‘Warrior ethos’ and God infused in military by Pete Hegseth

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, fabled for his “warrior ethos,” is unabashedly pushing Christianity on the nation.

“I’d like to see the nation be a Christian nation,” he said on CNN. “I’d like to see the world be a Christian world.”

In May, he instituted a prayer service at the Pentagon that riled secularists. He remained undaunted then: “Appealing to Heaven, to God, it’s a longstanding tradition in our military. I’m very proud of starting a monthly voluntary service at the Pentagon.”

He remains undaunted now.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Hegseth went to Princeton where he championed conservativism, editing The Princeton Tory while taking classes, doing ROTC and participating in sports.

His childhood Christian faith hardened into a vibrant personal reality when he saw Islamists attack the United States hijacking planes and crashing them in the NYC World Trade Center skyscrapers and the Pentagon. Suddenly, he understood that there were evil forces in this world. There was a cosmic battle, and the United States had a chance to stand up for the right.

After graduating in 2003, Hegseth commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army. After guarding detainees in Guatanamo Bay for 11 months, he served in Iraq and earned the Bronze Star Medal. An RPG hit his vehicle but failed to detonate.

In 2011, he taught Counterinsurgency Training Center in Kabul, Afghanistan, and was promoted to major. President Joe Biden barred him from military service because of a tattoo on his biceps that reads Deus Vult (which in Latin means “God’s will”). He became a regular contributor on Fox News until President Donald Trump made him Defense Secretary in 2025.

Known for direct, combative criticism of Democratic policies and leaders, Hegseth characterizes his leadership with patriotic and traditionalist language, appealing to conservatives but often alienating progressives who see it as inflammatory.

He has pursued combat readiness and high standards and threw out diversity quotas and pandering to transgenderism. During a visit to U.S. Africa Command headquarters in Germany, he joined a pre-dawn physical training session with local service members. He shared photos and footage of the early workout, signaling his commitment to physical toughness.

Morale surged. The U.S. Army met its 2025 recruitment goal of 61,000 enlistees four months early, marking one of its most successful years in more than a decade.

Hegseth gets a thrill out of provoking his political adversaries. In 2019, he joked on Fox & Friends that he hadn’t washed his hands for more than 10 years because “germs aren’t real” to make fun of the lockdown-loving, mask-wearer-even-in-the-car atheists who are hypochondriacs because life is all they have to hold on to.

He’s criticized most for his association with Christian Nationalism, a movement to restore the United States to the Christian principles of its Founding Fathers, a sore spot for liberals who see these ideas as a threat to pluralism and a basis for extremism and exclusionary politics.

“I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is, ‘Our diversity is our strength,’” Hegseth said. “I think our strength is our unity. Our strength is our shared purpose, regardless of our background, regardless of how we grew up, regardless of our gender, regardless of our race. In this department, we will treat everyone equally.

“We will treat everyone with fairness,” he continued. “We will treat everyone with respect. And we will judge you as an individual by your merit and by your commitment to the team and the mission.”

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