By John Ismay New York Times
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ARLINGTON, Va. — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth led a Christian prayer service in the Pentagon’s auditorium Wednesday morning, during working hours, in which President Donald Trump was praised as a divinely appointed leader.

The event, billed as the “Secretary of Defense Christian Prayer &Worship Service,” was standing room only and ran for about 30 minutes, with Brooks Potteiger, the pastor of Hegseth’s church in Tennessee, as the main speaker.

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Hegseth said he intended that the prayer service become a monthly event.

It is unclear whether the Defense Department has hosted similar religious events outside the Pentagon’s chapel, which was added after the 9/11 attack, but the service is part of an increasing infusion of overt Christian evangelization in official government events during Trump’s second term.

Pentagon press secretary Sean Parnell did not immediately respond to a question about whether the monthly services will include non-Protestant pastors, Catholic priests, rabbis or imams.

Trump has long dismissed concerns that his words and actions as president may violate the First Amendment’s prohibition of establishing a state religion. On the campaign trail in 2024, Trump pledged to champion his followers’ brand of conservative Christianity across American life and government, and he signed an executive order in February banning “anti-Christian bias” in the federal government.

“This is precisely where I need to be, and I think exactly where we need to be as a nation, at this moment,” Hegseth, standing at a lectern bearing the seal of the Defense Department, said in his opening remarks: “in prayer, on bended knee, recognizing the providence of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.” He added, “Knowing that there’s an author in heaven overseeing all of this, who’s underwritten all of it, for us, on the cross, gives me the strength to proceed.”

The defense secretary said that attendance at the prayer service was voluntary but encouraged the uniformed military personnel and civilian employees there to tell their co-workers about it.

“King Jesus, we come humbly before you, seeking your face, seeking your grace, in humble obedience to your law and to your word,” Hegseth prayed after asking attendees to bow their heads. “We come as sinners saved only by that grace, seeking your providence in our lives and in our nation. 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. And all God’s people say amen.”

The assembled worshippers, including at least one general, repeated “Amen.”

Tami Radabaugh, a deputy assistant to Hegseth who attended the service, wrote on social platform X, “Grateful to have a @POTUS @realDonaldTrump @SecDef and administration who love the Lord as I do.”

Potteiger’s church, the Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, is a member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches — the governing documents of which say that church leadership roles are reserved for men, that homosexuality is “unbiblical” and that women should not participate in combat. Hegseth said in a podcast appearance before his nomination to lead the Pentagon that women have no place in military combat units but appeared to soften that stance during his confirmation hearing in January.

In his sermon, the pastor said: “We pray for our leaders who you have sovereignly appointed — for President Trump, thank you for the way that you have used him to bring stability and moral clarity to our land. And we pray that you would continue to protect him, bless him, give him great wisdom.”

He added: “We pray that you would surround him with faithful counselors who fear your name and love your priesthoods.”

Hegseth said Potteiger had “long been a mentor of mine, of my wife and I, of our family,” and he described him as “just a Bible-believing, rock-steady minister.”

The defense secretary said that he had participated in Bible studies with the pastor “long before anything like this seemed possible.”

“And now here we are,” Hegseth added.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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