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https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/04/08/pete-hegseth-christian-nationalism-iran-war-religious-rhetoric-pentagon-defense/
Detailing the survival and daring rescue of a downed U.S. Air Force colonel in Iran over the weekend, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth likened it to the Christian story of Jesus Christ’s death, entombment in a cave, and resurrection.
“Shot down on a Friday—Good Friday. Hidden in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday. And rescued on Sunday. Flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday. A pilot reborn, all home and accounted for, a nation rejoicing. God is good,” Hegseth said during a press conference on Monday.
The biblical comparison may have seemed almost unavoidable, given that the event unfolded on Easter weekend—and indeed, Hegseth wasn’t the only one in the Trump administration to make it: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent did so as well, calling it an “Easter miracle.”
But for Hegseth, imbuing the military operation with an overtly Christian narrative fits a broader pattern. In his time as U.S. defense chief, and especially during the Iran war, Hegseth has gone to great lengths to promote his far-right Christian views, using the full resources of the military’s large public affairs apparatus.
“What distinguishes Hegseth from prior defense secretaries is his willingness to use overt Christian language and to bring a very sectarian view of Christianity into the Pentagon and into his rhetoric,” said Melissa Deckman, the CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan research organization. “I think it’s very clear that Pete Hegseth is a conservative Christian; he is a member of a church that was founded by Doug Wilson, who is a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist.”
Detailing the survival and daring rescue of a downed U.S. Air Force colonel in Iran over the weekend, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth likened it to the Christian story of Jesus Christ’s death, entombment in a cave, and resurrection.
“Shot down on a Friday—Good Friday. Hidden in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday. And rescued on Sunday. Flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday. A pilot reborn, all home and accounted for, a nation rejoicing. God is good,” Hegseth said during a press conference on Monday.
The biblical comparison may have seemed almost unavoidable, given that the event unfolded on Easter weekend—and indeed, Hegseth wasn’t the only one in the Trump administration to make it: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent did so as well, calling it an “Easter miracle.”
But for Hegseth, imbuing the military operation with an overtly Christian narrative fits a broader pattern. In his time as U.S. defense chief, and especially during the Iran war, Hegseth has gone to great lengths to promote his far-right Christian views, using the full resources of the military’s large public affairs apparatus.
“What distinguishes Hegseth from prior defense secretaries is his willingness to use overt Christian language and to bring a very sectarian view of Christianity into the Pentagon and into his rhetoric,” said Melissa Deckman, the CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan research organization. “I think it’s very clear that Pete Hegseth is a conservative Christian; he is a member of a church that was founded by Doug Wilson, who is a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist.”
