Army Policies on Religion

All Army Regulations can be viewed here.


Army Regulation 165-1, Army Chaplain Corps Activities
03 December 2009 [2004 version]

“Chaplains cooperate with each other without compromising their faith tradition or ecclesiastical endorsement requirements.”

“The chaplaincy is an instrumentality of the US government to ensure that the “free exercise” rights of religion are not abridged.”


Army Regulation 600-20, Army Command Policy
06 November 2014 [2009 version]

Section 5-6, “Accommodating religious practices,” contains Army guidance on religious exceptions, exemptions, and other accommodations:

The Army places a high value on the rights of its Soldiers to observe tenets of their respective religions or to observe no religion at all…The Army will approve requests for accommodation of religious practices unless accommodation will have an adverse impact on unit readiness, individual readiness, unit cohesion, morale, good order, discipline, safety, and/or health.


Army Regulation 601-210, Active and Reserve Components Enlistment Program
08 February 2011 [Updated 12 March 2013] [June 2007 version]

Section 4-15:

“Conscientious objectors are persons who profess conscientious objections or religious convictions at time of application for enlistment that would restrict assignments and who desire to enlist as noncombatants.”


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