Pete Hegseth tells Christian crowd the U.S. Military is officially done with ‘Godless’ left

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently headlined a Christian communicators conference in Tennessee, where he spoke about what he sees as necessary changes to U.S. military culture under the current administration. In remarks blending religion and politics, he told the audience that the left is “Godless” and declared, “We train our troops; we no longer trans our troops.”

Despite the conference being centered on communication, very little of what Hegseth opined about was comprehensible. But the Donald Trump administration’s vow of no longer “transing the troops,” aside, he continued his rail against how he sees the left as having destroyed the army in the four years between Trump’s first term and second.

According to CNN, Hegseth said, “Gone is Godless and divisive DEI, gone is gender-bending equity and quotas, gone is climate change worship to a false God. We are one military, one fighting force, one nation under God. We are not in woke we trust, we are in God we trust.” 

Before Hegseth, the Defense Secretary used to be one of the most revered cabinet positions. Sure, there have been some people who held that office and went on to become some of the most highly criticized members of American politics, such as Donald Rumsfeld, but largely it was because of actions that did not age well. Largely, they understood that their role crossed party lines and refrained from public political commentary.

Hegseth does not feel that way, in the very least. At the convention, he went on to say, “The other side is fueled by godless and toxic ideologies, foreign to the western way of life, with tolerant hearts filled with rage and hate.” At some point, he even veered into commentary about abortions, which have no real consequential effect on his job of protecting Americans from foreign threats.

Despite his long speech at the convention, there were aspects of his tenure that simply were not discussed at all. The very First Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees the right of anyone to not practice Hegseth’s religion — and if there was anything the recent Jeffrey Epstein files revealed, it is that evil permeates through any religious background. But more importantly, there was little mention of the criticism that they took soldiers into Venezuela for the sole purpose of fighting so that oil companies could make more profits than they already do.

There was also little mention of ongoing military operations under his watch, including decisions to deploy large forces to strategic regions abroad. For example, a recent Bloomberg report noted that U.S. deployments in the Middle East are now the largest since the 2003 Iraq invasion, a move that has sparked debate over purpose and cost. Critics have pointed out that such force expansions often benefit defense contractors, while service members themselves are left questioning the mission’s clarity.

So perhaps Hegseth — knowing the global implications of another widespread Middle East conflict — owes the world more explanation about his justifications for another war. Abortions and Godlessness, he could leave that for Pope Leo XIV.