What does the holy-warrior culture Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is cultivating in our military have in common with the holy-militant culture Imperial Wizard Sam Bowers cultivated in his White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan?
I fell into this question after reading Hegseth’s latest militant prayer and then about the trove of Klan artifacts uncovered at the Mississippi Department of Public Safety as it prepared to relocate. Among the items recovered were a Klan charter and a March 1, 1964, Bowers lecture. (See all items at Jackson Jambalaya.)
The charter required of members “an unswerving PLEDGE of American Patriotism and Devotion to the IDEALS of Christian Militancy in their conduct.” The lecture had Bowers saying, “This is a Christian militant organization. We have become His (God’s) finite instruments with which, we earnestly pray, He will choose to save Christian Civilization.”
Hegseth talks similarly of Christian heritage. “We face an essential test,” he told western nations’ defense ministers, “whether our nations will be and remain Western nations with distinct characteristics, Christian nations under God, proud of our shared heritage with strong borders and prosperous people.”
Both Bowers and Hegseth invoke militant Christianity in their cultures. The Klan blended patriotic fervor with Christianity to justify cross burnings and violence. Hegseth blends warrior imagery and divine providence to justify warfighting. For example, a DOD video shows Hegseth reciting the Lord’s Prayer, segues into a voiceover as images of jets, missiles, tanks, parachuters, and the American flag roll across the screen, and ends with Hegseth saluting along with the president and vice president.
Hegseth promotes Christian militancy – “the warrior ethos” – in U.S. armed forces by refocusing on lethality, decisive action, and “warfighting over wokeness” and by boldly blending in reliance on God. “I'm a man of faith who encourages our troops to lean into their faith, rely on God," he said. During his Pentagon worship service last week, he prayed for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”
In his book American Crusade published in 2020, Hegseth, often described as a Christian nationalist, writes, “Do you enjoy Western civilization? Freedom? Equal justice? Thank a crusader. If not for the Crusades, there would have been no Protestant Reformation or Renaissance. There would be no Europe and no America.”
Both cultures lionize white, male warriors while excluding certain groups. For Bowers it was non-whites, Jews, immigrants, and some Catholics. For Hegseth it is “the woke” and its sympathizers, the trans, Muslims, and women (in warfighting roles).
Bowers’ culture failed. Hegseth’s has just begun.
“Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute” – 2 Peter 2:2.
Bill Crawford is an author and syndicated columnist from Jackson.
