Remnant Recap
Overhaul announced: Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military Chaplain Corps will be refocused on religious ministry.
Training guide eliminated: Hegseth ordered the immediate removal of the Army Spiritual Fitness Guide.
Faith emphasized: The move aims to restore chaplains’ historic role as spiritual leaders rather than secular counselors.
For decades, America’s military chaplains were expected to tend to souls, not feelings. Now, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says it is time to put faith back at the center of the Chaplain Corps. In a blunt announcement, Hegseth pledged to strip away what he described as secular and New Age ideology that has diluted chaplains into therapists rather than ministers. Citing the Corps’ founding under George Washington, Hegseth said spiritual strength, not mindfulness buzzwords, is what sustains warriors in combat. The message from the War Department was unmistakable. The military’s spiritual backbone is being rebuilt.
Christian. Post reports:
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says he is planning a significant overhaul of the military's Chaplain Corps by refocusing it on religious ministry and eliminating what he called secular influences.
Pledging to "make the Chaplain Corps great again,” Hegseth announced the initiative in a video message posted Tuesday, highlighting the historical role of chaplains in the military, citing President George Washington, who established the Chaplain Corps in 1775 as one of his first actions as general of the Continental Army.
Quoting Washington's general orders, Hegseth said, "The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary, but especially so in times of public distress and danger."
For nearly 250 years, Hegseth argued, chaplains served as the "spiritual and moral backbone" of the forces, ministering to service members' souls in times of hardship. However, he contended that in recent decades, "as part of the ongoing war on warriors," the corps has been degraded.
The 45-year-old Hegseth referenced the "Army Spiritual Fitness Guide," a 112-page document released in August 2025 that frames spiritual fitness as key to force readiness.
Hegseth’s move draws a clear line between faith and ideology inside the armed forces. For supporters, it marks a return to the moral clarity that once defined America’s military. For critics, it signals the end of an era where spiritual leadership was diluted into political neutrality. Either way, the Chaplain Corps is no longer being asked to whisper when it was built to speak boldly.
Photo credit: John Moore/Getty Images
