People in the Pentagon
deride self-styled War Secretary Pete Hegseth for many reasons. There was his ridiculous
dressing down
of America’s admirals and generals in 2025. His fixation on troops’
testosterone levels
. And a fair amount of the scorn has revolved around Hegseth’s monthly Pentagon prayer services where he peddles an unholy brand of Christianity rooted in rage and bloodlust.
Hegseth — a member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a conservative network of Christian congregations co-founded by the self-described Christian nationalist Doug Wilson — reportedly hears all sorts of outrageous religious utterances and then regurgitates them. At one of his worship services, Hegseth read a
fake Bible verse
from Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film “Pulp Fiction,” which he said was recited by combat search and rescue missions in Iran. The violent rhetoric, an altered version of Ezekiel 25:17, is bellowed by Samuel L. Jackson’s character in the movie just before he shoots a man to death: “And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger…”
Another time, Hegseth offered up what he said were the words a military chaplain prayed prior to the invasion of (the overwhelmingly Christian nation of) Venezuela. “Snap the rod of the oppressor, frustrate the wicked plans and break the teeth of the ungodly,” Hegseth
intoned
at another of his monthly services. “Grant this task force clear and righteous targets for violence. … Let justice be executed swiftly and without remorse, that evil may be driven back and wicked souls delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them.”
Hegseth has apparently replaced the
turn-the-other-cheek
, love-thy-enemy Jesus you might remember with a curb-stomping Christ who
brays for war
, revels in violence, and seeks to dispatch America’s enemies to the fiery depths of hell. So today, TomDispatch regular Liz Theoharis — the founder and executive director of the
Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Socia
… [more]
