U.S. service members swear an oath to a godless Constitution, not Christianity.
A Washington Post writer lamented this week that “everybody got Pete Hegseth wrong.”
American Atheists didn’t.
Back in 2024, before Hegseth was confirmed to lead the world’s most powerful military, we warned that he was “one of the most extreme figures ever nominated.” We talked about his ties to Christian Reconstructionists and his obsession with spiritual warfare.
We even specifically called attention to his support for Classical Christian education at a time when hardly anyone else was paying attention to it.
I wish we’d been wrong. I wish the Senate had listened. But wishes, it turns out, are as useful as prayer.
Because here we are in 2026 with Hegseth at the helm of the Department of Defense, using his power to do precisely what we warned he would.
During his “State of the Force” address on Wednesday — just hours after our legal team demanded answers about the Air Force “reclassifying” atheist service members — Hegseth laid out his latest plans to Christian Nationalize our troops:
“Our department is, you might say, putting on the full armor of God, because while we wage physical war, we all know the real battle is spiritual. God is good; evil is not, and America’s military must understand the difference.”
According to Hegseth, “the most essential component of our Republic” isn’t freedom but “faith.”
And the DOD has a “sacred duty” to support religion. To do so, he announced the establishment of a new “Office of Religious Affairs” that will bypass the chain of command and report directly to him. This new office will “obtain sufficient funding and resources” to “assess [soldiers’] spiritual fitness” and “strengthen religious support,” including faith-based homeschool support, faith-based suicide-reduction initiatives, and federal contracts with faith-based entities.
Hegseth erroneously claimed, “95% of our force recognizes an Almighty God.” Which is pretty amazing since he also claimed the spiritual lives of service members were previously being “dictated” by “political correctness,” “secular humanism,” “secular careerists and lawyers.”
But Hegseth isn’t content to control today’s military. He also wants to dictate its religious and political future.
And so he announced the Pentagon will embed its “Corps of Cadets” at five new colleges and universities to “ensure our republic is defended by even more officers of unwavering character and patriotism.”
Among the chosen schools? Hillsdale College and Liberty University.
This comes months after Hegseth restricted military officers from attending graduate programs at top-ranked universities — including Harvard, Brown, Princeton, and Yale — accusing the schools of teaching the “enemy’s wicked ideologies.”
“From the Ivy Leagues to most liberal arts colleges, our colleges and universities have become anti-American, DEI-worshiping, woke factories. Qualities like grit and courage were replaced with political correctness and social justice. God and country traded for Che Guevara and critical theory.”
Instead, Hegseth wants “only leaders of character, who cherish our Constitution and love our country.” But let’s be clear, for Hegseth and other Christian Nationalists, “character” is code for “Christian.” Don’t take my word for it:
“We need students of Western Civilization and the pillars of our Republic. Leaders who understand the faith of Jerusalem, the philosophy of Athens, the power of Rome, and the freedom of Philadelphia, circa 1776. Officers of the Republic, proud of our country, proud of our heritage, and proud of our history and those who serve it.”
Before he was Secretary of Defense, Hegseth co-wrote the book, Battle for the American Mind, on the need for Classical Christian education to “save America and Christendom” by preparing students for “spiritual battle.”
Now he’s using the might of the federal government — and our tax dollars — to advance his narrow worldview, deciding which beliefs count, elevating religiosity as a requirement, and steering the future leadership of our military toward private institutions that share his religiopolitical agenda.
That is not the freedom of — and from — religion our Founders envisioned. That it is Hegseth’s vision of America shows just how unfit he is — and always has been — for this role.
On Wednesday, he told us: “Diversity is not our strength, unity is our strength.”
He’s wrong. Our armed forces serve a constitutionally secular republic made up of Christians, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists, humanists, and millions of Americans whose beliefs and nonbelief cannot and will not be squeezed into 31 government-approved boxes.
Service members don’t swear an oath to Christianity, to Western Civilization, or to Hegseth’s strange, steroid-addled Jesus. They swear an oath to a godless Constitution.
We Americans don’t need to believe in the same dogma. We never have. We only need to defend our democracy from those who would take our freedoms for themselves.
American Atheists is doing that vital work every day — demanding answers, holding Christian Nationalists to account, and standing strong for freedom. Please stand with us.
In solidarity,
Melina Cohen
Director of Strategic Communications & Policy Engagement
American Atheists is fighting to keep public education public, expose religious indoctrination, and defend students’ rights.
My family fled our home. I want to ensure other nonreligious families have protections ours didn’t.
I know what it feels like to be the kid who doesn’t belong, and no young person should have to endure that.
