Policy / March 30, 2026
The Defense Secretary talks about Iran in a tone of blood-curdling religious extremism – and emphasizes what a dangerous fanatic he is.
Pete Hegseth speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon, March 19, 2026.
(Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images) At a church service at the Pentagon on Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (who likes to call himself Secretary of War) delivered a prayer that chilled with his extremist belligerence and his invocation of religion to justify mass slaughter.
At one point in the prayer, Hegseth request God to
“Give [US soldiers] wisdom in every decision, endurance for the test ahead, unbreakable unity and crushing violence in action against those who deserve no mercy. Preserve their lives, sharpen their resolve, and may justice be executed swiftly and without remorse so that evil may be driven back and wicked souls delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them…. We ask these things with bold confidence in the mighty and mighty name of Jesus Christ, King of all kings and amen.
Perhaps the best thing that can be said of this prayer is that, although it was uttered in a sectarian spirit, it could nevertheless have an ecumenical effect, for it has the potential to offend almost everyone.
Secular Americans and those who belong to non-Christian faiths will, of course, be rightly angered that Hegseth violated long-standing norms that prayers in public services should avoid proselytizing for a particular faith. But the war in Iran is extremely unpopular with most Americans. This also saw the United States engage horrible war crimesincluding the bombing of a primary school in Minab which killed at least 175 people, most of them children. Many, if not most, Christians will be offended at the idea of their faith being used in such a crude way to justify such violence.
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Pope Leo XIV condemned the war in the strongest terms during Palm Sunday mass. In his homily, Léon said“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war, he does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but he rejects them. » The contrast between the pope’s words and Hegseth’s prayer could not be greater.
Beyond theological objections, there are obvious pragmatic reasons why a secretary of defense should not deliver a sectarian prayer. The US military has many non-Christians of all stripes, so Hegseth actually alienates them even as he sends them to war. Moreover, the Hegseth prayer is a great gift to the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose leaders claim to defend the Muslim world against “the Great Satan” of the United States. This lends credence to the idea that the United States is launching a new crusade, one that Muslims must unite against. With US military bases and embassies in already besieged Middle Eastern countries and allies like Qatar and Oman meditating openly With the United States’ reliability as an ally, Hegseth helps divide an already frayed war effort.
That Hegseth threw caution to the wind in making his pugnacious prayer is a testament to his true believer – not only in his particular brand of born-again Christianity, but also in far-right identity politics. In his 2024 book The war against the warriorsHegseth argued that liberal culture in the form of DEI had destroyed the military, making white men ashamed to join the military. According to Hegseth also many military leaders were “whores for the woke”. “The left took over the army quickly,” he said, “and we need to take it back faster.” His anti-woke agenda included eliminating DEI and purging the military of trans soldiers.
The Washington Post reports that Hegseth’s strident and aggressive prayer is part of a broader attempt to reshape the military to fit his own brand of muscular evangelical Christianity and right-wing politics:
Every month at the Pentagon, Hegseth holds evangelical worship services that legal experts say are unprecedented. His social media profile and public comments regularly espouse his understanding of Christianity, which would dominate American life and make those who disagree with him enemies of God. He has brought clergy from his small Christian denomination to preach at the Pentagon, including a prominent pastor who says women should not have the right to vote.
Hegseth worked hard to make the Pentagon a bastion for straight white men. Like Michael Clare note In The nation in January 2025, Hegseth’s first action as Secretary of Defense was to purge prominent black and female officers. This purge continues. Friday, The New York Times reported that Hegseth blocked the promotion of four officers destined to become one-star generals. Two of the officers are black and two are women.
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The newspaper also reported on a disturbing incident last summer involving Ricky Buria, Hegseth’s chief of staff, and Secretary of the Army Daniel P. Driscoll:
Mr. Buria chastised the Army secretary for choosing Maj. Gen. Antoinette R. Gant, a combat engineer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, to take command of the Military District of Washington, said three current and former defense and administration officials familiar with the exchange. The command provides security and performs ceremonial duties in the nation’s capital, and its commander often appears alongside the president at Arlington National Cemetery.
Mr. Buria told Mr. Driscoll that President Trump would not want to stand next to a black female officer at military events, the officials said.
Hegseth’s combination of religious fanaticism and right-wing grievance politics is dangerous both at home and abroad. Like Séamus Malekafzali convincingly argued In The nationthe United States is losing the war in Iran. The only possible path to ending this catastrophe is a negotiated settlement that meets Iran’s desire for long-term security guarantees. But neither Donald Trump (whose ego is heavily invested in the idea that he is a winner) nor Hegseth are well equipped to make the necessary compromises. In particular, the fact that Hegseth sees the world in Manichean terms means that he will not be willing to make deals with forces he views as metaphysically and categorically evil.
Domestically, by making the military a MAGA force, Hegseth is exacerbating the culture wars in a way that could lead to internal conflict. Talk to The Washington PostMikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a group that promotes separation of church and state in the military, said”One side is very pro-MAGA and the other is not. If you have something like another January 6, now we’re dealing with an army that will start fighting itself, that’s a recipe for a civil war with military on both sides.” Hegseth’s holy war promises to be an unholy nightmare.
Support independent journalism that breaks the rules Even before February 28, the reasons for Donald Trump’s imploding popularity couldn’t have been clearer: rampant corruption and billions of dollars’ worth of personal enrichment during an affordability crisis, a foreign policy guided solely by his own abandoned sense of morality, and the deployment of a murderous campaign of occupation, detention, and deportation on American streets.
Today, an undeclared, unauthorized, unpopular and unconstitutional war of aggression against Iran has spread like wildfire across the region and Europe. A new “forever war” – with an ever-increasing likelihood of US troops on the ground – could very well be upon us.
As we have seen time and time again, this administration uses lies, misdirection, and attempts to flood the zone to justify its abuses of power at home and abroad. Just as Trump, Marco Rubio, and Pete Hegseth offer erratic and contradictory justifications for attacks on Iran, the administration is also spreading the lie that the upcoming midterm elections are threatened by non-citizens registered to vote. When these lies go unchecked, they become the basis for further authoritarian encroachment and war.
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Damn Lord Jeet Heer is national affairs correspondent for The nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, Time of the Monsters. He also writes the monthly column “Morbid symptoms.” The author of Art lovers: the adventures of Françoise Mouly in comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: reviews, essays and profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American perspective, The guardian, The New RepublicAnd The Boston Globe.