A dispute about religious classification has turned into a far more uncomfortable question: where does Christianity actually begin and end?

It began, as these things often do now, with a bureaucratic decision rather than a theological one. Earlier this month, the Pentagon dramatically reduced the number of religious categories available to service personnel. In the first version of the revised list, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints appeared separately but was not included among the groups classified as “Christian”.

The backlash was immediate, particularly from LDS politicians and commentators in Utah, who protested that they explicitly worship Jesus Christ and must therefore be regarded as Christians. The Pentagon hastily revised the list and insisted that no theological judgment had been intended.