Doug Wilson calls Mormons 'polytheists' amid Pentagon dust-up over Christian labels

Military chaplain recently alerted Wilson to 'disturbing' influence of Mormons

By Jon Brown, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, June 11, 2026

Pastor Douglas Wilson reportedly asserted earlier this week that Mormonism is a polytheistic belief system amid controversy that emerged from the Pentagon over its designation of Christian denominations for U.S. service members.

"We would consider the Mormons to be a non-Christian faith with Christian terminology," said Wilson, according to a Wednesday report from Mother Jones.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are "polytheists" who effectively believe in multiple gods, added Wilson, who has spoken at the Pentagon and is a cofounder of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), which is the denomination of War Secretary Pete Hegseth's home church in Tennessee.

Wilson's comment comes after the U.S. Department of War announced last week that it had streamlined its list of religions by eliminating 180 belief systems from its previous list of 211, which included Wicca, Heathenism, Druidism and other neo-pagan philosophies.

The new list included the major religions and various denominations of Christianity, but listed "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" without the "Christian" designation.

Following public backlash from several Mormon members of Congress, the Pentagon further amended its revised list Monday by removing the "Christian" designations altogether.

The Pentagon said in a statement forwarded to The Christian Post earlier this week that its revised list initially "included redundant and unnecessary labeling," and that "the mistake has been fixed." It added that its job "is not to adjudicate theological debates, but instead to ensure sincerely-held faith is respected and encouraged in our ranks."

On his website, "Blog & Mablog," Wilson published a response on April 28 to an email from a local pastor in Massachusetts named Andrew, who said he also serves as a chaplain in the U.S. Army Reserve. In his email, the pastor alerted Wilson to "the influence of Mormon Chaplains" in the Chaplain Corps who portray themselves as Christians, which he called "a disturbing trend."

"They are growing and unfortunately unnoticeable to the average soldier. Roughly 90% of Chaplains wear the cross on their uniforms, but so many are heretics. Many individuals should be distinguished from the cross to have some other symbol that represents their heresy, but if I had to pick one to work on right now, I would pick the Mormons," the pastor wrote.

"I would be interested to hear your thoughts and pray you can mention this upstream. My guess is this is already noticed but now you can reference something from the boots on the ground," he added.

"Andrew, thanks for the heads up," Wilson wrote in response. "The best thing orthodox chaplains can do is to teach and preach a robust orthodoxy, starting with a strict Trinitarian monotheism."

Wilson, a self-described Christian nationalist who has said Muslims should not be able to hold political office in the U.S., has long advocated for Christians to wield influence in the civil sphere. During an interview with Tucker Carlson in 2024, he likened Christian nationalists to the Christians in ancient Rome who were unafraid to answer the question of whose god in the pantheon is supreme.

"The Christian nationalist is the one who's willing to answer that question, and speaking into the microphone: the true God, the living God, the one who exists," he said.

He also defined a Christian nationalist as a Christian who rejects both tribalism and globalism, believing that a nation's structure and laws — which are, by definition, "imposed morality" — should "conform to the things that God wants and not the things that man wants."

Wilson's CREC denomination was founded in 1998 and is based on Reformed theology and the historical creeds of Presbyterianism, according to its website.

"Since its inception, the CREC has grown from representing three churches to over 130 worldwide. The denomination is committed to maintaining its Reformed faith, avoiding the pitfalls of cultural relevance and political compromise that destroys our doctrinal integrity," the denomination says.

Wilson's characterization of Mormonism echoes that of the late Pastor John MacArthur, who once claimed during a question-and-answer session that Mormon theology is closer to Hinduism because it denies the Trinity and maintains that Mormons can be exalted to deity, thereby potentiating "millions of gods."