church and state, Andrew Whitehead, a professor of sociology at Indiana University Indianapolis, previously told USA TODAY.
Shaw acknowledged the concerns some have about Christian nationalism in the military but described what he views as a potentially more beneficial framework in which people of faith embrace patriotism and national service while centering their religious identity.
“What we want are Christians and Buddhists and Jews and Hindus and Sikhs and so forth, but we want them where they do honor and love this country and do want to serve in the military,” Shaw said.
Groups raise concerns about Green’s ouster
Lawmakers and leaders in Green’s religious denomination were among those who questioned his dismissal and the lack of information the Pentagon has provided on the matter.
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, condemned Green’s firing in an April 7 statement that said he had carried out his duties “with honor and distinction.”
DeLauro described it as a particularly notable gap in the context of the ongoing war in Iran and Trump’s assertion on April 7 that a "whole civilization will die tonight,” a comment criticized even by those in his base.
“At the moment of our greatest moral peril, President Trump and Secretary Hegseth are silencing our voices of conscience,” she said. “That should alarm every American.”
U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Delaware, similarly commended Green’s service and accused the Trump administration of “pushing out senior officers for seemingly no valid reason.”
U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Nebraska, a retired Air Force brigadier general, also said that although Hegseth has the authority to fire military leaders, "it is not morally right nor wise."
Green became an Army chaplain in 1994 after being endorsed by the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc., the oldest and largest Black Baptist denomination in the country. The denomination emphasizes African Americans' dignity and liberation, Stahl said.
The Rev. Boise Kimber, president of the denomination, said Green’s firing “raises serious and troubling questions that deserve transparency and accountability.”
“His decades of faithful service, moral leadership and historic representation within the Army Chaplain Corps should not be overshadowed by actions that create the appearance of bias, ideological targeting or radical political interference,” Kimber said in an April 8 statement. “Our nation must be careful not to allow partisan agendas to undermine institutions built on merit, sacrifice and service.”
Weinstein also referenced Hegseth's dismissal of three judge advocates general, often referred to as JAGs, less than a month after becoming defense secretary in early 2025.
“The message is very clear – you will toe the line,” Weinstein said.
Green declined to comment to USA TODAY.
BrieAnna Frank is a First Amendment reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at bjfrank@usatoday.com.
USA TODAY's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pete Hegseth's ouster of Army's top chaplain leaves 'enormous gap'
