Much attention has been paid to the remarks of President Donald Trump at Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast, but the real story is what Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, according to Brian Kaylor.
Kaylor, editor of Word&Way, writes a Substack called “A Public Witness.” Of the breakfast speakers, he said: “Trump delivered rambling remarks — speaking for more than an hour longer than his timeslot — where he attacked the faith of Democrats, criticized Republicans who have opposed him on the Epstein Files and blowing up Venezuelan boats, falsely claimed he won the 2020 election, and repeatedly cursed. And while his remarks dominate the headlines about the event, more concerning Christian nationalist comments came a few minutes later from the Trump administration official perhaps doing the most to push Christian nationalism.”
That person is Hegseth, who attends a congregation tied to Doug Wilson and his far-right theocratic movement in Moscow, Idaho.
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and his wife, Jennifer Rauchet, attend the 74th annual National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton on February 5, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“America was founded as a Christian nation. It remains a Christian nation in our DNA, if we can keep it. And as public officials, we have a sacred duty 250 years on to glorify him,” Hegseth said. “That’s precisely why we instituted a monthly prayer service at the Pentagon, an act of what we see it as, spiritual readiness.”
“We talk a lot about ‘peace through strength,’” he added. “But we also need to remember that we derive our strength through faith and through truth and through the word of God.”
Then Hegseth read from Mark 8 about believers confessing Jesus and said that’s what the U.S. military does.
“The warrior who is willing to lay down his life for his unit, his country and his Creator, that warrior finds eternal life.”
Christ’s mission “was to divide truth from lies, the things of the world from the things of God, light from darkness, good from evil,” he declared. “And like Christ, in earthly ways our brave warriors are not called to appease the world, they must confront it. We know we fight a physical battle but ultimately grounded, as the president said, in a spiritual battlefield. Not only are we warriors armed with the arsenal of freedom, we ultimately are armed with the arsenal of faith and have been from the beginning.”
Then in a comment directly contradicting the teaching of evangelical Christianity, Hegseth said: “The warrior who is willing to lay down his life for his unit, his country and his Creator, that warrior finds eternal life.”
All forms of evangelical Christianity teach that salvation is found only through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, not in works or in patriotism.
Brian Kaylor
Kaylor likened these comments to those made by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church about Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine or what Medieval popes told Crusaders.
He added: “Hegseth’s God-and-country theology didn’t occur in a vacuum, but instead represented the Christian nationalist climax of the more than three-hour service.”
Although working in a presidential administration widely documented to be unhinged from facts, Hegseth asserted: “To preserve the soul of America, we must continue to wield not just the physical sword but the sword of truth.
For his part, Trump returned to one of his most common faith themes of late: Whether he will get into heaven. Like Hegseth, he directly contradicted mainstream evangelical theology on salvation through faith in Christ alone.
“I really think I probably should make it,” Trump said in his 77-minute speech. “I mean, I’m not a perfect candidate, but I did a hell of a lot of good for perfect people.”
Last summer, Trump called into the Fox & Friends TV show to muse: “I want to try and get to heaven if possible. I hear I’m not doing well. I hear I’m really at the bottom of the totem pole.” He made similar comments again in December.
Other quotable quotations from Trump at the prayer breakfast:
- He’s “done more for religion than any other president.”
- “I don’t know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat. I really don’t.”
- “Some major politicians refuse to say the word ‘God.’ They don’t want to say it. I say it.”
- “There are many signs that religion is coming back” under his watch. “It’s coming back so strong. You know, your churches are filling up. You didn’t have that two years ago.”
- Of the 2024 election: “I needed it for my own ego. I would have had a bad ego for the rest of my life. Now I really have a big ego, though. Beating these lunatics was incredible, right? What a great feeling, winning every swing state, winning the popular vote.”
- “As the Bible tells us, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ That’s true. Peacemakers are very important. But you can only have peace, I find, through strength. If you don’t have strength, peace is very hard. And we have strength.”
Trump also announced plans to hold an event at the National Mall May 17 to “rededicate America as one nation under God.”
For a full analysis of the Prayer Breakfast, see “A Public Witness.”