Invoking faith in wartime, Pete Hegseth breaks norms and worries critics - The Washington Post
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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is invoking religious faith in military leadership, departing from Pentagon norms of secular messaging.
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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has invoked religious faith in his public messaging and military leadership in ways that depart from recent Pentagon norms, drawing concern from critics who question whether such rhetoric risks politicizing the armed forces. Hegseth, a former Fox News host and veteran with a history of religious commentary, has framed military service and wartime decisions through an explicitly faith-based lens in speeches and communications to troops. The shift reflects a broader Trump administration approach that blends religious messaging into policy areas traditionally kept secular, particularly in military contexts where political and religious neutrality have been longstanding institutional values. Military leadership historically has avoided invoking specific faith positions to maintain force cohesion across service members of diverse beliefs, and Hegseth's approach signals a departure from that consensus. The development underscores tensions between the administration's worldview and Pentagon traditions regarding the separation of religious messaging from military command authority.
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