Pete Hegseth is marking America’s 250th anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence by further eroding the separation of church and state.
The defense secretary, 45, will headline an event honoring America’s 250th by “solemnly rededicating our country as One Nation under God.” The May 17th gathering, which features a lineup of almost entirely Christian speakers, is part of a collaboration between the White House and private entities that will highlight “the Church’s role in history and civic life,” according to Trump’s communication team.
The event will also feature remarks from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will appear virtually, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Southern Baptist, according to a list first reported by Religion News Service.
The White House has referred to the 12-hour religious occasion on the National Mall as a way to create “an energized moment of unity.”
Yet the vast majority of those speaking are far-right Christian leaders, with the exception of Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, who serves on Trump’s Religious Commission, according to the outlet.
Beginning at sunrise, the hours-long “revival” will feature Christian artists and pastors and will be streamed to parishes across the country. It is meant to closely line up with a 1776 order from George Washington echoing calls for “fasting, humiliation and prayer.”
It would be about fifteen years later that the First Amendment was written to guarantee fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion, and to prevent government infringement on faith and worship.
Hegseth—whose representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment—has seemingly made it his mission to infuse his far-right Christian views into the federal government.
The former Fox News anchor has launched a monthly Christian worship series at the Pentagon and earlier this year invited self-described Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson—who has supported repealing women’s right to vote and criminalizing homosexuality—to deliver a sermon in the Pentagon auditorium.
Hegseth, a recovering alcoholic who has been married three times, has also likened Trump’s widely unpopular war on Iran to a “Holy War” and has gone so far as to cast the president as Jesus (and labeled the “Trump-hating press as Pharisees).
Hegseth isn’t the only one to liken Trump to Jesus. It was just last week that the president faced searing criticism for sharing a now-deleted AI image that depicted him as Jesus.
He later deleted it—a rare move for the president—and claimed the image was of him as a doctor.
The president, however, isn’t the only one who made a religious faux pas last week. Days later, Hegseth, in an attempt to quote the Bible, appeared to quote a religion-adjacent passage made up by director Quentin Tarantino for the movie Pulp Fiction.
