They Eventually Come for Everyone

Special to United Methodist Insight | June 10, 2026

Immigrants. Transgender people. Black and brown communities. Women who refuse to submit. Professors. Journalists. Judges. Protesters. Federal workers. Human rights lawyers. Churches that shelter migrants. Clergy who preach mercy too loudly.

Now the Pentagon has given us another warning.

Under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Department of Defense has reduced its list of recognized religious affiliations for service members from more than 200 to just 31. Unitarian Universalists are gone. Humanists are gone. Atheists, pagans, Wiccans and many others are gone or collapsed into broader categories. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) — a deeply rooted American religious tradition with many conservative members, many veterans and many reliable Republican voters — was not listed as its own Christian denomination in the way many LDS leaders and Utah Republicans expected.

That should stop us cold.

Because this is how it works. First, they come for the people the public has been trained to ignore or fear. Then they come for the people who thought they were safe.

Read more at this link: They Eventually Come for Everyone - United Methodist Insight