\u201cI pray that God kills him.\u201d - \u201cRight. We want him to be crucified with Christ\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn a country without a state religion, the question arises what it means when a Secretary of Defense is not generally religious, but very specifically so - and in a very particular form of Protestant Christianity. Hegseth himself provides the answer. He says he hears a lot from the \u201cfreedom-from-religion faction.\u201d They hate this. \u201cThe left is screaming, which means we are right over the target.\u201d A sentence that in another context would be called intimidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit on Monday. The group wants to review internal communications about the services, their costs, guests, and any complaints from employees. It argues that even if participation is voluntary, the pressure on federal employees is real - because the man who prays is also the one who decides their careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, Hegseth has announced that he will restructure the military chaplaincy system. Less therapeutic counseling, more worship services. The number of recognized religious affiliations has been reduced from more than 200 to 31. Atheists, agnostics, Wiccans - removed. Those who do not fit the mold simply do not fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You sit with all of this and ask yourself how far this will go. A Secretary of Defense who defends crusades, whose pastor welcomes the death of political opponents, who prays for violence in the Pentagon and at the same time ignores the religious diversity of his own troops - almost 30 percent of American soldiers are not Christians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hegseth himself said he holds the services because he needs them. \u201cMore than anyone else.\u201d Perhaps that is the most honest sentence he has ever said. But what someone needs and what he is allowed to enforce with the power of a department - those are two very different things. And he has long since crossed that line. In all religions of this world, no matter which one, there would likely be agreement on one point: Pete Hegseth - what a poor soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n