DoDI 1300.17, September 1, 2020
SECTION 1: GENERAL ISSUANCE INFORMATION 4
SECTION 1: GENERAL ISSUANCE INFORMATION
1.1. APPLICABILITY.
a. This issuance applies to OSD, the Military Departments, the Office of the Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joint Staff, the Combatant Commands, the Office of Inspector
General of the Department of Defense, the Defense Agencies, the DoD Field Activities, and all
other organizational entities within the DoD (referred to collectively in this issuance as the “DoD
Components”).
b. The definitions, policies, procedures, and assignments of responsibility prescribed in this
issuance apply only to the accommodation of religious practices of Service members and in no
other context.
1.2. POLICY.
a. Pursuant to the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution, Service members have the right to observe the tenets of their religion or to observe
no religion at all, as provided in this issuance.
b. In accordance with Section 533(a)(1) of Public Law 112-239, as amended, the DoD
Components will accommodate individual expressions of sincerely held beliefs (conscience,
moral principles, or religious beliefs) which do not have an adverse impact on military readiness,
unit cohesion, good order and discipline, or health and safety. A Service member’s expression of
such beliefs may not, in so far as practicable, be used as the basis of any adverse personnel
action, discrimination, or denial of promotion, schooling, training, or assignment.
c. In accordance with Section 533(b) of Public Law 112-239, as implemented by DoD
Instruction 1304.28, no Service member may require a chaplain to perform any rite, ritual, or
ceremony that is contrary to the conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the chaplain,
nor may any Service member discriminate or take any adverse personnel action on the basis of
the refusal by the chaplain to comply with such requirements. This does not preclude
disciplinary or administrative action for conduct by a Service member that is proscribed by
Chapter 47 of Title 10, U.S.C. (the Uniform Code of Military Justice), including actions and
speech that threaten good order and discipline.
d. Requests for religious accommodation will be analyzed under the standard in
Paragraph 1.2.e. of this issuance using the process in Section 3 of this issuance. Accommodation
of practices reflecting a Service member’s sincerely held conscience or moral principles will be
governed by the policies of the DoD Component concerned.
e. DoD Components have a compelling governmental interest in mission accomplishment at
the individual, unit, and organizational levels, including such necessary elements of mission
accomplishment as military readiness, unit cohesion, good order and discipline, and health and
safety. In accordance with RFRA and the guidance in this issuance, DoD Components will
normally accommodate practices of a Service member based on sincerely held religious belief.