Pete Hegseth pushes his Christian faith in Pentagon prayer services

ARLINGTON, Va. – In the courtyard at the center of the Pentagon, service members and military officials gathered for a Christmas worship service that featured Christian rock music and concluded with a short sermon from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It was not the first prayer service at the Pentagon. Since May, Hegseth has held regular monthly worship services during working hours at the building.

In line with his sweeping push to purge political correctness and “wokeness” from the military, Hegseth has espoused a vision of a military guided by a distinctly Christian faith.

It has sparked concerns that it violates religious freedom in the military, and that Hegseth’s regular prayer services are already putting service members in a coerced position.

At the service on Wednesday, the Christian message had a bellicose tinge.

Delivering the sermon at the service, Franklin Graham, CEO of the Evangelical aid organization Samaritan’s Purse, said, “We know that God loves, but did you know that God also hates? That God is also a god of war?”

Graham read from a section from the book of Samuel in which God orders the total destruction of the biblical Amalekites, without mercy for women, children or animals.

“People will say, ‘Franklin, that’s so hard. That’s not the God I believe in.’ You better believe,” Graham said.

Jennifer Hegseth, Pete Hegseth’s wife, dubbed Graham and other Samaritan’s Purse leaders at the service “the special forces of Jesus.”

The service came the day after Hegseth announced an overhaul of the military’s Chaplain Corps in favor of a Christian religious vision. He did not specify what policies would change, and the Pentagon did not provide further details.

“Chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists, not ministers,” Hegseth said in a video posted to X.

There are more than 9,400 military members in the Chaplain Corps. That includes more than 6,000 in the Army, 2,300 in the Air Force and 1,100 in the Navy, according to spokespeople in each service.

Hegseth’s support for ultraconservative church scrutinized

Hegseth has faced scrutiny over his membership in an ultraconservative network of Evangelical churches whose leader has said he does not support women’s right to vote and is lobbying for his Christian theocratic vision to take hold in Washington.

Brooks Potteiger, the pastor of Hegseth’s Tennessee church, led the first Pentagon worship service in May. Video showed a crowd filled with soldiers in uniform gathered in the Pentagon’s auditorium for Potteiger’s sermon.

Potteiger’s church, Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship, is part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), a network of hyperconservative churches that has attracted controversy for its views on gender roles. Hegseth is open in his support for the church.

After a clip of a CNN interview in which Doug Wilson, CREC’s co-founder, espouses his support for a “Christian world” and his belief that women should not vote circulated on social media, Hegseth reposted the video. “All of Christ for All of Life,” he wrote.

Wilson’s comments about women have been especially provocative. “Women are the people that people come out of,” Wilson said in the CNN interview. “It doesn’t take any talent to simply reproduce biologically.”

Since Hegseth kicked off the regular Pentagon worship services, CREC has opened a new church in the Washington, DC, area. Asked by CNN if establishing a church in the nation’s capital was part of a mission to turn the U.S. into a Christian nation, Wilson said, “Yes.”

Service members ‘voluntold’ to attend worship services

Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, said service members are being “voluntold” to attend Hegseth’s worship sessions.

“When you’re told that he’s going to have a Christian praise service, and that is quote ‘optional,’ you’re being voluntold,” Weinstein said.

Weinstein, who served for a decade as a military lawyer, said he had heard from “over 150” service members who reported to the foundation that names of those who attended religious services were being recorded, and that service members felt pressured to attend.

While “very hard to prove,” Weinstein said, “we have heard about all different types of retaliation” against service members who do not attend worship services.

“It eviscerates good order, discipline, unit cohesion and especially, morale,” he added.

The Pentagon said it was not aware of the names of people who attend the worship services being recorded anywhere.

“Prayer services are 100% voluntary and are not mandated whatsoever,” said Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson. “No one at the Pentagon tracks who does and does not attend these voluntary services.”

“No special treatment or punishment is given as a result of one’s choice to attend these prayer services. The Secretary’s prayer services undoubtedly improve morale for those who choose to attend and are constitutionally protected. We are proud to host these services and will continue to do so.”

Hegseth takes aim at military chaplains

The day before the service, Hegseth said he would make changes to the military’s Chaplain Corps.

Chaplains in the U.S. military date back to the Revolutionary War era.

Those units have been “degraded” in an “atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism,” Hegseth said in a video posted to X.

Hegseth also said he would toss out the Army’s “spiritual fitness guide,” which he faulted for only mentioning the word “God” once and relying on “new age notions.”

The guide, published by the Army in late July, “assists both Soldiers and leaders in ensuring spiritual fitness and readiness as individuals and units,” according to its introduction.

In line with recent pushes by the Army to treat soldiers’ health and fitness holistically, the guide was a “resource” that “equips Soldiers and leaders to build inner strength for the rigors of war and life,” according to an Army press release.

“We are aggressively moving forward with Secretary Hegseth’s intent to discontinue the Army Spiritual Fitness Guide,” said Tony McCormick, an Army spokesperson.

R. J. Gore Jr., an emeritus professor of systematic theology at Erskine Theological Seminary in South Carolina, said in his 28-year career as an Army chaplain, he had provided healing to people who needed theological guidance, and others who simply needed emotional support.

He recalled leading a 10-person Bible study group made up of a diverse mix of Christian denominations during his deployment to Iraq. In another instance, he had counseled a service member who followed Wicca – a modern Pagan religion.

“If you really believe what the Constitution says, you have Americans who represent a whole host of religious perspectives, and many of those are going to raise a hand and take an oath,” he said. Society “needs to be reflected in the military.”

“I would hope that the military still does that, allows people of varying perspectives and welcomes that.”