Pete Hegseth is Praying for a Holy War

40 snips

Apr 3, 2026

Guest

Alejandra Caraballo

Brian Kaylor, Baptist minister and author exploring Christian nationalist theology; Marlene Laruelle, professor studying theopolitics and illiberalism; Alejandra Caraballo, civil rights attorney focused on trans legal battles. They unpack Hegseth’s Pentagon prayer meetings and militant theology. They analyze Peter Thiel’s Vatican lectures and tech-driven religion. They trace legal strategies and state tactics targeting trans people.

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INSIGHT

Sovereignty Rhetoric Can Excuse Military Harm

Hyper-Calvinist claims of divine sovereignty over missile strikes can be used to deflect responsibility for civilian harm.
Kaylor cites a pastor saying Jesus has the final say over Tomahawk and Minuteman missiles as an example of theological cover for wartime mistakes.

INSIGHT

Christian Nationalism Seeks To Redefine Public Religious Space

Doug Wilson's strand of Christian nationalism seeks to ban public religious expressions deemed 'idolatry' and to codify a Protestant Christian nation.
Kaylor warns this would restrict Muslims, Catholics, and even some Christians from public worship or symbols.

INSIGHT

Tech Evangelism Recasts AI As Salvation From Armageddon

Peter Thiel frames AI and tech expansion as a civilizational bulwark against the Antichrist, tying libertarian tech triumphalism to apocalyptic theology.
Marlene Laruelle connects his Rome talks to a theopolitical narrative that moralizes deregulation as salvation.

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The U.S. has waged war on Iran for more than a month now. On this week’s On the Media, what Defense Secretary Hegseth’s monthly Pentagon prayer meetings reveal about his war strategy. Plus, hear how trans rights are being curtailed across the country.

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Brian Kaylor, president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way and author of The Bible According to Christian Nationalists, to talk about Defense Secretary Hegseth’s monthly prayer meetings at the Pentagon. They discuss what the violent rhetoric reveals about Hegseth’s approach to war and why these meetings signal a troubling fusion of church and state.

[18:46] Brooke talks with Marlene Laruelle, professor at Luiss University in Rome and director of the Illiberalism Studies Program at George Washington University, about Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel’s series of lectures on religion, tech, politics, and society, which he took to the doorstep of the Vatican last month. They discuss his controversial beliefs about the antichrist, and what Thiel’s theology reveals about his desire to reorder politics.

[33:04] Brooke speaks with Alejandra Caraballo, civil rights attorney and a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, about the torrent of legal attacks against trans people, and why she's been looking toward a legal framework invented in the wake of Nazi Germany, called "the dual state," to better understand this moment.