Hegseth likes to posts pics of himself leading soldiers in prayer. Not only is he not following Matthew 6, but it's abusive in hierarchical system where soldiers may not feel they can opt out. But this fits with secretary of holy war's worship services: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/government...

Hegseth defends sectarian curriculum on military bases by arguing "In God We Trust." But he took oath to defend Constitution, which prohibits religious establishment. Of course, this isn't surprising since he's been establishing his religion at Pentagon: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/government...

Surveillance at University Baptist Church raises additional questions. DHS went inside church on May 28. UBC is covered by an injunction issued Feb. 13 that bars DHS from warrantless actions inside American Baptist & Alliance churches. UBC is part of both & was specifically cited in injunction.

And federal agents attended an event at University Baptist Church (which is part of American Baptist Churches & Alliance of Baptists), secretly recording it (though an agent dropped their bodycam & left it behind for awhile):

DHS, which often lies, is pushing back on reporting about a North Carolina pastor who suffered a stroke while in ICE detention. They put scare quotes around North Carolina pastor as if that's not a true statement. The government - especially DHS - does not get to decide who is a real pastor or not!

Missouri Amendment 5, which would've ended state income tax in favor of more regressive taxes, also overwhelmingly rejected by voters. Big losses for Amendments 4 & 5 are both strong rebukes of GOP state lawmakers.

AP calls win for "no" on Missouri Amendment 4, which was effort by GOP lawmakers to stop citizen-led constitutional amendments. This anti-democratic measure was also supported by Christian Nationalist church as "biblical" vote: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/thou-shalt... Nice to see the big loss!

In crowded Democratic primary for US Senate seat in Kansas, United Methodist pastor Adam Hamilton wins big. He'll face GOP Sen. Roger Marshall in November.

Pentagon again conscripting Isaiah 6:8 on social media, which has become a favorite verse for Hegseth & Pentagon to misuse (as I unpacked here: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/hegseth-co...).

Truth Social post from Trump. Christian Nationalist AI slop is worst kind of AI slop. (Trump knows so little about Christianity that he doesn't even recognize Catholic imagery instead of what he would see if he actually went to church in his Protestant tradition - which he hasn't done in 4.5 years)

The Pentagon should spend more time avoiding stupid wars & less time posting inappropriate religious content

Senate considering nomination of Keith Sonderling as Labor Secretary. Previous sec started monthly worship services but was ousted amid sexual & financial scandals. Services haven't occurred with Sonderling as acting sec, but I hope he's asked about them. publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/labor-depa...

Lindsey Graham's legacy is captured in 1 tweet (that he never deleted). He knew better but destroyed his legacy by choosing power over principles.

Pentagon is marking the Fourth by misapplying Hegseth's new favorite Bible verse. That's not what the passage is about! #ChristianNationalism heretically turns country into idol. I explain more here: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/hegseth-co...

So much wrong in this post. The Washington prayer story is fake & originally pushed religious bigotry against Quakers (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/the-trump-...). Also, "under God" in Pledge doesn't go back to beginning but just 72 years ago (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/70-years-u...).

Other Pew questions (teacher & coach-led prayer) show similar trends of White evangelicals & Black Protestants most support of such #ChristianNationalism, with Catholics 3rd & White mainline Protestants least supportive. This shows mainliners deserve more attention: they see faith differently! 6/

With that caveat on how @pewresearch.org poll doesn't match current legislative/legal debate, it's still informative to see divergent views on who said they favor displaying Ten Commandments. White evangelicals do most, followed by Black Protestants & Catholics. White mainliners barely top 50%. 5/

DHS is so into pushing #ChristianNationalism that they're even posting Bible verses with World cup videos. This follows pattern from DHS: publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/the-gospel...

The Reformed Church in America, a mainline denomination that traces its roots to 17th century Dutch congregation in what is now New York, passed statement June 12 condemning #ChristianNationalism, saying it "represents a false church, fundamentally distorting the gospel" www.rca.org/general-syno...

SBC messengers passed resolution generically condemning political violence. William Wolfe, wearing a Turning Point USA "Freedom" shirt, pushed an amendment that would have named Charlie Kirk (making him only person named in resolution). But it was voted down at urging of Resolutions Committee.

Al Mohler as the face of SBC effort to further restrict women in ministry is quite a theological throughline. He leads a seminary founded by enslavers. And he reads the Bible like an enslaver: wordandway.org/2020/09/16/r...

SBC meeting afternoon session opened with prayer by Jonathan Parnell, lead pastor at Cities Church in St. Paul. SBC president said church was disrupted by protesters but didn't mention the why: because 1 of pastors also led local ICE office. SBC siding with violent force against their neighbors.

@rachellaser.bsky.social of @americansunited.bsky.social on Pentagon's new list of religion codes (which they edited & shrank again today): www.au.org/the-latest/p...

After complaints by LDS members (including Utah's US senators), Pentagon changed its new list of religion codes by removing the "Christian" label from all codes that had it, so now it no longer implies LDS isn't Christian. Already making edits suggests this hasn't been thought out very carefully.

LDS members criticizing new Pentagon religion list that designates LDS as not Christian (even though Jehovah's Witnesses & Christian Scientist are): www.sltrib.com/religion/202... Both of Utah's GOP senators complained. Maybe they're learning that Christian Nationalists will toss even rightwing LDS

Pentagon claims cutting 180 codes will help chaplains serve miliary members better. But having 1 Baptist code doesn't do that. More helpful for chaplain to know if one is Southern, American, National, Cooperative, etc. Those are really different traditions. Chaplains will be flying more blind. 2/

We've known for a few months that Pentagon was reducing its religion codes for service members from 211 to 31. Now @militarydotcom.bsky.social obtained the list & there are problematic cuts: www.military.com/dod-official... Hegseth's telling people that their faith doesn't count.

Janna Bowman, who led Center for Faith at Small Business Administration, left that post to now lead Center for Faith at Veterans Affairs. Bowman led SBA to host worship service (like those at Pentagon & Labor): publicwitness.wordandway.org/i/197693999/... It's unclear if they'll continue at SBA.

In March, I broke news that Hegseth's Bible has 2 Crusader images stamped on cover: Jerusalem Cross on front & "Deus Vult" on back (publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/pete-hegse...). He was sworn in on it & takes it to Pentagon services. Pentagon social media post from service today shows "Deus Vult"