'Disturbing': Hegseth under fire for endorsing pastor who thinks women shouldn't vote

In his short time as U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth has tested the boundaries of the separation between church and state at the Pentagon. On Thursday night, he took things a step further by promoting an interview of Christian nationalist pastor Doug Wilson—the leader of the church Hegseth follows—who has called for America to become a Christian nation, and the world a Christian one.

“All of Christ for All of Life,” Hegseth posted on social media, from an account marked with a grey checkmark that says, “This account is verified because it’s an affiliate of @DeptofDefense on X.”

That post accompanied a CNN interview (below) of Pastor Wilson. CNN billed the segment as “The Christian nationalist pastor with ties to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.”

“Women are the kind of people that people come out of,” Wilson unapologetically told CNN.

“It doesn’t take any talent to simply reproduce biologically,” he continued. “The wife and mother, who is the chief executive of the home, is entrusted with three or four or five eternal souls.”

Wilson also believes women should not have certain leadership roles and should not be allowed to vote.

Secretary Hegseth has brought his religious worldview into the Defense Department, literally, holding and hosting a specifically Christian monthly prayer meeting during work hours inside the Pentagon. During the first meeting, called “Secretary of Defense Christian Prayer & Worship Service,” Hegseth’s pastor from Tennessee, Brooks Potteiger, was the main speaker, according to a New York Times report.

The Times also reported that “the service is part of an increasing infusion of overt Christian evangelization in official government events during Mr. Trump’s second term.”

In their interview with Pastor Wilson, CNN reported, “Wilson is part of a broader Christian nationalist movement making inroads with the Trump administration, with a newly created faith office led by evangelical pastor Paula White-Cain, and people seen right outside the White House entrance, praying and speaking in tongues.”

Critics expressed concern and outrage over Secretary Hegseth’s post.

Attorney Barbara Comstock, a Republican and former U.S. Congresswoman, wrote: “Not unnoticed that @petehegseth, the most unqualified and insecure SecDef, has retweeted this piece that includes extremist men advocating that the right to vote be taken away from women and women must submit to men (apparently even if they are cheaters?) This is the Hegseth worldview.”

“Here’s the United States Secretary of Defense seemingly endorsing a call for the repeal of the 19th Amendment & and an end to women voting? Not surprising when you consider his very well documented views,” remarked Brandon Wolf, national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign.

“It’s incredibly disturbing that Pete Hegseth attends a church, and openly praises its leadership, which advocates for repealing women’s right to vote and re-criminalizing homosexuality. If you want to live in an authoritarian, theocratic state, move to the Middle East. I hear it’s lovely there,” commented journalist Brad Polumbo.

“As an American Jew, I do not feel comfortable when the Secretary of Defense posts messages like this. America is a majority Christian country, but the America I want to live in is not an explicitly Christian country,” wrote Barron’s columnist, CBS News contributor, and CEO Isaac Stone Fish.

“The Secretary of Defense is literally promoting a Christian Nationalist. We are losing our country right before our eyes,” remarked radio host and legal analyst Barry Markson.

See Secretary Hegseth’s social media post and video below or at this link.