Will Secretary Hegseth’s Pentagon Infringe on Religious Expression?

PHOTO CREDIT: Gage Skidmore

None of the 800 generals and admirals flown in from around the world could have missed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s demand for greater readiness and fitness in America’s Armed Forces.
 
Clarity is a good thing. Fitness and a dedication to lethality in war are, in this broken world of ours, necessary.
 
But some questions remain on the table.
 
Some might wonder about the wisdom of banning “fat generals.” This would have excluded one of America’s greatest generals, Henry Knox, who dragged 60 tons of artillery on ox-drawn sleighs through heavy snow from Fort Ticonderoga to liberate Boston from the British. As many have pointed out, this standard would have excluded Lieutenant General Leslie Groves, who oversaw the development of the atomic bomb.
 
But we have a different question – will Secretary Hegseth’s ban on beards in the military include those for whom a hirsute appearance is a religious obligation?
 
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the Pentagon on Tuesday to clarify Hegseth’s order and affirm that the department would maintain the religious rights of all service members. CAIR said in a statement:
 
“The First Amendment guarantees military personnel the right to practice their faith – including the right of Muslim, Sikh and Jewish personnel to grow beards or cover their hair – as does established Pentagon policy.”
 
Over the last five years, Protect The 1st has joined the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty to protect Jewish, Muslim, and Sikh men in the U.S. military who want to keep their beards. One of them, Electrician’s Mate (Nuclear) 3rd Class Edmund Di Liscia, was a Hasidic Jew who said that his beard is “a religious commitment and an expression of obedience and fidelity to God.”
 
Similar views were heard from Mass Communications Specialist 3rd Class Leo Katsareas, a Muslim, and several Sikh men serving in the Marine Corps.
 
The Trump administration has compiled a strong and commendable record of defending religious liberty.  It established a Religious Liberty Commission in the Department of Justice to advise the White House on ways to protect religious freedom from government encroachment. Creating an exception to the grooming standards in the military for these men would be in keeping with the beliefs and actions of President Trump.

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