Fox News host Peter Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s shocking choice to head the Department of Defense, has no experience as a lawmaker or in defense policy and the Senate must not approve him.
Hegseth has immersed himself in a culture of right-wing Christianity and political extremism. The Department of Defense is tasked with protecting our nation, upholding the Constitution, and preserving all Americans’ rights — regardless of religious belief or lack thereof. But if Hegseth were to be helming the Pentagon, we could see it weaponized for his Christian crusade.
Hegseth has been associated with multiple prominent Christian nationalists, including Doug Wilson, who has set up a Christian nationalist community in Moscow, Idaho, and Joshua Haymes, who believes that surrogacy should be banned and that abortion and gender-affirming care should be punishable by death.
Hegseth has at least two controversial tattoos raising concerns, including the Jerusalem Cross (Crusaders’ Cross) on his chest, which reportedly prevented him from being part of the security detail for President Biden’s inauguration. A fellow National Guard member said Hegseth’s “Deus vult” tattoo raised alarms about his motivations. “Deus vult” translates to “God wills it,” and Thomas Lecaque, a historian focusing on religion and political violence, describes the phrase as “a First Crusade battle cry … There is no other way you can interpret this. This is not some warm and fuzzy ‘we should, you know, pray and do acts of service’ — this is a call to religious violence.”
Vice President-elect JD Vance shamelessly called the Associated Press’ coverage of the controversy surrounding Hegseth’s tattoos “disgusting anti-Christian bigotry,” posting on X: “They’re attacking Pete Hegseth for having a Christian motto tattooed on his arm.” Hegseth reposted the tweet, adding, “Amen @JDVance. Anti-Christian bigotry in the media on full display. They can target me — I don’t give a damn — but this type of targeting of Christians, conservatives, patriots and everyday Americans will stop on DAY ONE at DJT’s DoD.”
Despite this attempt to spin the concerns around Hegseth as “anti-Christian bigotry,” Hegseth’s writings confirm his extreme and dangerous views. In the introduction of his book, “American Crusade: Our Fight to Stay Free,” he called for a new “American crusade” against “the Left” and referenced, “Deus vult,” the crusader motto he has tattooed on his arm:
Our future existence as sons and daughters of freedom requires the satisfaction of a single paramount objective: the categorical defeat of the Left. America cannot, and will not, survive otherwise.
This time in our history calls for an American Crusade. Yes, a holy war for the righteous cause of human freedom.
One thousand years ago, after years of ceding land to conquering Muslim hordes, the pope ordered military action to save Europe. “Deus vult” (“God wills it”) was the rallying cry of Christian knights as they marched to Jerusalem. Two hundred and fifty years ago, as King George III exercised more power over the colonists in North America, they rebelled. “Give my liberty or give me death!” they exclaimed. America was born and then battle tested.
The most important rallying cry of our era — “make America Great Again” — catalyzed a political miracle of similar proportion and consequence so shocking that it still confounds those who proclaimed it. Like crusaders and patriots past, Donald Trump’s red hat rebellion demonstrates that unapologetically going on offense is the only tenable strategy for the defense of our republic. Surrounded by the Left, with the odds stacked against us, only a crusade will do.
It certainly appears that Hegseth views America’s military strength as a tool for advancing his warrior version of Christianity, and he’s frequently described our armed forces with this kind of quasi-crusader language. His crusader perspective would undermine the apolitical nature of the U.S. military and marginalize service members of diverse beliefs. With numerous nonreligious and non-Christian personnel serving bravely in the armed forces, Hegseth’s leadership could create division within the ranks. He may even prioritize religious ideology over national defense strategies.
His extreme Christian views regarding the role of religion in the military would only further exacerbate the issues FFRF has tackled on behalf of nonreligious service members for years. A quarter of FFRF’s membership are veterans or active military members, and 32 percent of the active military today has no religious affiliation. Hegseth’s potential policies — such as promoting prayer in the military, funding religious organizations with defense dollars or shaping international defense efforts around religious alliances — would breach our fundamental constitutional safeguards and would betray the millions of Americans who do not share his religious worldview.
Hegseth would clearly project a more crusader-like image of America to the world, escalating tensions with nations and regions already sensitive to religious dynamics and further destabilizing international relations. Military efforts framed as Christian exceptionalism could alienate key allies and embolden adversaries to exploit perceived religious divisions.
“Appointing someone like Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense — a figure who openly champions Christian nationalism and frames policy in the language of religious crusades — would undermine the secular foundations of our democracy,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “We must resist the dangerous entanglement of religion and government, especially when it threatens to turn our military into an instrument of sectarian ambition.”
The Freedom From Religion Foundation is a national nonprofit organization with 40,000 members and several chapters across the country. Our purposes are to protect the constitutional principle of separation between state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
