As he pursues a putative campaign against drug traffickers that’s raised allegations of war crimes and helps the president steer the United States closer to a kleptocratic war against Venezuela, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is launching an effort to change how U.S. military chaplains offer spiritual guidance to service members.
In a Tuesday video, Hegseth rebuked what he called “secular humanism” and denounced the Army’s spiritual fitness guide for using the word “feelings” more than the word “God.” The defense secretary went on to say that chaplains are “not emotional support officers” and vowed to enforce a “top-down cultural shift” among those who provide spiritual support to members of the military.
Part of that “cultural shift” apparently means scrapping that fitness guide, which Army Times reported was released in August. Under a president who has openly touted his push to tear down constitutional separation between church and state, and a defense secretary aligned with far-right evangelicals, the Pentagon has become a hotbed of disturbing proselytization. This appears to be by design, as the Trump administration recently altered federal guidelines to make attempts by federal employees to convert their co-workers fair game.
One day after making his announcement about military chaplains, Hegseth hosted a “Christmas worship service” at the Pentagon that featured right-wing pastor Franklin Graham telling an audience, “Did you know that God also hates? Do you know that God also is a God of war? And many people don’t want to think about that, or forget that.”
Mediaite also quoted Graham reciting a Bible passage from Samuel in which God directs the king of Israel to completely destroy an opposing tribe, and telling people they “better believe” in the violent God he was describing.
Hegseth is a Christian nationalist who has long signaled his desire for the military to operate as a violent tool of the U.S.’ archconservative evangelical movement. He has deep and enduring ties to extremists in the faith community, including pastors Doug Wilson and Joshua Haymes, who both have histories of defending chattel slavery and arguing against women’s voting rights on purportedly biblical grounds. Any “top-down” effort to control how chaplains interact with members of the armed services should be viewed with suspicion.
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