Christian Nationalist Plan For War With Iran Is To Pray A Lot

Pete Hegseth tells American soldiers not to worry about going to war, because his wife is praying for them.

Who needs military planning when you have magic spells?

Today is the third day in the war by the United States against the country of Iran.

This is a war that was started by the United States with absolutely no provocation by Iran.

This podcast is offered from an American perspective. So, some people may say, Well, what about Iran? Has Iran done a lot of bad things? The government of Iran has. That is absolutely true.

The government of Iran is a theocracy. It's an Islamic republic, and a theocracy is inherently oppressive. It is a religious government without mercy.

I'm giving this podcast from an American perspective, and what we have to consider is what our choices are.

How do we deal with that terrible government, that oppressive government in Iran?

The answer of Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth in the Christian Nationalist government of the United States of America, has been to kill, to kill a bunch of Iranians, to wage war against them, rather than to try to support democracy there through other means, rather than to negotiate rather than to talk.

Violence has been the choice of this Christian nationalist government, and that tells us something very important about what Christian nationalism is, and what really American Christianity is

Let's remember as we always have to, when we talk about our government at this point, that it represents 60% of American Christians. 60% of American Christians voted for Donald Trump in 2016, and then again in 2020, and then again in 2024.

They did so with an explicit promise that Donald Trump was going to impose Christianity, to elevate it above all other religions, and certainly above non-religion, in the United States of America. This government, and this war, is representative of that vision.

It is a Christian war.

It's not just me saying that it's Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, as he likes to call himself, because as he says, he is not the Secretary of Defense. The military is no longer about defending America. It's about killing people.

That's what's happening in Iran.

Here's what Pete Hegseth had to say about that this morning.

“We are not defenders anymore. We are warriors trained to kill the enemy and break their will. Know this, above all, President Trump and I have your back, always. Through fire, through criticism, through everything. May Almighty God watch over you, and his providential arms of protection extend over you. God’s speed warriors!”

The Christian Nationalist Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, seems to think that what's happening with Iran right now is something like an argument in a chat room, with fake news.

Of course, it's much more than that for the actual soldiers out there, not somebody who's just standing in front of a camera like Pete Hegseth does as a former TV weekend newshost.

No, for actual soldiers out there, they're putting their lives on the line, and several have died already. Three jet planes were shot down over Kuwait as they were headed toward Iran to go bomb people in Iran. And of course, lots of Iranians are dying as well, including what may be about 150 little children in that elementary school in Tehran, that was bombed by the United States military.

There's a phrase that Pete Hagseth uses to talk about all this, God's providence. God’s providence simply means whatever God provides. Hegseth just hopes that God is going to provide for American soldiers, that it'll all work out.

It doesn't seem like much of a safety plan to send soldiers out into war, and then just hope that there is some kind of spirit being somewhere that's going to decide, hey, they'll be all right, and everything will be okay.

Sure, why not? Just go for it.

But it also has to make you think: What kind of religious vision is this that thinks that the providence of God provides for a bomb to fall on an elementary school full of 100s of little kids?

That is the providence of God?

Under the Christian government that we have in the United States of America, the theocracy that we have over here, we deplore the Islamic theocracy of Iran, and we should, because they've been ruthless, they've been bloody, they've been violent, they're terrible. But, you know, that’s exactly the kind of thing have the US military has done, sending bombers out to go kill families, to go kill civilians, to go kill little kids.

What would we say? What would we say about Iran? If they launched an attack over here, and one of their bombs blew up an elementary school in the United States of America?

That is exactly the kind of behavior that is being used to justify this war. Now the Christian government of the United States of America is doing that to another country, and that, Pete Hegseth says, is God's providence, which doesn't seem like he's got much of an actual plan.

If you have to rely upon the providence of God for everything to turn out in your war, that says that you really don't have any of the other details worked out.

And that perspective of the influence of religion on the sloppy planning by the United States military from the top and its Christian leadership is reflected by this further comment that Pete Hegseth made at the end of this morning's press conference. Hegseth was asked what he’s doing for the soldiers he is sending into harm’s way. He responded:

“First of all, my prayer for them is that I do pray for them. Um, my wife prays for them. Our family prays for them, our cabinet prays for them. None of this is done, um, on a whim. Um, I think we, I mean, I know we think about them with every decision that we make, and every recommendation that we make to the President of the United States. Those recommendations are made preferably, uh, and when I pray every day, for them and for this mission, I pray simply for the biblical wisdom to see what is right and the courage to do it.”

Biblical wisdom.

Pete Hegseth is running this war on the basis of biblical wisdom, which is to say that you've got intelligence that is 2,000 years old at best, and the integrity of the data behind that intelligence is not quite trustworthy, because it involves belief in magical spirits and demons going around, influencing people, and angels with wings, prophecies, and other magical mythical thingamabobs.

I mean, you want a war based on prophecies?

This is what the cabinet is doing? They’re praying?

This is what Pete Hegseth, as Secretary of War, is doing for the soldiers that he's sending to go kill people, and to put themselves in the line of fire, is he's praying, and hoping he, some kind of idea pops into his head that he thinks comes from a god. A spirit is talking to him and telling him how to run this war, and where to send his soldiers, and who to bomb, and what it's all for.

He's praying on it.

How much good do those prayers do for the dead soldiers? How much good do those prayers do for the dead people on the ground in Iran, and in the other countries that are now being attacked, thanks to the United States starting this war as a war of choice that did not have to happen?

Negotiations were underway. People were at the negotiating table.

Maybe it was a prayer that inspired this war. We may never know.

What we do know, thanks to this morning's press conference, is that the planning for this war is just on a wing and a prayer, and not much of anything else.

It’s kind of Christian improv form of warfare, just praying and seeing what happens and trusting that spirits are going to make all the bloodshed work out in the end.

How well do you think that's going to go?