FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 17, 2025
Contact: Fish Stark, fstark@americanhumanist.org
Court Beyer, cbeyer@americanhumanist.org
WASHINGTON, DC – Fish Stark, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association, and Ben Iten, President of The Humanist Society, the leading endorsement body for humanist chaplains, issued the following joint statement on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments about military chaplaincy:
“Pete Hegseth has no right to tell anyone what to believe or how to pray.
Hegseth’s broadside against the Army Spiritual Fitness Guide – including putting scare quotes around “faith” traditions he doesn’t recognize or value – is an attack against any member of the military who doesn’t practice his form of conservative Christianity.
Hegseth tries to hide this by attacking “secular humanism.” But the irony is that, despite the fact that certified humanist chaplains serve Americans every day in hospitals, prisons, and college campuses across the country, they are not allowed to serve in the military.
Every single member of our military, regardless of their religious beliefs – Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, humanist, or anything else – deserves access to a chaplain who will support their well-being.
But it’s clear Hegseth doesn’t understand what this means – because his directive stands in direct contradiction to the Standards of Practice for Professional Chaplains agreed to by all credentialing bodies for chaplains. Those standards include a recognition that chaplaincy does involve emotional care – and emphasizes providing care for diverse beliefs, not mocking them.
Those standards are agreed to and followed by all practicing chaplains – Christians, Jews, Muslims, and yes – even secular humanists. And the Army Spiritual Fitness Guide, based on those standards, had been endorsed by leaders in the Army Chaplain Corps who are practicing Christians.
The truth is that Hegseth doesn’t care about strengthening the practice of chaplaincy or the spiritual well-being of the military. He wants to do what he’s always done: treat his position as a pulpit and push his deeply conservative Christian Nationalist beliefs onto the troops.
Hegseth says “stay tuned for more.” We will – and we stand ready to defend the equal rights of humanists, and any other religious minority, serving in the Armed Forces.
Hegseth likes to cherry-pick quotes from George Washington, so here’s one for him, from Washington’s landmark Newport Letter addressing religious freedom: “For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens.”
No cherry-picking which beliefs are valid and which deserve scare quotes. Just equality under the law. That’s what it says in the Constitution our troops are sworn to defend, even if Hegseth wishes it were otherwise.”
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The American Humanist Association (AHA) works to protect the rights of humanists, atheists, and other nontheistic Americans. The AHA advances the ethical and life-affirming worldview of humanism, which—without beliefs in gods or other supernatural forces—encourages individuals to live informed and meaningful lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.