======pete hegseth======
|
“Pete Hegseth is a very dangerous person. He’s a white Christian nationalist and has the arsenal of the United States government at his disposal and a permission slip from President Trump to deploy carnage wherever he wishes against whomever he wishes.” -- Janessa Goldbeck, chief executive of Vet Voice Foundation
A very dangerous person’: alarm as Pete Hegseth revels in carnage of Iran war Critics say brash, bombastic Fox News host out of his depth to guide US military through murky new Middle East conflict Brash and bellicose, he sounded more like a cartoon bully than a sombre statesman. “Death and destruction from the sky all day long,” Pete Hegseth, wearing a red, white and and blue tie and pocket square, bragged to reporters at the Pentagon near Washington. “This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.” (The Guardian; 3.8.26)READMORE>>>>>> Deus Vult: Pete Hegseth’s Christian Nationalist Crusade to Remake the U.S. Military On January 16, 2026, the Office of the Secretary of War sent an email to Pentagon employees inviting them to a “Christian prayer and worship service” the following Wednesday. The invitation, featuring a graphic resembling a tombstone against an American flag backdrop, was nothing new. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has held such services monthly since taking office. What was new: the email also went, unsolicited, to defense contractors. And it made its way to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). Within hours, MRFF began receiving panicked calls. “For the first time that we’re aware of, it went to DOD contractors,” MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein told GPAHE. “If you’re probably at Martin Marietta, General Dynamics, Boeing, you start wondering if we don’t make an effort to be there by not going, will we turn out to be a tarantula on a wedding cake?” The expansion of Hegseth’s prayer campaign to the private sector marks a new front in the religious transformation he is waging at the Department of Defense, one that threatens the constitutional bedrock of religious pluralism that has sustained the American military since George Washington’s Continental Army. (GPAHE; 1.19.26) READMORE>>>>> Is it time to retire the term ‘Christian nationalism’? He offers no data but seems guided by his intuition. On the other hand, my intuition tells me it seems far-fetched that people who voted for Donald Trump did so because someone called them a Christian nationalist. It seems more important to find evidence something like Christian nationalism exists. If it does, then why stop talking about it?The most obvious evidence Christian nationalism exists is there are quite a few conservative Christians who embrace the term and talk about it all the time. People like Andrew Torba and Stephen Wolfe come to mind. Both have written books advocating their support for Christian nationalism. Another prominent Christian nationalist is Doug Wilson, an Idaho pastor who published Wolfe’s book and has a book of his own on the way. Wilson favors the incorporation of the Apostles’ Creed into the Constitution and would prohibit non-Christians from holding public office. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth attends a church in the denomination Wilson founded. (Warren Throckmorten; Baptist NEWS Global 12.14.25)READMORE>>>>> On the latest episode of The State of Belief, you’ll hear the insightful Rev. Dr. Brian Kaylor, President and Editor-in-Chief of Word&Way. Brian and host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush use the lens of his new book, The Bible According to Christian Nationalists: Exploring Scripture for Political Power, to focus on how scripture is being increasingly manipulated to justify distinctly non-biblical politics and policies – particularly at the Pentagon.
Christ Church at 50: How Doug Wilson pushed Christian nationalism to the center In 1977, Doug Wilson stepped behind the pulpit of a small Pullman, Washington, church for the first time. The 24-year-old Navy veteran, now armed with a guitar, had been leading worship at the 2-year-old congregation when the church’s lead preacher left unexpectedly. Wilson had no grand vision of building a movement, or that Christ Church, as it came to be called, would one day be the most scrutinized congregation in America. “There’s no real objective explanation for it,” Wilson, now 72, said of his church’s moment in the national spotlight in a recent interview. “I think it’s the hand of God.” But critics say that Christ Church’s renown has less to do with the Almighty than with Wilson’s dedication to Christian nationalism and his ties to like-minded officials in the Trump administration and among its allies. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has attended a Christ Church-affiliated congregation in Tennessee and has amplified Wilson’s most controversial views, including his argument that women should not be allowed to vote. In the space of a month in April 2024, Wilson was interviewed by Tucker Carlson and Charlie Kirk on their respective podcasts. (Religion News Service 12/10/25) READMORE>>>> |
June 20, 2025: Bucks County Beacon reported: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s affiliation with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches – commonly called the CREC – drew attention even before his confirmation hearings in January 2025. More recently, media reports highlighted a Pentagon prayer led by Hegseth and his pastor, Brooks Potteiger, in which they praised President Donald Trump, who they said was divinely appointed. As a scholar of the Christian right, I have studied the CREC. Hegseth’s membership in a church that belongs to the CREC drew attention because prominent members of the church identify as Christian nationalists, and because of its positions on issues concerning gender, sexuality and the separation of church and state. The CREC is most easily understood through three main parts: churches, schools and media.
