Julie Ingersoll
David G. Bromley
June 30th, 2026
Pete Hegseth’s Holy War
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Religion and Global Society
Understanding religion and its relevance in world affairs
Pete Hegseth’s Holy War
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Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Professors Julie Ingersoll and David G. Bromley explore the religious roots of Pete Hegseth’s Militancy
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has employed aggressive, combative, and belligerent language since the earliest days in the Trump Administration. He promised a more male, more lethal, military, that would no longer bound by “stupid <a href="https://www.military.com/feature/2026/03/05/hegseths-stupid-rules-of-engagement-line-and-what-roe-actually-do.html” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>rules of engagement.”
But in the days since the start of the war with Iran, Hegseth has dialed that up, especially employing biblical language to claim his (and by implication our) actions are sanctioned by God. President Trump has also invoked God and embraced apocalyptic language, most recently warning he would end Iranian civilization should Iran refuse to re-open the Strait of Hormuz. And both have offered only what seems to many to be casual concern about civilian casualties who are supposed to be protected by those rules of engagement.
This might seem shocking to some since, amidst scandals in the lead up to his Senate Confirmation, Hegseth leaned heavily on his conversion to Christianity and his new-found devotion to Jesus: “all of Christ for all of life.” But that phrase doesn’t mean what most would take it to mean
Hegseth’s personal history and the denomination to which he belongs, the CREC (Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches), embrace an understanding of Jesus that is radically different from most Christians. When invoking Jesus, Christians often have in mind the Beatitudes or the Sermon on the Mount. These New Testament texts give us a Jesus who is concerned about widows, orphans and the poor. He is concerned with Justice and Forgiveness. He’s even called the Prince of Peace. But “all of Christ for all of life” is about authority; it’s about “bringing every part of life and culture under the dominion of Christ.
As documented in our own research, CREC and the numerous other institutions that make up the community established by Doug Wilson in Moscow, Idaho, promotes a different understanding of the relationship between the Old Testament and the New. CREC teaches that the Bible is one continuous revelation from Genesisto Revelation. This means that there is a single, continuous divine purpose from creation to the present and into the future until that purpose is realized. There is no more urgent priority than accepting and obeying that divine purpose. It also means that God incorporates the characteristics of the Prince of Peace and also the God who ordered the Israelites into war with God’s enemies.CREC rejects the notion that the legitimacy of the state is grounded in the “consent of the governed.” Government, in its view, should be headed by leaders who carry the mandate of heaven—quite literally.
What all this means is that Pete Hegseth’s belligerence is deeply rooted in his religious commitments. In one recent speech, he endorsed the current military operation against Iran by following up on a prayer offered by a chaplain during the military incursion in Venezuela. His words were biblical and uncompromising:
I thrust them through so that they were not able to rise….They fell under my feet, for you equipped me with strength for the battle. You made those who rise against me sink under me. You made my enemies turn their backs to me, and those who hated me, I destroyed. They cried for help, but there was none to save. They cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them. I beat them fine as dust before the wind. I cast them out like the mire of the streets
This aggressive and confrontational style is common enough in Moscow Idaho—the home to this corner of the Christian world — that it has names. The prayers are called imprecatory prayers and the aggressive demeanor, sprinkled with sarcasm and transgression and known as theMoscow mood, is understood as a positive feature—a form of powerful masculinity grounded in the character of a wrathful angry God
Imprecatory prayers are an old, if uncommon, type of prayer rooted in the Bible. But Moscow mood is new and has some cultural cache. Critics, even some otherwise closely aligned with Wilson, see as arrogance, bullying, and pugnaciousness. But insiders see it as the optimism derived from a blend of postmillennialism, dominion theology, and confidence in the “promises of God” needed in this“time of war” and they find justification for it in their understanding of the nature of God
Seen in this light, the war takes on new and even more alarming import. Scholar Mark Juergensmeyer has used the label “cosmic war” to describe conflict elevated to a level where combatants see themselves as fighting on behalf of God. In cosmic war the positions are ultimately non-negotiable, compromise becomes impossible, and the possibility of losing becomes an existential threat
Cosmic War makes Pete Hegseth not merely a political official and public servant, but a holy warrior carrying out God’s will on behalf of the nation. He assumes responsibility for leading the public to see our current military engagement as one step in achieving divine purpose. This path leads to a repudiation of America’s Constitution and Declaration of Independence and leads to minority rule by the shrinking minority of white Christian nationalists
Photo by Sharefaith
Note: This article gives the views of the authors, not the position of LSE Religion and Global Society nor the London School of Economics and Political Science.
About the author
Julie Ingersoll
Julie is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. She teaches and writes about religion in American culture, focusing especially on religion and politics and the religious right
David G. Bromley
David G. Bromley is Founder/Director of the World Religions and Spirituality Project (www.worldrels.org) and Professor Emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University
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Populism and Religion
| Religion in the US
