<\/p>\n
The latest edict<\/span> from beard-obsessed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth adds strict new regulations to his crusade on facial hair, which rights groups have characterized as an attack on troops\u2019 civil liberties.<\/p>\n In a March 11 memo, Hegseth, who has made grooming and appearances a central focus in his time at the helm of the U.S. military, raised the bar to qualify for a religious exemption to his blanket ban on beards. The guidelines lay out a strict new process by which service members may apply for a religious exemption and subject those who\u2019ve already received one to a reevaluation, arguing they need to ensure their religious beliefs are \u201csincerely held\u201d and have a genuine conflict with the grooming standards.<\/p>\n Service members who have spoken against<\/a> Hegseth\u2019s focus on grooming standards say his restrictions on beards are exclusionary to people from religious communities that require adherents to follow specific tenets of faith around beards, hair, and other grooming matters.<\/p>\n Sikhs, for example, who have served in the U.S. military since at least World War I, are required by their faith not to cut the hair on their head, to keep a beard, and to wrap their long hair in a turban. Members of many schools of Muslim tradition likewise have rules around beards and hair length.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A Sikh advocacy group derided the new requirements as \u201ccompletely unnecessary.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSikhs and other service members of faith already earned their accommodations, under policies and processes established under both the Obama and first Trump Administrations,\u201d the Sikh Coalition said in a statement. \u201cIf there are accommodations that the Department of Defense feels are not sincere, they could have chosen to pursue those cases with a process that doesn\u2019t force every single soldier, sailor, airman, guardian, and Marine with an accommodation through more paperwork and bureaucracy.\u201d<\/p>\n The Department of War did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Hegseth introduced the new guidelines as the military increasingly embraces overt Christianity and Christian nationalism<\/a>, including an ideological turn<\/a> on the Air Force Academy\u2019s oversight board and the presentation of the war on Iran as part of \u201cGod\u2019s divine plan<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The changes come months after Hegseth declared war on \u201cbeardos\u201d in a combative speech in September.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want a beard, you can join Special Forces. If not, then shave,\u201d Hegseth said<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n