It’s no longer surprising, but it should still be disturbing, that the self-declared Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth—a man openly enamored with the medieval crusades—uses his platform to promote one of the most violent versions of Christianity imaginable.
At a Pentagon worship service last week, he prayed for U.S. soldiers to carry out “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”
He followed it by asking that “wicked souls” be cast into “eternal damnation.”
Let that sink in.
The person overseeing the most powerful military on earth is invoking God not for peace, but for annihilation.
But not all Christians are saying this is Christian faith.
In a striking rebuke on Palm Sunday, Pope Leo XIV challenged this very logic, asking how we can claim to follow “Jesus, the king of peace,” while “preparing for war around him.”
He went further: “God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.”
I’m not Catholic. I’m not a fan of church hierarchy.
But this much is clear:
When religion is used to sanctify cruelty, when violence is baptized as righteousness, something has gone deeply, dangerously wrong.
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