Defense Secretary Hegseth Leads Pentagon Prayer Service Amid Iran Conflict

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth conducted his monthly Christian worship service at the Pentagon Wednesday, offering prayers for military success during ongoing conflicts with Iran. His increasingly specific Christian rhetoric and Pentagon prayer gatherings have drawn criticism and legal challenges from church-state separation advocates.

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth led his monthly Christian prayer gathering at the Pentagon on Wednesday, delivering pointed prayers for military success as American forces remain engaged in the Iran conflict.

During the livestreamed worship service attended by Pentagon civilian workers and military personnel, Hegseth offered what he described as a prayer originally given by a military chaplain to troops who captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

“Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation,” Hegseth stated during his prayer. “Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

The Defense Secretary told attendees it was particularly appropriate to gather “at this moment, given what tens of thousands of Americans are doing right now.” He also read from Psalms, stating: “I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed.”

Hegseth regularly references his evangelical beliefs in his role leading the nation’s military, often portraying America as a Christian nation using armed force against adversaries.

His specific religious language has attracted increased attention during current global conflicts, particularly given his historical support for the Crusades – the medieval Christian-Muslim wars.

While public officials commonly make faith-based statements across party lines, Hegseth’s approach differs from typical broad religious references. Last week, he specifically asked Americans to pray for troops “in the name of Jesus Christ,” and repeated that specific invocation Wednesday.

University of California Berkeley historian Ronit Stahl, who authored “Enlisting Faith: How the Military Chaplaincy Shaped Religion and State in Modern America,” noted the distinction.

“But the shift towards the specificity of Jesus Christ and therefore Christianity and in Hegseth’s case, a particular form of Protestant Christianity, is new, especially coming from the defense secretary,” Stahl explained.

She questioned what it means “to have a leader being not just broadly religious or religious in a pluralistic sense, but religious in a very particular sense” in a nation with constitutional separation of church and state.

Hegseth belongs to the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a conservative denomination co-established by self-identified Christian nationalist Doug Wilson. CREC ministers have spoken at Hegseth’s Pentagon services multiple times, including Wilson who delivered a sermon there in February.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed legal action Monday challenging the services. The organization submitted a similar lawsuit against the Labor Department, where Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer holds monthly prayer meetings modeled after Hegseth’s gatherings.

The lawsuit aims to enforce a December public records request seeking Pentagon internal communications regarding the worship services, including costs, attendee lists and employee complaints.

“Secretaries Hegseth and Chavez-DeRemer are abusing the power of their government positions and taxpayer-funded resources to impose their preferred religion on federal workers,” stated Rachel Laser, Americans United president and CEO. “Even if these prayer services are presented as voluntary, there is pressure on federal employees to attend in order to appease their bosses.”

Military chaplains traditionally conduct worship within the Defense Department. As ordained ministers and commissioned officers, they serve their specific denominations while providing spiritual support to service members of all faiths or no faith.

On Tuesday, Hegseth announced two changes to what he calls “making the chaplain corps great again.” He wants chaplains to emphasize God more and therapeutic “self-help and self-care” less, even as the military increasingly relies on chaplains to address growing mental health challenges among troops.

In a video announcement, he said chaplains will no longer display military rank on uniforms, instead wearing religious symbols. He argued this change would eliminate “unease or anxiety” service members feel when approaching officers for spiritual guidance.

Hegseth also revealed the military is reducing recognized religious affiliations from over 200 to 31 categories. The previous system included numerous small Protestant denominations plus designations for Wiccans, atheists and agnostics.

Pentagon officials did not respond to multiple requests for additional details about these modifications. The Defense Department has not yet published the revised religious affiliation list.

Military demographics show nearly 70% of troops identify as Christian, according to 2019 congressional data. Nearly 25% were classified as “other/unclassified/unknown,” with smaller percentages of atheists/agnostics, Jews, Muslims and Eastern religion followers.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, who serves as an Air Force chaplain and Southern Baptist minister, delivered Wednesday’s sermon on conquering fear and following Jesus. Collins, a former congressman, continues the pattern of exclusively evangelical speakers at Hegseth’s services.

Hegseth initiated Pentagon worship gatherings in May 2025, with his Tennessee pastor Brooks Potteiger delivering the inaugural sermon. Potteiger plans to relocate to Washington D.C. to lead Christ Church DC, a new CREC congregation Hegseth has attended.

Raised Baptist, Hegseth describes experiencing a faith transformation in 2018. He began attending an evangelical church in New Jersey whose pastor later preached at the Pentagon.

He and his wife subsequently moved to Nashville’s suburbs to enroll their children in a classical Christian school connected to CREC. They joined Potteiger’s CREC congregation, Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship.

Speaking to Christian broadcasters in February about his Pentagon services, Hegseth said: “We mostly do it because I need it more than anybody else.”

“We hear a lot from the ‘freedom from religion’ crowd. They hate it,” he added. “The left-wing shrieks, which means we’re right over the target.”