Post
Invoking “faith” in #wartime, Pete #Hegseth breaks norms & worries critics
The #defense secretary is upending decades-old norms, & current & former leaders say his proselytizing violates the #Constitution & undermines troop cohesion.
#law #Trump #Republicans #FreedomOfReligion #Christianity #Evangelism #NewApostolicReformation #NAR #military #war #NationalSecurity #geopolitics
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/03/29/pege-hegseth-christianity/
Crucifixion is the appropriate punishment
#US #military leaders have long understood the power & perils of invoking faith — especially in #wartime.
Facing the Germans in WWII, Gen. George Patton ordered a chaplain to write an #interfaith prayer for #troops to say on the battlefield.
It took just a week in September 2001 for #Defense Sec #DonaldRumsfeld to change the name of the campaign against terrorism from Operation Infinite Justice to Operation Enduring Freedom — a switch meant to clarify that the US was not in a #religious #war.
And as chair of the #JointChiefs of Staff in the late 2000s, with #troops in Iraq & Afghanistan, Navy Admiral Mike Mullen kept Mass off his public schedule, aiming to keep the particulars of his Catholic faith private.
But those longtime norms are being upended by the #proselytizing #Christian campaign of #Defense Sec Pete #Hegseth, say multiple former high-ranking #military officials & experts on #religion & #law.
#law #Trump #Constitution #FreedomOfReligion #NewApostolicReformation #NAR #war
Rather than boosting cohesion through a more universal spiritual uplift, they say, the new approach violates the #Constitution & undermines the bonds of mutual #respect between #troops that are essential, especially in #wartime.
Every month at the #Pentagon, #Hegseth hosts #evangelical worship services that #legal experts say are unprecedented.
#law #Trump #Republicans #Constitution #FreedomOfReligion #Christianity #NewApostolicReformation #NAR #military #war #NationalSecurity #geopolitics
His social media profile & public comments routinely espouse *his* understanding of #Christianity, which is one that would dominate American life & cast those who disagree with him as God’s enemies. #Hegseth has brought clergy from his small Christian denomination to preach at the #Pentagon, including a prominent pastor who says #women shouldn’t have the right to #vote.
#law #Trump #Constitution #FreedomOfReligion #Evangelism #NewApostolicReformation #NAR #military #war #NationalSecurity
What Pete Hegseth and his fellow members of the He-Man Woman-Haters Club is for women not to have access to the courts, so that they can abuse without restraint or accountability.
And in recent weeks, the #war with
#Muslim-majority #Iran has only made Hegseth’s approach more stark.
On Wednesday at the #Pentagon, #Hegseth prayed for #US #troops to inflict “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy…We ask these things with bold confidence in the mighty & powerful name of Jesus Christ.” Later that day, his department announced #military #chaplains would no longer wear their rank on their uniform & instead would wear #religious insignia.
Indeed. Colorado Springs and the USAF Academy were the epicenter of evangelical and separatist fervor. The Springs saw itself as the antithesis of what its fundamentalists called the People's Republic of Boulder, a hundred miles to the North.
@Nonilex if they think they have an enlistment problem now, well I can see it getting much worse from here on out
@Nonilex Hegseth isn't Christian. He's worshipping some long dead pagan war god who insists on blood sacrifice and mayhem. Next he will announce that any U.S. soldiers who die "for the cause" will immediately ascend to some gruesome modern Valhalla.
The Pentagon’s shift from previous historical norms is dangerous, according to multiple former high-ranking #military officials, heads of #chaplain corps, some #veterans groups, current #Pentagon staff & current officers, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution from the #Trump admin.
#law #Hegseth #Republicans #Constitution #FreedomOfReligion #Christianity #Evangelism #NewApostolicReformation #NAR #war #NationalSecurity #geopolitics
“The American #military has had a remarkable ride of equanimity & fairness & justice & all manner of good adjectives with regard to #religion. It’s done this in a way that’s really remarkable—until now,” said retired #Army Col. Larry Wilkerson, who served as chief of staff to Colin Powell when he was Secy of #State & then was chair of the #JointChiefs. #Hegseth’s actions, Wilkerson said, “are totally violative of everything that transpired before it. This has come on us in a very quick fashion.”
Ret Army Maj Gen Randy Manner, who was second-in-command at the #NationalGuard 2011–2012, has worked in recent years to train hundreds of #interfaith #military #chaplains. Manner said he has talked with “dozens & dozens” of active-duty chaplains in recent weeks who say those who don’t identify with #Hegseth “are being marginalized.”
#law #Trump #Constitution #FreedomOfReligion #Christianity #Evangelism #NewApostolicReformation #war #NationalSecurity
They feel they can’t voice their concerns to their superiors, & feel their work as the primary advocate for #troops’ spiritual, mental & moral #health is being threatened.
“I’ve had people tell me they’re not included in staff meetings,” Manner said.
A snr #Army civilian who has worked in the #Pentagon for decades said people who work there are afraid to talk to one another or their superiors about concerns over #Hegseth’s actions.
The #Army civilian, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they fear of being punished at work or fired, said limits that used to exist around #proselytizing have evaporated under #Hegseth. The situation, the person said, is “terrifying.”
If #troops are trained to believe that “God is on our side,” the person said, “what precludes us from doing anything we want to win? The strength of our #military is our people, & their sense of belonging to their unit & their service.”
#Hegseth also scrapped the #Army’s Spiritual Fitness guide because, he said, it was more focused on self-care than “truth.” He wiped out dozens of #military codes for faith groups he deemed overkill.
#Pentagon press sec Kingsley Wilson said their office is “proud to host these services” & will continue to do so.
“Prayer services at the Pentagon are 100% voluntary & are not mandated whatsoever. It is not against the #law to worship Christ voluntarily anywhere in the United States,” Wilson said.
“The Secretary’s prayer services undoubtedly improve morale for those who choose to attend & are constitutionally protected. No special treatment or punishment is given as a result of one’s choice to attend these prayer services.” [sure, Jan.]
#law #Trump #Hegseth #Republicans #Constitution #FreedomOfReligion #Christianity #Evangelism #NewApostolicReformation #NAR #military #war #NationalSecurity #geopolitics
…former & current military officers said, the #military has historically adopted an unspoken rule: no #religion & no #politics.
“The point was, it didn’t matter, & it shouldn’t have mattered, who you worship, or whether you worship at all. What mattered was doing the job & being mindful that you represent all Americans, no matter what they believe,” said a person who was in the leadership team of a recent chairman of the #JointChiefs.
“I don’t approve of cramming your #religious faith down people’s throats, & when the top of the chain couches these operations in this hyper- #Christian tone, it flies in the face of the #FreedomOfReligion that the #Constitution enshrines & that our men & women in uniform sign up to defend.”
#law #Trump #Hegseth #Republicans #Constitution #Evangelism #NewApostolicReformation #NAR #military #war #NationalSecurity #geopolitics #USpol
Experts say in the 1990s, 20 years after the draft ended, the #military shifted to pull disproportionately from #conservative-leaning areas of the country. Then the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001, pushed ideas of #religious #war into the fore. The Air Force Academy in the 1990s & early 2000s faced investigations & #litigation over allegations that #religious #intolerance & #proselytizing were rampant.
#law #Trump #Hegseth #Constitution #FreedomOfReligion #Evangelism #NationalSecurity #USpol
@Nonilex NOt clarify, pretend it's not what he's thinking.
@Nonilex I wish more clergy would call out their evil.
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