On December 3, 2026, the United States is set to execute former Army Major Nidal Hasan. In October, the Pentagon announced plans to livestream the execution, before President Donald Trump reversed the decision following partisan backlash. As of publication, the execution is still scheduled to take place at Fort Hood, Texas, by firing squad. Had the Pentagon followed through with its original statement, it would have joined an exclusive club that, in the last half-decade, has included only Iran and Afghanistan.
Here we are. Therefore, it should be asked, “How did we get here?” and, more keenly, “What is Christian nationalism?”
Christian nationalism is an ideology that seeks to merge religious identity and state authority, establishing governance grounded in Christian doctrine. Its American origins trace to Puritan ideas of national exceptionalism, exemplified by John Winthrop’s vision of a “city upon a hill”, articulated in 1630. However, its modern form developed through post-Civil War Confederate mythology, to be further shaped by fear during the Cold War. The persistence and adaptation of this ideology can be observed among both the American public and its political leaders.
Pew Research Center’s 2022 poll, Views of the US as a ‘Christian nation’ and opinions about ‘Christian nationalism,’ reveals that 6 percent of US citizens believed “the US should be a Christian nation” when understanding the term to mean having Christian-based laws and governance, controlled exclusively by persons of the Christian faith. Another relevant study, the Public Religion Research Institute’s 2024 poll, Christian nationalism Across All 50 States, reveals 10 percent of US adults qualified as ‘Adherent’ to Christian nationalism, while 20 percent qualified as ‘Sympathizers’ toward the ideology. Within these subcategories, “three in ten Christian nationalism Adherents (38 percent) and one-quarter of Sympathizers (30 percent) agree that “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country.” This represents approximately 25.5 million US adults potentially willing to use political violence in order to effect change.
In 2026, political leaders’ discourse, including US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s, public rhetoric, reflects a contemporary evolution of Christian nationalist dialogue. More concerningly, this evolution is not limited to rhetoric but has incorporated the normalization of symbols appropriated by extremist movements. Hegseth proudly flaunts the Jerusalem Cross etched on his chest alongside the Latin phrase Deus Vult across his bicep as nothing more than symbols of his faith. However, in the days following the January 6 insurrection in 2021, Hegseth, then a member of the National Guard, was allegedly ordered to stand down by his superior officers due to reports from Naval intelligence that categorized Hegseth as an insider threat because of these tattoos, according to The Washington Post. Master Sergeant DeRicko Gaither, a leading member of the D.C. Army National Guard’s anti-terrorism force protection team in January 2021, received these reports and determined the symbols had sufficient connection to extremist groups prior to warning the Commanding General of the District of Columbia National Guard. That same year, Hegseth voluntarily separated from the armed forces, claiming he had become disillusioned with the American military.
The symbols tattooed on Hegseth appeared in the manifestos of Mauricio Garcia, perpetrator of the 2023 mass shooting in Allen, Texas, and Anders Breivik, who in 2011 killed 77 people in Norway. Statements compiled by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism further reveal an increasingly disturbed mentality for someone who, with the exception of the President, has reached the highest echelon of US military authority. The following is a sample of the compiled statements:
“Marxists are our enemies… Busy killing Islamists in shithole countries – and then betrayed by
our leaders – our warriors have every reason to let America’s dynasty fade away. Leftists stole a lot from us, but we won’t let them take this. Time for round two – we won’t miss this war.” Hegseth, War on Warriors, 2024
“… all modern Muslim countries are either formal or de facto no-go zones for practicing Christians and Jews.” Hegseth, American Crusade, 2020
“Arm yourself — metaphorically, intellectually, physically. Our fight is not with guns. Yet.” Hegseth, American Crusade, 2020
On February 28, 2026, US and Israeli forces launched nearly 900 ‘pre-emptive’ airstrikes targeting Iranian facilities following a breakdown in negotiations relating to the Iranian Nuclear Deal. One of the strikes resulted in the death of 120 children and 26 teachers at Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, Iran. The strikes were not deemed necessary to maintain or restore international peace and security by the UNSC, nor were they done invoking the inherent right of self-defence. However, they were undertaken with the blessing of Brooks Potteiger, Hegseth’s spiritual adviser at the Pentagon. In a preceding monthly Christian worship service, a practice instituted by Hegseth in May 2025, Potteiger prayed over Pentagon officials prior to their briefing, “If our Lord is sovereign even over the sparrow’s fallings, you can be assured that he is sovereign over everything else that falls in this world, including Tomahawk and Minuteman missiles …Jesus has the final say over all of it.”
From the perspective of Christian nationalism, this assertion is not understood as a theological abstraction but as a principle to be realized through the authority of the state and its leaders. To this end, the US government cannot ‘accept’ those who would seek to subvert God’s will. Thus, in what is considered highly unusual in diplomatic spaces, Pentagon officials held a meeting in January 2026 with Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the Vatican’s US envoy. Reports on the content of the meeting leaked by The Free Press include a disturbing accusation that Pentagon officials threatened Pierre, claiming the US has the military power “to do whatever it wants in the world.” They also issued an ominous warning, recalling the “Avignon Papacy,” a period in the 14th century when France’s King Philip IV used military force to take control of the Vatican. Both the Pentagon and the Vatican subsequently disputed the account of the meeting.
It is convenient that God is not impeded by the US Constitution, and especially not by international law. Thus, God’s servants pray for violence. “Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy,” stated Hegseth in March 2026 during the first Christian worship service held at the Pentagon following initial strikes on Iran; and the Lord declares, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” stated by Trump in April 2026, preceding escalation of the ongoing Iran war. When the language of faith becomes inseparable from the language of state power, violence ceases to be a failure of moral leadership and becomes a sacred duty. The question “Is America a Christian nation?” no longer matters. The question becomes: “What can restrain a nation that deludes its own notion of exceptionalism for the will of God?”