HOLY WAR
According to Pete Hegseth, “Secretary of War”, the US is fighting in Iran not for security or resources or conquest (not that these are valid reasons for this cruel and senseless war) but for Christ. He asks that the US people pray for “victory in battle and safety of their troops… Every day, on bended knee, with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Hegseth has organized monthly voluntary Christian worship services in the Pentagon. He has said, “There is a direct through line from the Old and New Testament Christian gospels to the development of Western civilization and the United States of America.” He has tattooed on his right biceps the Latin phrase “Deus vult” (God wills it), a quote taken from the authorization of Pope Urban II for the Crusade in 1095. Hegseth praises the Crusades, bloody as they were, for saving “a Christian Europe from the onslaught of Islam.”
The First Amendment of the US Constitution says that there shall be no establishment of religion, i.e. no state-sponsored religion. Hegseth and his ilk are ignoring this and using religion to justify death and destruction.
Source: The New York Times, 3/20/26