海格塞斯在五角大楼设立宗教事务办公室，直接向防长本人汇报
据美联社报道，美国国防部长皮特·海格塞斯（Pete Hegseth）宣布在五角大楼设立宗教事务办公室（Office of Religious Affairs，简称ORA），直接向他本人汇报，这是他整顿军中宗教事务的最新举措。海格塞斯周三在弗吉尼亚州匡蒂科海军陆战队基地向军中牧师发表讲话时表示，新办公室将提供“一流的宗教支持”，并说：“我们进行的是有形的战争，但真正的战争是属灵的。可以说，我们这个部门正在穿上上帝的全副军装。”
五角大楼的声明称，宗教事务办公室将在国防部最高层为军中牧师和宗教支持发声，同时承诺不会强迫任何人参加宗教活动、不偏袒任何一种信仰、也不减损任何有信仰或无信仰人员的权利。新办公室负责人人选尚未公布；根据五角大楼的备忘录，宗教事务主任将负责协调军中的属灵资源，包括为军人家庭提供以信仰为基础的家庭教育支持，并参与全军范围内的自杀预防工作。海格塞斯还下令军中牧师不再在制服上佩戴军衔标志、改以宗教徽章表明身份，并将国防部官方承认的宗教传统从200多个削减到31个。
这一举措迅速引来批评。主张政教分离的组织“美国联合会”（Americans United for Separation of Church and State）负责人雷切尔·莱泽（Rachel Laser）表示，五角大楼有义务为军人捍卫宗教自由，海格塞斯的最新举措违背了这一承诺，把基督教在美国军事政策中的作用抬得更高。该组织此前已就五角大楼举行的敬拜活动提起诉讼。其他联邦机构自小布什政府时期起就设有宗教或信仰办公室，在奥巴马和拜登政府时期以不同形式存续，特朗普总统也在白宫设立了信仰办公室。
Hegseth Creates Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs Reporting Directly to Him
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is creating an Office of Religious Affairs (ORA) at the Pentagon that will report directly to him, the Associated Press reports, in the latest of his faith-related reforms. Announcing the move in a speech to chaplains at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, on Wednesday, Hegseth said the office will offer “first-class religious support,” adding: “Our department is, you might say, putting on the full armor of God, because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual.”
A Pentagon statement said the new office will advocate for military chaplains and religious support “at the highest level of the Department,” while pledging that it will not “compel religious participation, favor one faith, or diminish the rights of personnel of any faith or lack thereof.” The office's leader has not yet been named. A Pentagon memo says the religious affairs director will coordinate spiritual resources, including faith-based homeschool support for military families and department-wide suicide-reduction efforts. Hegseth has also ordered chaplains to stop wearing rank insignia on their uniforms and be identified by religious insignia instead, and has cut the number of religious affiliations the department officially recognizes from more than 200 to 31.
Criticism arrived quickly. Rachel Laser, head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State — which has sued the Pentagon over its worship services — said the Pentagon “owes it to the nation's service members to defend religious freedom” and that Hegseth's move violates that promise by elevating Christianity's role in shaping U.S. military policy. Other federal agencies have had religious or faith-based offices since the George W. Bush administration, continued in different forms under Obama and Biden, and President Trump has established a White House Faith Office.
图片来源：U.S. Department of Defense（公共领域，DVIDS）