July 13, 2025: Yahoo reported: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s affiliation with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches – commonly called the CREC – drew attention even before his confirmation hearings in January 2025. More recently, media reports highlighted a Pentagon prayer led by Hegseth and his pastor, Brooks Potteiger, in which they praised President Donald Trump, who they said was divinely appointed. As a scholar of the Christian right, I have studied the CREC. Hegseth’s membership in a church that belongs to the CREC drew attention because prominent members of the church identify as Christian nationalists, and because of its positions on issues concerning gender, sexuality and the separation of church and state. |
July 15, 2025: Word & Way reported: Pastor Jared Longshore isn’t exactly a holy roller preacher. Bearded and bespectacled, his sermon before the D.C. plant of Christ Kirk church on Sunday (July 13) was delivered in the subdued, heady style typical of the often buttoned-up Reformed Christian tradition. But as Longshore stood underneath an American flag suspended just above his head, its stars and stripes facing toward the floor, the pastor made clear that the new congregation — an outpost of an Idaho church run by a self-described Christian Nationalist — wanted to make some noise. And the message appeared to resonate with the most notable attendee among the crowd of worshippers: U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Children in the pews whispered excitedly when Hegseth entered, and the defense secretary was mobbed by supporters as he left the church.
July 15, 2025: MSN reported: The most striking figure at a recent church launch in downtown Washington wasn’t the pastor — it was Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, sitting just a few pews back. Hegseth attended the July 13 inaugural service of Christ Kirk DC, a church plant aligned with Idaho’s Christian nationalist Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), according to a report by Religious News Service (RNS) published Monday. According to the report, the gathering, led by Pastor Jared Longshore of Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship, featured a subdued Reformed liturgy — Scripture readings, hymns in rich harmonies, and confessions of faith — though it bristled with political undertones. Longshore, standing beneath an American flag hung upside-down, declared, “We understand that worship is warfare,” punctuating the statement with a deliberate pause: “We mean that.”
September 5, 2025: ABC reported: When Pete Hegseth was nominated as US President Donald Trump's secretary of defense and was facing his confirmation hearing, he had to answer questions about his lack of leadership experience, allegations of abuse and his views on women in the military. Mr Hegseth strongly denied the abuse allegations and eventually survived the hearing, becoming only the second cabinet nominee in the country's history to be confirmed after a 50-50 tie. It was Vice-President JD Vance's vote that broke the deadlock and sent Mr Hegseth to the Pentagon.
September 9, 2025: USA Today reported: The United States Department of War Rapid Response X account on Sunday (Sept. 7) posted a clip showing military personnel completing outdoor training as the words “Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid, nor dismayed. For the Lord your God is with you, wherever you go” faded into the screen. The video, which quotes the Bible’s Book of Joshua, received more than 2,000 likes as of Tuesday. Similar videos praising the military while quoting the Bible have flooded the former Department of Defense’s social media accounts over the past few weeks. The department, renamed the Department of War, has joined other branches of the federal government in embracing a Christian nationalist tone in its official communications. Some warn the new social media strategy could indicate how Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s conservative Christian faith is revamping the military branch.
December 10, 2025: Word & Way reported: Since May, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has led monthly Christian prayer services at the Pentagon featuring the Lord’s Prayer, Christian hymns, and a sermon from a rightwing Christian preacher. One month, U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer attended the service since she happened to be touring the Pentagon that day. That inspired her to start her own monthly prayer service, but the inaugural DoL one on Wednesday (Dec. 10) included more religious diversity as a Trumpian Orthodox rabbi offered remarks. “I really can’t thank you enough for honoring me with the privilege of our first prayer service ever here at the Department of Labor,” Chavez-DeRemer said before explaining how she attended a Pentagon service. “I thought that this would be something important for the Department of Labor. … And as we celebrate 250 years in 2026, [this country] will probably need a little more prayer.”