Christian Nationalist Pastor Douglas Wilson Preaches At The Pentagon
Moscow, Idaho, pastor Douglas Wilson — a self-identified Christian nationalist and paleo-Confederate — preached at the Pentagon on Feb. 17 at a monthly worship service organized by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Wilson told American soldiers, some of them dressed in uniform, to be bold and trust God for victory.
“If you bear the name of Jesus Christ, there is no armor greater than that,” Wilson preached. “Not only so, but all the devil’s R&D teams have not been able to come up with an armor-piercing anything.”
Wilson spoke for about 16 minutes, starting and closing with prayer. He described the event at the United States military headquarters as the potential start of a national transformation, bringing America under God. He said he hoped that the change would be a black swan event: Something no one predicted and that historians would struggle to explain in 100 years.
READ: The Meaning Behind Trump Cabinet Pick Pete Hegseth’s Christian Tattoos
“What we are praying for, what we are working for, what we are looking for, what we are longing for is a black swan revival, a black swan reformation,” he said. “Many stranger things have happened. God is great.”
Wilson is the tenth minister to preach at the Pentagon since Hegseth launched monthly services in May 2025. Other ministers have included evangelist Franklin Graham and Southern Baptist ministers Mark Dever, Brad Palka and Garrett Kell, all from the Washington, D.C., area.
Hegseth’s former pastor, Chris Durkin, who leads a Southern Baptist church in Colts Neck, New Jersey, also preached once. The defense secretary’s current pastor, Brooks Potteiger, has preached twice. Potteiger belongs to the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, which was co-founded by Wilson in 1998. He is organizing regular church services in Washington, D.C.
Services called coercive
Dozens of active-duty soldiers and military contractors have complained about the services, saying they are pressured to attend. Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, told USA Today that the services violate First Amendment protections, even if they’re not mandatory. The events, he believes, are implicitly coercive.
“When you’re told that [Hegseth’s] going to have a Christian praise service, and that is quote ‘optional,’ you’re being ‘voluntold,’” Weinstein said. “It eviscerates good order, discipline, unit cohesion and especially, morale.”
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson dismissed those concerns. She insisted that no one tracks attendance, the services are “100% voluntary” and “undoubtedly improve morale for those who choose to attend.”
Wilson also argued the Constitution protects people’s right to pray in a government workplace.
Hegseth has said he doesn’t accept the idea that the First Amendment establishes a separation of church and state. In his 2020 book, “American Crusade,” he called it “leftist folklore.”
Hegseth, who prefers the title Secretary of War, opened the first Pentagon service in May with a prayer to “King Jesus.”
“This is precisely where I need to be, and I think exactly where we need to be as a nation,” he said, “in prayer, on bended knee recognizing the providence of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
At the National Prayer breakfast earlier this month, Hegseth said the Pentagon services are important because America is a Christian nation — “it’s in our DNA” — and government officials have a “sacred duty” to glorify God. He said the worship services are critical to the military’s spiritual readiness, preparing soldiers to fight.
“The warrior who is willing to lay down his life for his unit, his country and his Creator, that warrior finds eternal life,” Hegseth said.
The idea that soldiers are saved if they die in battle is commonly associated with medieval Roman Catholic popes who authorized the crusades, a series of military campaigns aiming to conquer the Holy Land. Hegseth has two crusades-related tattoos. One arm bears the Latin slogan “Deus Vult” (God wills). On his chest, he has the Jerusalem Cross, which was used on the coat of arms of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Hegseth has also held up the crusades as a model for modern Americans Christians who, he argues, need to wage a “holy war” against the political left.
“We don’t want to fight,” he wrote in 2020, when he was still a co-host on Fox & Friends Weekend, “but, like our fellow Christians one thousand years ago, we must.”
Hegseth clarifies that the conflict he’s describing isn’t a literal fight with swords or guns. But then adds, “yet.”
Reformation the way to Christian nationalism
Wilson, pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, doesn’t regularly reference the crusades. But he does embrace the term “Christian nationalist.” Pluralism is a lie, he argues, adding that the U.S. government needs to acknowledge that Jesus is Lord, and American laws should be based on the Bible.
In October, Wilson told The New York Times that his “ideal theocratic republic” was a long-term political project that couldn’t be forced on people.
“I believe the only way out is for us to repent and turn to Christ,” Wilson said. “There’s no way that we’re going to get a Christian republic and Congress affirming the Ten Commandments and confessing — if the Senate and House released a statement saying, ‘We believe Jesus rose from the dead,’ and the president signed it — there’s no way we’re going to get to that end result without a massive reformation revival.”
Wilson referenced the need for reformation and revival to make America a Christian nation in his message at the Pentagon. He said Jesus “purchased all the nations of men” with his blood, adding “this includes our nation.”
Wilson has gotten a lot of mainstream media attention since Hegseth took charge at the Pentagon. He is no stranger to controversy.
He has defended slavery and argued that women should not have the right to vote apart from their husbands. Wilson believes that proper Christian order involves men taking “lordship in the home.”
“Wives need to be led with a firm hand,” he wrote in his book “Federal Husband.” They must submit to their husbands in their “spending habits, television viewing habits, weight … lack of responsiveness to sexual advances — whatever.”
Accusations of enabling sexual abuse
Wilson has also been accused of enabling and covering up sexual abuse. Journalist Sarah Stankorb reported multiple accounts of husbands raping wives, allegedly justified by Wilson’s teaching. Journalist Rachel Shubin examined the way Wilson handled a man in his church who confessed to molesting children, failing to inform the families of potential victims until after the man had a plea deal.
When the man pleaded guilty, Wilson wrote a letter to the judge urging “that the civil penalties applied would be measured and limited.”
Wilson denies doing anything wrong. His Moscow church has a webpage dedicated to explaining “our scandals.”
At the Pentagon, Wilson avoided any reference to his many controversies. Instead, he preached about boldness. He told the gathered men and women that boldness is a gift of the Holy Spirit — perhaps the main one.
According to Wilson, this will be the sign of a nation-saving revival: “The followers of Christ filled with the spirit will stand firm and they will always speak the word of Christ with boldness, never ashamed one bit of it.”
Hegseth appeared on stage at the end of the worship service. He said he’d just come from the White House and was not able to hear Wilson’s sermon.
The defense secretary thanked Wilson for his message, regardless, and said he was grateful for his leadership, mentorship and “willingness to be bold.”
“It’s the type of thing we’re trying to exercise here, too, with the monthly worship service,” Hegseth said.
After Wilson preached, attendees rose and sang a medley of traditional hymns and modern worship music, starting with “How Great Thou Art.” Video of the event shows people slowly getting to their feet at the first chorus. Some closed their eyes, singing the lyrics from memory, while others followed along with the words printed in the bulletins.
The Department of Defense plans to hold another worship service in March.
This article was originally published at The Roys Report.
Daniel Silliman is senior reporter/editor at The Roys Report. He began his two decades in journalism covering crime in Atlanta and has since led major investigations into abuse and misconduct in Christian contexts. Daniel and his wife live in Johnson City, Tennessee.