{"id":30495,"date":"2026-01-12T16:28:33","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T21:28:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=30495"},"modified":"2026-01-12T16:28:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T21:28:33","slug":"is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/01\/is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism","title":{"rendered":"Is Pete Hegseth Leading the Military in Christian Nationalism?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The White House<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is facing continued accusations of bringing Christian nationalism into the US military. His critics, however, aren\u2019t just atheists, but members of the Christian faith. \u201cHegseth is overstepping his boundaries, trying to become the denominational policeman for members of the military,\u201d Reverend Justin Cohen, a Baptist chaplain, told The Daily Mail<\/em><\/a>. His concerns come after Hegseth made comments against \u201cwoo-woo\u201d beliefs being pushed in the military. The comments, which were made December 16, were made against a \u201creal problem\u201d facing the US military. \u201cIt’s one you’re probably not aware of, but it’s a really important one, and it’s been going on for too long \u2013 the weakening of our Chaplain Corps. In an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism, chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists instead of ministers,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n

The result has been Hegseth removing things like the Army’s Spiritual Fitness Guide. \u201cIt mentions God one time,\u201d he said of the God. \u201cThat’s it. It mentions feelings 11 times. It even mentions playfulness, whatever that is, nine times\u2026 In short, it’s unacceptable and unserious, so we’re tossing it.\u201d The guide has been removed even from the internet.<\/p>\n

Some interpret his moves as violating freedom of religion. \u201cWhat he is doing is multi-generational damage to the US military by attempting to take a sledge-hammer to the essence of the Chaplain Corps,\u201d said Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. \u201cThis is a tidal wave of unconstitutional destruction fueled by his fundamentalist Christian nationalistic arrogance and hubris,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

While Hegseth has not revealed his full guidance for chaplains going forward, he has promised the department will be \u201csimplifying\u201d its religious codes. \u201c’We are proud to make the Chaplain Corps great again!\u201d Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said. This leaves many feeling uncertain. \u201c’This is the weirdest era we’ve ever seen when it comes to the chaplain system. And if chaplains are being compelled or directed toward one direction, that’s a very unhealthy military,\u201d said one chaplain endorser.<\/p>\n

For others, Hegseth\u2019s connection to Pastor Doug Wilson is another cause for concern. Wilson is a polarizing figure in Christian circles, who supports Christian nationalism and has been accused of misogyny after members of his church have said they don\u2019t believe women should have the right to vote. For Weinstein, he certainly didn\u2019t mince words. \u201cThis idea of trying to alter the Chaplain Corps is simply a way to try to buttress and fortify this perspective of racism, Christian nationalism, white exclusivity, triumphalism and exceptionalism \u2013 his approved solution to eliminating representing any other faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is facing continued accusations of bringing Christian nationalism into the US military. His critics, however, aren\u2019t just atheists, but members of the Christian faith. \u201cHegseth is overstepping his boundaries, trying to become the denominational policeman for members of the military,\u201d Reverend Justin Cohen, a Baptist chaplain, told The Daily Mail.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":30498,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Pete Hegseth Leading the Military in Christian Nationalism?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pete Hegseth faces accusations of Christian nationalism as critics warn his chaplain reforms threaten religious freedom.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/01\/is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Pete Hegseth Leading the Military in Christian Nationalism?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pete Hegseth faces accusations of Christian nationalism as critics warn his chaplain reforms threaten religious freedom.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/01\/is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-12T21:28:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2026\/01\/Pete-Hegseth_credit-The-White-House.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Buchanan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is Pete Hegseth Leading the Military in Christian Nationalism?","description":"Pete Hegseth faces accusations of Christian nationalism as critics warn his chaplain reforms threaten religious freedom.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/01\/is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is Pete Hegseth Leading the Military in Christian Nationalism?","og_description":"Pete Hegseth faces accusations of Christian nationalism as critics warn his chaplain reforms threaten religious freedom.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/01\/is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism","og_site_name":"Beliefnet News","article_published_time":"2026-01-12T21:28:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2026\/01\/Pete-Hegseth_credit-The-White-House.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cecilia Buchanan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/01\/is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/01\/is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism","name":"Is Pete Hegseth Leading the Military in Christian Nationalism?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/01\/is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/01\/is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2026\/01\/Pete-Hegseth_credit-The-White-House.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-12T21:28:33+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-12T21:28:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d"},"description":"Pete Hegseth faces accusations of Christian nationalism as critics warn his chaplain reforms threaten religious freedom.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/01\/is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/01\/is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/01\/is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2026\/01\/Pete-Hegseth_credit-The-White-House.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2026\/01\/Pete-Hegseth_credit-The-White-House.jpg","width":1200,"height":900,"caption":"The White House"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/01\/is-pete-hegseth-leading-the-military-in-christian-nationalism#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is Pete Hegseth Leading the Military in Christian Nationalism?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/","name":"Beliefnet News","description":"Top Religious News From Around the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d","name":"Brandy Grenier","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e53\/e53f6ea4c6b15081d4df68e2d7d7750ex96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e53\/e53f6ea4c6b15081d4df68e2d7d7750ex96.jpg","caption":"Brandy Grenier"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/author\/bgrenier"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/516"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30495"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30501,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30495\/revisions\/30501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}