What Mark Twain Could Teach Pete Hegseth About Holy War

The United States has long used religious rhetoric to exhort its soldiers into battle. As the current U.S.-Israeli war against Iran cycles through attacks and ceasefires, the rhetoric is disturbingly familiar. The conflict is being framed not just as a strategic necessity, but a moral imperative—a righteous cause blessed from on high. “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth, who in his 2020 book American Crusade points to the Middle East and writes, “we don’t want to fight, but, like our fellow Christians a thousand years ago, we must. We need an American crusade.” Hegseth asked Americans to pray for her soldiers and their victory “in the name of Jesus Christ.” This fusion of piety and patriotism, where God is an active combatant on America’s side, is exactly what animated one of our greatest writers to pen his most devastating critique of war.  READ MORE - - - View “The War Prayer” on YouTube