U.S. President Donald Trump and Pastor Paula White attend the annual National Prayer Breakfast at Hilton hotel in Washington, U.S., February 6, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
While Republicans are trying to ban "Sharia Law," President Donald Trump's administration is trying to bring its own version of it to force on the U.S. military.
Sharia is Islamic religious law derived from the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. It guides Muslims’ personal conduct, worship and ethics and, in very few countries, it can control aspects of civil or criminal law. Retired Gen. Mark Hertling can't help but think that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is bringing his own brand of Christianity and forcing it down the throats of every soldier for what he believes is some kind of holy war.
On MS NOW, the conversation turned to Hegseth's recent announcement that he's creating a new Pentagon office to “elevate spiritual readiness." Hegseth has a "menu of options" listing out various religions that military members must identify as.
In a memo in May, Military.com reported that 180 faiths were cut from the list of "recognized religions" in the military. Things like Humanism, Deists, Spiritualists and Unitarian Universalists were cut. While there were once 211 acceptable religions to identify as, there are now 31.
“The Department of War protects the constitutional right of every service member and civilian employee to practice their faith without coercion or discrimination,” Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told MS NOW. “Despite the Left’s efforts to remove our Christian heritage from our great nation, Secretary Hegseth is among those who embrace it.”
Hertling said the whole thing made him confused.
"I've commanded soldiers of every religious background, including those with no religious beliefs at all. And one of the most important things a leader has responsibilities to do was to make sure every single soldier, sailor, airman, marine feels respected and valued as members of the team," said Hertling.
"Faith is important to soldiers, and so is if they don't have any faith at all. And it's particularly true in combat," the retired general explained. "The military has always protected their right to practice the faith of their choosing. But there's a profound difference between religious freedom and religious favoritism. And that's what the secretary of defense seems to be doing right now. He has a way of worshiping, and god bless him for it. You know, I'm a Christian, and I don't know of anyone who's trying to get Christianity out of the military."
He said that every member of the U.S. armed forces deserves to practice whatever faith they want.
"And I think that we're seeing a real lien by the secretary of defense, one individuals who is trying to persuade people to do a certain kind of faith, which he agrees with. And that's really unfortunate," Hertling continued.
Host and reporter Ayman Mohyeldin sees it as an extension of the Trump administration's agenda to invoke Christian nationalism into government strategy and philosophy.
"They have invoked this kind of white nationalist imagery in the way they recruited people to the Department of Homeland Security," he recalled. "They've tried to characterize and evoke this imagery with the immigration operations that they're using here domestically. We've all seen the pictures of the president with the prayer services and the various evangelical pastors with their hands on him. He's tried to anoint himself as a messenger of God, acting on behalf of Christianity in this country, which I think is very dangerous to the larger issue."
Hertling added that the whole thing plays right into the hands of Islamic extremists who believe they are in a holy war against the Christian West. When Trump and Hegseth try to craft the military into some kind of soldier for Jesus it is quickly used by the extremists to recruit into terrorist groups.
"And it also makes the job of our allies in the region who are predominantly Muslim that much harder," he added.
- YouTube youtu.be
