US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing scrutiny over his religious beliefs after a sermon by his personal pastor at the Pentagon suggested divine sanction for US military actions, including a school bombing in Iran that killed over 175 people. The bombing of Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab on 28 February is believed by US investigators to have been caused by a Tomahawk missile, but neither President Donald Trump nor Hegseth has expressed remorse.
Hegseth, a former Fox News host and army veteran, belongs to an obscure Calvinist wing of evangelical Christianity that believes in predestination—that God directs all events. At a Pentagon worship service on 25 March, Hegseth prayed for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy,” prompting a rebuke from Pope Leo, who said God ignores prayers of those with “hands full of blood.”
Experts say Hegseth’s theology may be influencing US strategy in Iran, where a temporary ceasefire began on Tuesday after six weeks of fighting. Critics question why the US, which avoided war with Iran for 47 years, would now take such risks, citing Hegseth’s Crusader tattoos and disdain for diplomacy as possible factors.
