Pete Hegseth hosted the first Pentagon Christian worship service since the Iran war began—and chose the moment to pray for “overwhelming violence.”
The self-styled “Secretary of War”, 45, has held the monthly gatherings since last May. Wednesday’s service took place as the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury,” moves into its fourth week, with 13 American service members killed and more than 200 wounded, per the Associated Press.
Hegseth read a prayer he attributed to the chaplain who ministered to the soldiers who seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a raid on Caracas in January. “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation,” he told the livestreamed gathering of civilian employees and uniformed military personnel.
“Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”
He also recited from the Psalms: “I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed.”
The service came one day after Trump, 79, appeared to both pin the blame for the war on his defense secretary and mock his appetite for combat.
As the Beast reported, Trump told reporters at Tuesday’s Oval Office swearing-in of new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that Hegseth had been crestfallen at the prospect of peace talks. “Pete didn’t want it to be settled,” the president said, laughing.
Hegseth declared: “We negotiate with bombs.”
The day before, at a public safety roundtable in Memphis, Tennessee, Trump had fingered Hegseth as the first member of his inner circle to push for military action against Iran.
Wednesday’s Pentagon service came amid fresh controversy involving Hegseth’s pastor, evangelical minister Brooks Potteiger—a former model and woodworker who is due to relocate to Washington, D.C., to lead a new congregation Hegseth has attended.
Potteiger appeared last week on the extreme Christian nationalist podcast Reformation Red Pill—on which Hegseth himself has appeared four times—to discuss rising Democratic star James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian who defeated Texas congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, in a Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate contest earlier this month.
Potteiger’s co-host Joshua Haymes declared, “I pray that God kills him,” and Potteiger agreed: “Right. Right. We want him crucified with Christ.” A spokesperson for Potteiger’s church told the Beast that “Pastor Potteiger did not ‘call’ for his death,” insisting “he prayed for his conversion. That’s what ‘crucified with Christ’ means biblically.”
Talarico’s response, posted to X, was pointed: “Jesus loves. Christian Nationalism kills. You may pray for my death, Pastor, but I still love you. I love you more than you could ever hate me.”
Hegseth belongs to the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, an archconservative network whose co-founder, Doug Wilson, identifies publicly as a Christian nationalist, and who himself preached at the Pentagon in February.
“The monthly services have drawn scrutiny for featuring an exclusively evangelical roster of preachers. Wednesday’s gathering featured Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, 59, a Southern Baptist minister.
Collins holds a commission as an Air Force chaplain and former Georgia congressman, who delivered a sermon on faith and the conquest of fear. His appearance maintained the unbroken run of exclusively evangelical preachers at Hegseth’s Pentagon gatherings, as AP noted.
A lawsuit was filed Monday by Americans United for Separation of Church and State over the services, seeking to compel the Pentagon to hand over internal communications about their cost, attendees, and any complaints raised by employees. A parallel suit was filed against the Labor Department, where Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer runs her own monthly gatherings inspired by Hegseth’s model.
“Secretaries Hegseth and Chavez-DeRemer are abusing the power of their government positions and taxpayer-funded resources to impose their preferred religion on federal workers,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. “Even if these prayer services are presented as voluntary, there is pressure on federal employees to attend in order to appease their bosses.”
Hegseth also used Wednesday’s service to announce two reforms to what he has called “making the chaplain corps great again,” directing chaplains to prioritize spiritual ministry over mental health and “self-help” approaches.
At a gathering of Christian broadcasters in February, he dismissed critics of the services: “We hear a lot from the ‘freedom from religion’ crowd. They hate it. The left-wing shrieks, which means we’re right over the target.”
The Beast has contacted the Pentagon for comment.
