Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/span> has extended a line for the military\u2019s religious leaders to reach him directly \u2014 and current and former military chaplains say they don\u2019t want it.<\/p>\n Hegseth announced the creation of a new Office of Religious Affairs<\/a> on September 30, vowing that the office would give members of the armed forces\u2019 chaplain corps access to him without \u201cbureaucratic dilution.\u201d It coincides with his openly Christian \u201cSend Me\u201d campaign<\/a>, an online propaganda effort that the Pentagon launched over the summer promoting a biblical phrase widely understood as a vow to accept a divine<\/a> mission.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should not be in the business of wrapping the state\u2019s mission in one particular religion,\u201d an active-duty Army captain serving as a non-Christian chaplain told The Intercept. But as Hegseth\u2019s Pentagon increasingly pushes Christianity<\/a>, the chaplain, who was granted anonymity because he feared retaliation from the Defense Department, said he and other non-Christian chaplains worry the new religious affairs office will be used to do just that.<\/p>\n Hegseth\u2019s body bears an assortment of Christian and Crusader imagery, including a Jerusalem cross across his chest and the Latin phrase \u201cDeus vult,\u201d or \u201cGod wills it,\u201d on his bicep \u2014 a battle cry associated with the medieval Crusades that has since been adopted by far-right extremists. His forearm bears a cross and sword referencing Matthew 10:34, in which Jesus declares that he came not to bring peace but a sword, alongside the Hebrew name for Jesus. In 2021, a fellow National Guard member flagged Hegseth as a potential security threat<\/a> over his Deus vult tattoo, before Hegseth was removed from an assignment protecting Joe Biden\u2019s inauguration.<\/p>\n As defense secretary, Hegseth has frequently turned to messaging that centers religion<\/a> and vengeance<\/a> while promoting the U.S. and Israel\u2019s unpopular war in Iran<\/a>. His \u201cSend Me<\/a>\u201d campaign is built around Isaiah 6:8, a biblical verse commonly invoked by Christians as a call to serve God. During his 9\/11 speech last month at the Pentagon, Hegseth said the \u201cstruggle against evil\u201d that followed the attacks continues today and \u201cwill continue until Judgment Day,\u201d before turning to the current war with Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cUsing specific scriptural language for a military campaign inappropriately frames state-sanctioned armed conflict and government service as a Christian religious crusade,\u201d the chaplain said. \u201cOnce a mission is declared God\u2019s will, every act inside it is sanctified in advance.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The new Office of Religious Affairs, the chaplain said, could entrench this dynamic. While the Pentagon memo establishing the office says it cannot compel religious participation or diminish the free-exercise rights of service members of any faith or no faith, the office\u2019s director will report directly to Hegseth and the deputy defense secretary, oversee the Armed Forces Chaplains Board, and work with the civilian religious organizations that endorse military chaplains. The office will also oversee efforts to assess spiritual fitness, spiritual readiness, and spiritual resilience across the force. This consolidated control, the chaplain warned, may make it difficult\u00a0to maintain pluralism among the chaplain corps.<\/p>\n \u201cOur chaplain corps must serve [non-Christian service members], not just the soldiers that share a faith with the SecDef,\u201d the Army chaplain said. While it\u2019s too early to know what that authority will mean for non-Christian chaplains, he wondered how it might change the ranks of the chaplaincy itself.<\/p>\n \u201cWill this group begin accepting fewer and fewer non-Christian chaplains into our ranks?\u201d he said. \u201cWill we begin seeing fewer and fewer non-Christian chaplains be chosen for promotions?\u201d<\/p>\n The concerns extend beyond the active-duty chaplain. Rev. Dr. Rebekah Savage, a former military chaplain who now helps oversee the Unitarian Universalist Association\u2019s endorsement of clergy serving as military chaplains, said the organization was not consulted before the office was established.<\/p>\n \u201cI am deeply concerned about how this office will serve the religious needs of the members of the service,\u201d she said. \u201cI can\u2019t speak for others who are a part of the chaplaincy corps, but I know I am not alone.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to questions about the new office from The Intercept, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson wrote in a statement that the department \u201cprotects the constitutional right of every service member and civilian employee to practice their faith without coercion or discrimination. This is why Secretary Hegseth recently established the Office of Religious Affairs.\u201d She said that prayer services and religious activities are always voluntary.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Christian faith is woven deeply into the fabric of our nation and shared by America\u2019s wartime leaders like President George Washington, who prayed for his troops at Valley Forge, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who gifted Bibles to America soldiers during WW2 and encouraged them to read it,\u201d Wilson added. \u201cDespite the Left\u2019s efforts to remove our Christian heritage from our great nation, Secretary Hegseth is among those who embrace it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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