Name: Panel: Should Christian nationalists preach at the Pentagon?
Uploaded: 2026-02-20T17:08:45.000Z
Duration: 9 min 15 s
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Tonight, Pete Hegseth is again facing scrutiny after inviting a self described Christian nationalist to deliver a prayer service at the Pentagon.

Pastor Doug Wilson is the co founder of a growing network of churches that Pete Hegseth is a part of.

He believes that women should not be allowed to vote, that some slave owners were decent human beings, and

that society should be governed by a strict interpretation of biblical law which where homosexuality for example, is a crime.

Now, Wilson gave a 15 minute sermon at the Pentagon's auditorium which was broadcast on the department's internal TV network and confirmed by the Defense Department on social media.

His sermon focused on putting Christ Jesus first.

I guess he calls himself a paleo confederate something or another.

But this is a man who, in addition to everything that we just talked about, I mean, he has gone to great lengths to explain why slavery was not as bad as people make it seem.

He said slavery as it existed in the south was not an adversarial relationship with pervasive racial animosity because of its dominantly patriarchal character.

It was a relationship based on mutual affection and confidence.

There has never been a multiracial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world.

Pastor Wilson, I'm praying for him in the name of my sweet Jesus, you know what I mean?

But Martin King and Reverend Jesse Jackson, they, they were followers of Jesus and they knew in fact that Jesus has always been used and deployed in such a way that it accommodates the empire.

Organized hatred, weaponized greed, institutionalized indifference to the weak.

That's the history of the institutional church at its worst.

Now, those of us who are Christians hold on to the prophetic version.

So I would want to ask, my dear Pastor Wilson, who was Jesus really to you?

Do you think that loving thy neighbor leads toward saying those kind of things about precious black people and enslaved Africans?

What would he say if somebody came along and said in the name of Jesus, only women can vote, but

Do unto others as you would have others to do unto you.

And so in that regard, this is just not Christianity, the Judaic forms, prophetic Heschel forms of Judaism that conform to empire, white supremacy, whatever it is.

Muslims look at Iran right now, the heroic struggles of everyday Iranian people against what?

Against versions of Islam that Malcolm X would bring major critique to bear because it, what, it represses everyday people.

So that in that regard, you know, I'm not surprised but we just have to fight it and not be so overwhelmed by it.

I mean, look, we all know that that's out there.

Christian nationalism is not a new concept.

And in fact, these types of pastors who have been defending Jim Crow and slavery have been around since the dawn of Jim Crow and slavery.

But for him to be invited to the Pentagon in the United States government, I don't understand how that can even happen.

So you're not forced to attend it if you work at the Pentagon.

They bring in all kinds of different religious leaders.

They have Buddhists, they have Jewish people, they have Hindus.

They have plenty of different representation of different religious views.

And his sermon had nothing to do with what you just described.

This has nothing to do with religious views.

This has to do with somebody who has ahistorical, hateful views.

Well, look, I mean, Christian Louis Farrakhan had a lot of different views.

And Louis Farrakhan was invited to the White House.

He was invited to a lot of powerful places.

I don't know if he was invited to the Pentagon or not.

He was certainly invited to government facilities.

I mean, look, I think it's a question of is it appropriate?

Look, there are Christian pastors and interfaith leaders in the Congress.

Well, I mean, you're saying that he has certain views, so therefore he should be ostrazized and not allowed.

And I'm saying that they let all kinds of different views.

They have a right to have different views there.

So I ran the faith portfolio for Barack Obama, and we did bring different views.

We had the national or the Easter prayer Breakfast.

We didn't bring jihadists in the White House.

We didn't bring white supremacists in the White House.

We ensured that the words that they professed because of Their faith were not demonizing another faith.

I believe that we are a nation that should celebrate multi different faiths.

I really do not, though at the expense of others.

Second, what he was saying about slavery has nothing to do with spirituality or Christianity or any faith.

There was no harmony between the master and the slave.

The master may think that, but the slave had no power.

And if it's not the case, then why doesn't he become a slave?

Because I'm sure there would be no harmony there.

We cannot look at this as an isolated event.

We cannot say that two weeks ago when apes are put on a website and then you bring somebody into the White House that says slavery was a harmonious condition, that it doesn't.

And so as a person who feels like his language is causing could come harm to my ancestors, to me, and

for the people that come before, I think we can say diversity of views are appropriate.

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Panel: Should Christian nationalists preach at the Pentagon?

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