Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to [email protected]
I believe it’s time for Americans of all faiths to speak up about the deeply concerning behavior of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. His worship services at the Pentagon frame the administration’s warfighting in religious terms, claiming that members of our military are on a mission to inflict violence without mercy “in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ.”
To any who believe in the love and mercy preached by Christ, this is a horrifying distortion of Christian teaching. To those who serve in a war zone, it implies that, with God on their side, any atrocity is permissible. Hegseth is using his violent form of Christianity to create a disturbing, dystopian version of our military.
The Constitution, Congress, and the people of America have never made provision for a “Secretary of Religion,” although that seems to be the role that Hegseth has invented for himself. American taxpayers must not be made to pay for Christian proselytizing from the Pentagon podium.
I urge Americans of all faiths and our members of Congress to step up, speak up, and do what they can to put a halt to this dangerous crusader’s distortion of the function and values of our military.
Mary Bird
Orono
