A Christian worship service at the Pentagon ends with the defense secretary asking God to destroy the enemy, and days later the official DoD social media accounts quote scripture.

"Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness."

— Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, during a worship service at the Pentagon, March 26, 2026

The Pentagon has long been careful to keep religion and military doctrine in separate rooms. Chaplains serve troops of all faiths and none. The First Amendment's Establishment Clause has, however imperfectly, been a guardrail against the federal government endorsing a particular religion. Under Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, those guardrails have not just been crossed: they have been dismantled, one worship service and one social media post at a time.

On August 1, the Defense Department's official social media accounts on X posted images overlaid with the words "SEND ME." Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell quoted Isaiah 6:8, a passage from the Hebrew Bible in which the prophet Isaiah answers a divine call: "Whom shall I send?" "Here am I. Send me." The verse was accompanied by an image of a soldier silhouetted in darkness. The Pentagon's Rapid Response account and the Department of War's official account amplified the posts. When The Intercept asked what the biblical messaging was meant to convey, a Pentagon spokesperson declined to answer.

Translation: the defense secretary has decided that God is a stakeholder in the Iran war and wants the troops to know it.

This was not an isolated incident. On March 26, Hegseth hosted the first monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon since the Iran war began. During the service, Hegseth prayed that there be "overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy" and asked God to let "every round find its mark." The prayer was not offered in private but in a public ceremony at the headquarters of the United States military, attended by military and civilian personnel.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host and ordained minister, has made his evangelical faith a central feature of his tenure. His ties to hardline Christian figures, including pastor Douglas Wilson, have been well documented. Since taking office, Hegseth has instituted regular worship services at the Pentagon and has publicly suggested Americans "take a knee and pray to Jesus" for the success of U.S. forces in the Middle East. In July, Hegseth's own pastor preached at a Pentagon worship service, describing the U.S. military as an "instrument of God's grace" and claiming the United States was founded as a "Christian nation."

The pattern extends beyond Hegseth himself. In March, reporting later entered into the congressional record detailed complaints from more than 100 service members alleging that commanders described the Iran war as "part of God's divine plan" and encouraged troops to view the conflict through a biblical lens. The White House Faith Office, established by executive order in February 2025, has served as a conduit between evangelical leaders and the administration, with figures like Paula White advising Trump on matters that blend theology and foreign policy.

The constitutional question is straightforward. The Establishment Clause generally prohibits the government from promoting or favoring a religion. Nelson Tebbe, a constitutional law professor at Cornell, said the Pentagon's social media posts were different from traditional religious references like "In God We Trust" because they relied on a specific biblical passage and therefore could have a direct impact on members of the military.

"Minor endorsements of religion by the government are common," Tebbe said. "This particular example involving the Pentagon spokesperson is less minor or incidental."

But Tebbe also noted that recent Supreme Court decisions have weakened Establishment Clause protections to the point that a court would almost certainly not strike down the Pentagon's posts. The legal barrier may be gone. The practical consequences, however, remain acute.

Rachel VanLandingham, a former Air Force judge advocate and military law professor, warned that the messaging risked replacing military professionalism with religious symbolism. "Religious war is a slippery slope to total war," she said. "The U.S. military fights based on honor and fidelity to the law, not to Old Testament biblical passages."

There is also the matter of Isaiah 6:8 itself. The verse does not exist in a vacuum. The passages that follow describe God sending Isaiah to proclaim a message of judgment that culminates in cities "without inhabitant," houses emptied of people, and land left "utterly desolate." Jemar Tisby, a historian of religion, said that in the full context of Isaiah 6, "the devastation falls on God's covenant people" rather than a foreign enemy. "The nation doing the sending, not a foreign enemy, is in view here," Tisby said. In other words, the passage the Pentagon is quoting has a complicated relationship with what it supposedly means.

The same verse caused controversy during the George W. Bush administration, when Pentagon intelligence briefings prepared for then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during the Iraq War included the passage. The use became public in 2009 and prompted criticism from religious scholars who argued it had been stripped of its broader context. "In the Rumsfeld era, there was a public outcry about the misattribution of Bible verses in military contexts, and the administration pulled back," Tisby said. "Now, this administration is leaning into the framing."

Translation: the last time the Pentagon turned warfare into a sermon, it took two years for the press to notice. This time they posted it themselves.

The international consequences are equally troubling. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran's leaders have referred to the United States as the "Great Satan," portraying Washington as both a geopolitical rival and a religious enemy. When the Pentagon's official accounts post Old Testament calls to divine mission during an active war with Iran, they hand Tehran exactly the propaganda it needs to frame the conflict as a religious crusade. VanLandingham said such "blatant Bible thumping" foolishly confirms Iranian narratives that the U.S. wants to wage war on Islam.

Jonathan Ebel, a professor of religion at the University of Illinois, said the conflation of divine and military calling also alienates non-Christian service members, who make up a significant portion of the armed forces. The military's effectiveness depends on cohesion, and cohesion depends on the shared understanding that everyone serves the same constitution, not the same scripture.

The story at the Pentagon is not just about social media posts or worship services. It is about a fundamental transformation of what the defense secretary believes his job is. Hegseth has not merely tolerated the blending of faith and military command: he has institutionalized it. Monthly worship services. Biblical social media campaigns. Chaplains describing an active war as part of God's plan. A pastor calling the military an instrument of divine grace.

The question is not whether this violates the letter of the Establishment Clause, which the current Supreme Court has already eviscerated. The question is whether a military that is asked to fight in the name of God can be trusted to stop fighting when the political leadership says so.

Pete Hegseth prayed for violence against those who "deserve no mercy" and then told the world, through the official channels of the Department of Defense, that God has sent His people. The problem with holy wars is that they never end when the politicians want them to. They only end when God says so, and by the time the Pentagon figures out which God is in charge, the war is already over.

tags: pentagon, hegseth, iran, religion