U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ignited a heated public debate following a social media post in which he shared a video featuring Christian pastors calling for women to be stripped of their voting rights.
According to the Associated Press, Hegseth’s post highlighted his close ties to a Christian nationalist movement that promotes extreme views about the role of religion and women in society.
Hegseth posted on the platform X (formerly Twitter) a nearly seven-minute video from CNN investigating the activities of Doug Wilson, co-founder of the Reformed Evangelical Church Community (CREC).
In the shared video, one of the pastors from Wilson’s church openly declares that “women should be stripped of the right to vote,” while another states: “In his ideal world, the whole family would vote as a single unit.” Additionally, a community member says she “fully submits to her husband.”
Hegseth accompanied the video with a brief but meaningful comment: “All of Christ for all of life.” His post received over 12,000 likes and 2,000 shares, dividing public opinion between support and strong criticism.
Doug Pagitt, pastor and executive director of the progressive evangelical organization “Vote Common Good,” strongly condemned the views, calling them representative of “a small group of Christians” and describing Hegseth’s involvement in spreading these ideas as “very troubling.”
Meanwhile, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed on Friday that Hegseth is a “proud member of a church” affiliated with CREC and “holds in high regard the works and teachings of Mr. Wilson.”
This is not the first time Hegseth has used his position to promote a religious agenda. In May, he invited his personal pastor, Brooks Potteiger, to lead a prayer service inside the Pentagon during working hours, with invitations sent to official employee addresses.
Wilson himself summarized the vision of this movement clearly in a statement to CNN:
“I would like the nation to be a Christian nation and the world to be a Christian world.”
