Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth invoked scripture during an April briefing on Iran policy, comparing the US press corps to Pharisees who sought to trap Jesus. Days earlier, a pastor from Hegseth's own denomination had preached nearly identical language to the same biblical story at a Washington church where Hegseth worships.
The April 12 sermon at Christ Kirk DC, delivered by Benjamin Merkle, portrayed the Pharisees as driven by hatred and urged congregants to embrace what Merkle called "biblically informed hatred." When Hegseth repeated the Pharisees comparison at the Pentagon briefing, he accused journalists of "politically motivated animus" that blinded them to "the brilliance of our American warriors."
Christ Kirk DC belongs to the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a denomination Hegseth joined after moving his family to the church. The congregation meets in a Pennsylvania Avenue building owned by the Conservative Partnership Institute, a Trump-aligned nonprofit focused on influencing Republican staffers.
Merkle, who is president of a CREC-affiliated college and son-in-law to the denomination's co-founder Douglas Wilson, declined to confirm whether Hegseth attended the April 12 service. The Pentagon also refused to confirm or deny his attendance. Merkle told a reporter that even if Hegseth applied the Pharisees sermon to journalists, it "could very well be a very appropriate application of the principle."
The sermon centered on what Merkle called a "fellowship of grievance," arguing that shared hatred could unite disparate political factions. He told his congregation that Christians are defined not only by love but also by hatred of evil, and that "there are things that God hates, and it's right for us to share that hatred."
Merkle expanded on this theology when pressed on specifics. Asked whether hatred should target abstract evil or the people committing it, he rejected the traditional evangelical distinction between hating sin and loving sinners. "God throws sinners into hell," Merkle said, arguing that Christians cannot cleanly separate the two. He connected his theology directly to abortion and LGBTQ+ issues, saying both warrant the label "evil" and therefore "biblically informed hatred."
Wilson, the denomination's co-founder, has long advocated for biblical law to govern civil authority. His church teaches that Old Testament law should be enforced by the state, with both homosexuality and abortion carrying death penalties under that framework. In a recent New York Times interview, Wilson expressed hope for a future without Pride parades or drag story hours.
Hegseth has given CREC pastors direct access to military personnel. Brooks Potteiger, Hegseth's pastor in Tennessee, led the first Pentagon worship service of a monthly series Hegseth initiated in May 2025. Potteiger appeared on a podcast in March where the host expressed hope that a Democratic Texas senate candidate would be killed, to which Potteiger responded with language about crucifixion and conversion.
The Secretary's public rhetoric has increasingly adopted Christian nationalist language. In March, he told Central and South American leaders that their nations were "Christian nations under God." He has repeatedly invoked scripture in military contexts, including reading from Psalm 18 about thrusting enemies through and praying that God would "break the teeth" of US foes. On another occasion, he offered a garbled passage from Ezekiel filtered through the movie Pulp Fiction.
Julie Ingersoll, a religious studies professor who has studied CREC for decades, explained the denomination's worldview. "The CREC motto 'All of Christ for All of Life' refers to their view that there is no area of life that is not governed by God's law," she said. "This version of Christianity allows for no realm in which there can be neutrality: not church and state, not religion and the courts, not education or the military."
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed that Hegseth is a member of a CREC-affiliated church and "very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilson's writings and teachings." When asked directly whether CREC shaped Hegseth's worldview, Wilson told a reporter: "You would need to ask him that. But his worldview is broadly the same as ours." Asked if he identified as a Christian nationalist, Wilson wrote back: "Yes, that would be a fair description."
Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, warned that Hegseth has aligned himself with extreme Christian nationalist figures whose anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs and views on women's roles warrant serious concern. "But even more worrisome is his infusion of his Christian beliefs as the basis for our war in Iran," she said. "Our national security should not be based on fanatical holy war fantasies."
Author James Rodriguez: "When the nation's top military official starts channeling sermons from a fringe Christian nationalist network into Pentagon policy speeches, we've crossed from religious freedom into something far more troubling."
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