Some fear US military’s religious diversity could be strained under Hegseth [Video]

WASHINGTON — It was a history-making event: In a chapel at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, 2nd Lt. Khady Ndiaye stood proudly – wearing a hijab – as she became the first Muslim woman commissioned by the U.S. Army as a chaplain candidate.

Presiding over the ceremony in June was Maj. Gen. Bill Green, the Army’s chief of chaplains. He said the chaplains serve more than 200 faith groups, “while caring for the entire Army family … regardless of their personal beliefs.”

That ethos – a commitment to religious diversity throughout a U.S. military with 1.3 million active-duty troops – could be strained if Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for defense secretary, is confirmed as the next Pentagon leader.

Hegseth sometimes conveys his conservative Christian outlook in militaristic terms, has justified the medieval Crusades …