War Secretary Pete Hegseth served as the headline speaker at the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) 2026 International Christian Media Convention on Thursday evening, defending traditional values and declaring that Christ forgives.
“As long as I have breath, I commit to you that I and we should never allow any group—no matter how large or small—to silence us from speaking the capital ‘T’ TRUTH: Christ is King,” he declared. “He died for our sins. We are forgiven. He will come again in glory. Amen.”
Hegseth noted that the very foundations of the nation are “woven into the threads of Christian and biblical principles.” He explained that the Declaration of Independence asserts we are “endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights.”
Sharing the War Department’s alignment with traditional values, Hegseth declared, “Gone is godless and divisive DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion], gone is gender-bending equity and quotas, gone is climate change worship to a false God. We are one military, one fighting force, one nation under God. We are not in woke we trust, we are in God we trust.”
“Faith and freedom are foundational to a strong citizenry, a strong nation, and a strong military,” he proclaimed.
Further declaring his alignment with biblical values, Hegseth stated, “Protecting the God-given life of an unborn baby is not political, it’s biblical. Protecting our borders from criminals who steal from us, assault our loved ones, and poison our citizens is not political, it’s biblical. Protecting women and children from being trafficked for sexual slavery is not political, it’s biblical.”
“Standing guard over our children rather than letting them be taught perverse sexual practices or sharing a locker room with men pretending to be women is not political, it’s biblical,” he continued. “Protecting our culture and our religion from godless ideologies and pagan religions is not political, it’s biblical.”
Last year, Hegseth bolstered the Christian faith through the use of chaplains in the military, ending the use of the Army Spiritual Fitness Guide.
“In an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism, chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists instead of ministers. Faith and virtue were traded for self-help and self-care,” Hegseth said in December. “If you need proof, just look at the current Army Spiritual Fitness Guide. In well over 100 pages, it mentions God one time. That’s it. It mentions ‘feelings’ 11 times. It even mentions ‘playfulness,’ whatever that is, nine times. There’s zero mention of virtue.” He further explained that the guide contained New Age content.
