Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is being both praised and criticized for hosting a prayer meeting at the Pentagon during work hours and broadcasting it on the department’s internal TV network.
The meeting, which took place on Wednesday (May 21), is the first in what Hegseth is planning to be a monthly occurrence.
Pastor Brooks Potteiger of Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship, Hegseth’s home church in Tennessee, preached a sermon at Wednesday’s meeting.
Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship is part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC) denomination, which was cofounded by Douglas Wilson, founder of Canon Press, a proponent of Christian nationalism, and a self-described “paleo-Confederate.”
During the prayer meeting, Potteiger offered a prayer of gratitude that President Donald Trump and other leaders had been “sovereignly appointed” by God and are being used by God “to bring stability and moral clarity to our lands,” according to CNN.
According to The New York Times, Hegseth also offered a prayer of his own.
“We come as sinners saved only by that grace, seeking your providence in our lives and in our nation,” Hegeth prayed. “Lord God, we ask for the wisdom to see what is right and in each and every day, in each and every circumstance, the courage to do what is right in obedience to your will.”
“It is in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that we pray,” he continued. “And all God’s people say amen.”
While a prayer gathering at the Pentagon is not unprecedented—a number of other gatherings have been held for adherents from a variety of faith conditions—what raised concerns among some was the fact that this appeared to be an official Pentagon event hosted and promoted by the defense secretary and broadcast to the entire department.
