Hegseth Prays for 'Overwhelming Violence' at Pentagon Service

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth prayed Wednesday for "overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy" and that "every round find its mark" at a monthly Christian worship service he hosted at the Pentagon.

Hegseth read a prayer he said was first delivered by a military chaplain to troops who captured then-President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela. "Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy," Hegseth prayed at the livestreamed service, attended by civilian employees and uniformed military personnel. He also read from the Psalms: "I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed."

For military families on the Treasure Coast — including the thousands of active-duty service members, veterans, and Defense Department contractors across Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River counties — the services raise questions about how the military manages religious pluralism. The Pentagon announced Tuesday it is reducing recognized religious affiliation codes from more than 200 to 31, eliminating categories for Wiccans, atheists, agnostics, and many small Protestant denominations. According to available information,

Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to enforce a December public records request for internal communications about the services, their cost, guests, and any employee complaints. "Secretaries Hegseth and Chavez-DeRemer are abusing the power of their government positions and taxpayer-funded resources to impose their preferred religion on federal workers," said Rachel Laser, the group's president and CEO.

Ronit Stahl, a historian at the University of California at Berkeley and author of "Enlisting Faith: How the Military Chaplaincy Shaped Religion and State in Modern America," said the move toward explicit Christian specificity is unprecedented at the secretary level. "In a nation with no establishment of religion per the Constitution, what does it mean to have a leader being not just broadly religious or religious in a pluralistic sense, but religious in a very particular sense?" Stahl said.

Hegseth also announced Tuesday that chaplains will no longer display rank insignia, instead wearing only religious symbols, and said the corps should focus more on faith and less on mental health "self-help." The Pentagon did not respond to requests for additional detail on either change. A lawsuit seeking enforcement of the public records request is pending in federal court.

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