When the podium becomes a pulpit.
At a Pentagon press briefing this week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth closed his remarks with a reading from the Book of Psalms and ended with “Amen.” Press briefings don’t usually end that way.
It’s the latest moment in a pattern that RNS national reporter Jack Jenkins began tracing last fall — and the pattern has only sharpened since. What started as prominent Christian declarations in Hegseth’s public rhetoric has escalated. Some members of Congress are now calling for a Department of Defense investigation over claims related to military officers allegedly invoking the Bible in pursuit of the Iran war.
When Complexified first aired this conversation with Jack Jenkins back in October, Hegseth had already spent nine months reshaping the Pentagon — hosting monthly worship services in the auditorium, overlaying Scripture on images of fighter jets and missile systems, and telling assembled troops the country needed to be “on bended knee, recognizing the providence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
The question at the center of this conversation has become unavoidable: What does it mean to anoint the most powerful military on Earth in the language of Christianity — and then go to war?
This transcript was generated using AI tools and may contain minor transcription errors.
JONATHAN WO …