Christianity should have no place in the American public sphere, especially when it comes to the federal government. That appears to be the sentiment held by CBS anchor and “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan, which would explain her response to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s recent call for Americans to pray for U.S. troops involved in Operation Epic Fury.
At Hegseth’s press conference last week, he said, “To the American people, please pray for [the U.S. troops], every day, on bended knee, with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ.” Brennan responded on X, “The Secretary of Defense tells the American public to pray for our troops on bended knee and invokes Jesus’ name….”
She followed it up by linking to another poster’s comment that read, “Hegseth accuses Iran of exporting ‘a violent, messianic Islamic ideology chasing some sort of apocalyptic endgame,’” to which Brennan wrote, “The religious references as justification for war continue…”
When it comes to the U.S. military and religion, and Christianity specifically, America has a long history of invoking God in prayer for the protection of our troops and for success in the wars we fight.
Indeed, the legend of then-General George Washington kneeling in prayer at Valley Forge has endured for a long time. Whether that specific instance occurred in the often-depicted manner is irrelevant, given that calling on the Almighty has long been a regular practice within the U.S. military, from the ranks to leadership.
Is Brennan unfamiliar with the chaplaincy within the U.S. military? Does she not know that from Washington to Franklin D. Roosevelt to George Patton to Dwight D. Eisenhower to Hegseth and countless military members, from the highest-ranking officers to the lowest private, the American military has regularly and repeatedly called on God for his protection and blessing?
In fact, Patton famously had Brigadier General Reverend James Hugh O’Neill, 3rd Deputy Chief of Chaplains, write a “good prayer for weather.” Patton then had that prayer printed onto cards and distributed among his men. The prayer read, “Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.”
Patton later explained his rationale, noting that in every plan of man, there is an unknown factor always at play: “I call it God. God has his part, or margin, in everything.”
Furthermore, Brennan appeared critical of Hegseth’s framing of the Iranian Islamic regime’s motivations. Here, too, Brennan displays her ignorance regarding the Iranian regime’s ideological motivation. There is a reason the Islamic Republic has sponsored and funded Islamofascist terrorism across the globe ever since taking power in 1979; its objective is to bring about the rise of its messianic figure, which its leaders believe can only come with the destruction of Israel.
Hegseth recognizes that the Iranian regime’s ideological motive is not a justification for the war as much as it is an explanation for why allowing the regime to continue will not end the threat it poses to Israel and the U.S.
Finally, it is fascinating that when conservatives make public references to God and specifically Christianity, the Leftmedia finds it troubling and argues that there should be no place for such religious influence in government. However, when a leftist Democrat like James Talarico invokes his liberal Christianity to guide his political views, he is suddenly viewed as a standard that every “good Christian” politician should mimic.
Of course, the truth is, it’s all about politics.
