By Douglas V. Gibbs
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said he vowed to “honor” the sacrifice of six U.S. military service members killed in a plane crash last week in a statement during a press conference. He said, “May Almighty God continue to bless our troops in this fight. And again, to the American people, please pray for them, every day, on bended knee, with your family, in your schools, in your churches, in the name of Jesus Christ. To the troops, keep going and Godspeed.”
CBS’s Margaret Brennan responded with an X post that came across as being critical of faith and prayer. She posted, “The Secretary of Defense tells the American public to pray for our troops on bended knee and invoke Jesus’ name…”
While refusing to call the position by its restored name, Secretary of War, the post came across as if she was repulsed by the fact that Hegseth called for prayer. Did she go out of her way to post this, and throw the ellipsis (dot, dot, dot) at the end because she was offended? Was is a passive-aggressive attempt to take a jab at praying or the name of Christ? The common response by conservatives has been that she was attacking people of faith. Americans, however, believe in the power of prayer, and it is a historical reality that goes all the way back to the Founding Fathers.
I suppose we should not be surprised that a left-wing personality is so bothered by a call for prayer. The Biden administration went after Pro-life Christians for silently praying in front of abortion clinics, and the Supreme Court recently unanimously allowed a court case regarding a street preacher convicted of preaching outside the “designated protest area” at a public amphitheater.
Is that why the Democrats and the Teacher’s Union is so against school choice? They’ve been failing our children not only when it comes to education, but when it comes to the freedom to hold opinions other than their far-left ideology. Students graduate functionally illiterate, unprepared, and filled with anti-Christian and antisemitic ideas. When I taught, I expected most of the work to be handwritten, and the class read the chapters of the textbook in class (U.S. History). That is teaching. Did my beliefs bleed a little into the curriculum? Of course. The children learned that the Founding Fathers were pretty amazing men, America faced many challenges that often could be tied to their own policies, and the free market system and system of limited-government fueled what became the most prosperous and free country in history. But those lessons were consitant with the truth – they weren’t some idiotic rants about how someone must have been gay, or that all of America was pro-slavery, or that according to some scholars women were treated like property – all of which is largely untrue.
The hostility toward public expressions of faith from figures like Margaret Brennan reveals a deeper agenda that seeks to erase America’s spiritual heritage from the public square. This secular crusade extends beyond mere offense at prayer; it represents a systematic effort to dismantle the very foundations that made this union of states exceptional. While leftist elites mock calls for divine guidance and rewrite history to paint America as inherently oppressive, they simultaneously fail our children educationally while indoctrinating them with anti-Christian values. The Founding Fathers understood that faith and freedom were inseparable, and any attempt to sever that connection threatens not just our religious liberty, but the entire framework of limited government and individual rights that has defined American greatness. When a Secretary of War calls for prayer and is met with contempt, it’s not just an attack on faith: it’s an attack on America itself.
“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” — Benjamin Franklin
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
