With God On Our Side: One Mans War Against an Evangelical Coup in Americas Military
Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary and an Evangelical Christian, has explicitly framed the Iran war through the lens of his religious faith, weaving scripture into his remarks, praying for "overwhelming violence" against his enemies and insisting that God stands with the U.S. against Iran, a Muslim-majority nation of some 90 million people.
The ex-Fox News host has long worn his faith on his sleeve " and on his flesh. He has a large Jerusalem cross tattooed on his chest and the words Deus Vult, a rallying cry used by the Crusaders, which means God wills it, are inked on his arm. In his 2020 book American Crusade, Hegseth rejected the principle of separation of church and called it leftist folklore. At a prayer breakfast on Feb. 6, he said that the U.S. remains a Christian nation in our DNA, if we can keep it.
Hegseth told CBS News on March 6: The providence of our almighty God is there protecting those troops. When asked if he views the conflict in a religious context, Hegseth responded: Im a man of faith, who encourages our troops to lean into their faith. During a press briefing on the war four days later, he quoted Psalm 144, stating, Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. Last week, while hosting a Pentagon prayer service, Hegseth implored God to: Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation and asked that wicked souls be delivered to the eternal damnation prepared for them.
Guest - Mikey Weinstein has been described by Harpers magazine as the constitutional conscience of the U.S. military, a man determined to force accountability."
Mikeys family has a long and distinguished U.S. military history spanning three consecutive generations of military academy graduates and over 130 years of combined active duty military service. Mikey is a lawyer and a 1977 Honor Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy.
A registered Republican, Mikey spent over three years working for the Reagan Administration as legal counsel in the White House. In 2006, he founded the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) to battle the influence of far-right militant radical evangelical religious fundamentalists in the US military.He's the author of two books With God On Our Side: One Mans War Against an Evangelical Coup in Americas Military and No Snowflake in an Avalanche: The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, its Battle to Defend the Constitution, and One Familys Courageous War Against Religious Extremism in High Places.
In 2011, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State presented Mikey with UAs first ever Person of the Year Award, calling him the leading voice protecting church-state separation in the military. In December 2012, Defense News named Mikey one of the 100 Most Influential People in U.S. Defense. He was also named one of the 50 most influential Jews in America by the Forward, one of the nations preeminent Jewish publications. Not unexpectedly, Mikey has been reviled by the radical fundamentalist Christian far-right, which has called him Satan, Satans lawyer, the Antichrist, That Godless, Secular Leftist, Antagonizer of All Christians, Most Dangerous Man in America and Field General of the Godless Armies of Satan."
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We Need More Muckrakers and Fewer Buck-Takers
There was a time when journalism didn't just report the news"it changed the country. It broke monopolies, exposed corruption, and forced presidents to act. Today, with public trust in media at historic lows, that kind of reporting can feel like a relic. But what if the real story isn't that its gone"but that we've stopped supporting it? Media scholar and activist Mickey Huff has just written a provocative call to action titled We Need More Muckrakers and Fewer Buck-Takers. Its a phrase rooted in the legacy of Carl Jensen, who believed journalism should serve the public"not profits"and who spent decades exposing the stories corporate media ignored.
At a moment when misinformation spreads faster than truth and corporate consolidation shapes what we see and don't see, this conversation asks something deeper: What kind of media system does democracy require"and what role do we play in rebuilding it?
Guest - Mickey Huff is the director of Project Censored and president of the Media Freedom Foundation, where he has co-edited its annual Censored book series since 2009. In 2024, he joined Ithaca College as a Professor of Journalism and the Distinguished Director of the Park Center for Independent Media. Through these roles, he leads efforts in critical media literacy, independent journalism, and the production of the weekly syndicated Project Censored Show. Park Center For Independent Media.
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