For military recruits, getting your dog tags during your in-processing is a special ritual, telling one and all that you are part of the military family.
It also serves as a practical reminder that should you die or be wounded serving our country, you can immediately be identified along with your blood type, while also indicating your religious faith for last rites.
I was always very proud of wearing my dog tags that listed my Unitarian Universalist religious affiliation.
At Ramstein Air Base in Germany in the 1990s, my spouse, Denise, and I helped establish a Unitarian military family fellowship that grew from a handful of Unitarians to several families before we received orders to return stateside.
My UU faith has always been a north star for how I live my life, both in and out of uniform, and, to this day, I affirm our faith’s many principles, which starts first with declaring the inherent worth and dignity of each person.
I share with you my beliefs because the Pentagon this past week reduced its officially recognized religious affiliation codes from over 200 to just 31, removing UU and around 180 minority and non-traditional faith categories.
Those who had identified with one of the eliminated faith groups will have just two options under the new policy: “no religion” or “other religions.”
The military clarified this primarily administrative change is intended to streamline chaplain services and does not restrict what service members can request to stamp on their dog tags. But it’s obvious to many clergy and members of the chaplain corps that this decision will impact the ability of service members to identify their specific religious tradition.
Many believe this decision was not made in a vacuum but was done to marginalize not only my UU faith but other religions or beliefs that don’t fit the emerging theocracy and Christian nationalist perspective of this current administration.
“As with so many other policy decisions, this is an attempt to erase the broad diversity — religious and otherwise — of our country,” said Rev. Eric Cherry, the interim minister of the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence.
This couldn’t be more clear after reviewing the Pentagon’s statement, which included a link to a video posted to social media by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on March 24. In the video, Hegseth said that the military’s chaplain corps had been “infected by political correctness and secular humanism” under previous administrations.
Among the many other faiths eliminated from the Pentagon list are affiliations for Native Americans, Wiccans, Deists, Humanists and Pagans.
As our nation commemorates our 250th anniversary, we should remind our elected leaders and the Pentagon that Americans of many faiths, including Unitarian, have served our country in every major conflict.
In fact, four U.S. presidents and commanders-in-chief were affiliated with Unitarian churches. A fifth, Thomas Jefferson, is widely considered to be a Unitarian, though he never formally joined a Unitarian church. We’ve also seen two Unitarians serve as Secretary of Defense: William Cohen of Maine and William Perry of Pennsylvania
I wonder what Jefferson, the architect for our Bill of Rights, would say today about this Pentagon decision. I imagine he’d exclaim that our nation would not have become a Republic if not for the liberal religious and religious reform minded people including Paul Revere and innumerable courageous Deists, Unitarians and Universalists who are now suddenly categorized as “Other Religions,” but who were patriots for religious freedom in the American Revolution.
And when you hear the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” played during memorial services and military ceremonies, remember that it was Julia Ward Howe, the American author, poet, and yes, Unitarian, who wrote that song.
Famous military members associated with Unitarianism include Col. Robert Gould Shaw, who, 163 years ago in the Civil War, was killed in action on July 18, 1863, in the assault on Battery Wagner in South Carolina.
Shaw, commander of the all-Black 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, was raised in a prominent Boston abolitionist and Unitarian family. A 1989 movie, “Glory,” chronicled the regiment and Shaw’s devotion to his men.
More recently, I’d highlight Navy Capt. Laurel Blair Clark, an American astronaut and Unitarian Universalist who died, along with her six fellow crew members, in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003.
And UU members are proud to note that the oldest known living U.S. military veteran and Tuskegee Airman, James Clayton Flowers, 110, is a Unitarian and part of the historic group of African Americans who served the country during World War II.
That the richly diverse religious heritage of these service members and thousands more who have served and sacrificed, past and present, will now be ignored is thoroughly repugnant. Our brave service members deserve better than this assault on the inherent worth and dignity of so many.
I call on my fellow veterans and all Americans to use this occasion of our 250th anniversary to write and tell our elected leaders to demand from our military that all religious affiliations be restored.
When we as members of the military proudly raised our hands to support and defend the Constitution, our oaths covered protections for our First Amendment rights and the free, open exercise of religion for all. The flag represents the vibrancy of all faiths.
The Constitution under which our military members serve belongs to all faiths.
John Paradis is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and member of the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence.