(Dobbs) Hegseth's Prayers Belong In A Church, Not A Pentagon Briefing RoomWise up or get out. Whether or not you do it in the name of Jesus.
A letter to Pete Hegseth: You are the United States secretary of defense, or as a macho warrior like you prefers to put it, secretary of war. What you are not is the secretary of religion. We don’t have one of those. The First Amendment forbids it. That’s why your prayer at the end of Thursday’s Pentagon briefing— on government time, on government property, at taxpayer expense— was so objectionable and so inappropriate: “May almighty God continue to bless our troops in this fight, and to the American people, please pray for them every day, on bended knee, with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ.” In case you’re too self-righteous to figure it out, it’s those last six words that are wrong. In the most recent data, there are more than 350 religions in America. This is a nation of not just Christians, but Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, and many many others. If they pray at all, they don’t pray “in the name of Jesus Christ.” American policy shouldn’t be enacted “in the name of Jesus Christ.” Closing prayers at Pentagon briefings shouldn’t be offered “in the name of Jesus Christ.” You are free to think what you think and believe what you believe in. We all are. But there’s a difference between private lives and public lives. You signed on for public life. You’re supposed to represent and speak for all Americans. Not just those who pray in the name of Jesus. What’s more, I would guess that even most Christians who pray “in the name of Jesus Christ” don’t like the direction in which you would take Christianity. We know what it is because we’ve seen your bare-chested photos from an earlier life. Your tattoos, which you have described as a “battle cry” of the Christian Crusades, show that you are an advocate for white Christian nationalism. The only credit I’ll give you is that however misguided your ways of showing it, you seem sincere about religion. More sincere than your boss, who talks the talk but from what we know about his personal life, has never walked the walk. He doesn’t even know enough not to hold the bible upside down. I know that for a long time you’ve left non-christian Americans out of your thoughts and out of your prayers. Just last month at the annual governors’ dinner at the White House, when you were asked to say grace, you told everyone to bow their heads and said, “Dear heavenly father, King Jesus, we come humbly before your throne praising you for all the providence you’ve bestowed upon this nation for over 250 years.” “King Jesus?” Really? At a White House governors conference, where six U.S. governors are Jews? I also know your prayers from the Pentagon podium are nothing new. They started almost a year ago when you established the monthly “Secretary of Defense Christian Prayer & Worship Service” in the Pentagon auditorium. You said these services were essential for the nation to see the “providence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” Your first visiting pastor was from your own church in Tennessee, a church that preaches that leadership positions should only be held by men, that women should never go into combat, and that homosexuality is “unbiblical.” What your pastor said in that first service was, “We pray for our leaders who you have sovereignly appointed. For President Trump.” “Sovereignly appointed?” I can see how he’d think that. Remember when Trump was shot at that 2024 campaign rally in Pennsylvania? In his inauguration speech he claimed divine providence: “I was saved by God to make America great again.” Earlier, at one of his last campaign appearances, he told pastors in Georgia that they’ll have access to the White House: “It will be directly into the Oval Office, and me.” He told them, “We have to save religion in this country.” Saving it is one thing. Promoting it, especially just one aspect of it, is another. Leave a comment If only one percent of the population of America was non-Christian, that should be enough to restrain you from praying from the podium as you did. That belongs in a church, not in a Pentagon briefing room. So please, do us all a favor: wise up or get out. Whether or not you do it in the name of Jesus. |