Religious faith can guide people through the horrors of war, but government power must remain accountable to law, evidence and constitutional limits.
by Van Abbott
Guest Contributor
First the boat was destroyed, then two survivors were killed in a second strike, and now the men directing America’s wars want us to see such violence through the eyes of God.
On Sept. 2, 2025, a U.S. strike destroyed a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the Caribbean. Two men survived and clung to the wreckage. A second strike killed them.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later defended the operation, invoking the “fog of war” and saying the admiral who ordered the second strike had the authority to do so.
The incident was not isolated.
Trump’s maritime campaign has killed more than 223 people and destroyed 67 vessels as of 08/30/2026. The administration says those targeted are drug traffickers or narco-terrorists. But Americans have received too little evidence about who was killed.
The problem begins when faith becomes ammunition.
More than 223 dead. More than 67 boats destroyed. Still too few answers.
Then came Hegseth’s prayer.
At a Pentagon Christian worship service, the defense secretary prayed for “overwhelming violence” against people he said “deserve no mercy” and asked that “every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation.”
Trump identifies the targets. Hegseth sanctifies the violence.
Trump has supplied his own religious vocabulary. He called the rescue of a downed American airman in Iran an “Easter Miracle.” In threatening Iran, he warned that “all Hell” would rain down and concluded, “Glory be to GOD.”
There is nothing wrong with a president praying for soldiers. There is nothing wrong with a defense secretary expressing faith. There is nothing wrong with thanking God when an American service member comes home alive.
The problem begins when faith becomes ammunition.
When military violence is presented as divine favor, when enemies become people who “deserve no mercy,” when destruction is wrapped in righteousness, religious language no longer merely accompanies government power. It begins to sanctify it.
...because war already gives human beings extraordinary power over life and death.
That should alarm Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists and every American who believes the Constitution, not theology, governs the use of military force.
And the danger may not stop at the Pentagon.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation has reported receiving more than 200 complaints concerning religious comments by military commanders about the Iran war. One complaint alleged that a commander told troops the conflict was part of God’s plan, that Trump had been “anointed by Jesus.”
Those allegations remain allegations. They should be independently investigated, not casually repeated as fact.
But the allegation itself illustrates the danger.
A soldier’s oath is to the Constitution. An officer’s duty is to lawful authority. A commander may pray with troops, but personal theology cannot become a military command structure.
The American military exists to defend the nation, not to stage-manage prophecy.
That distinction matters because war already gives human beings extraordinary power over life and death. A president’s authority to use military force does not include the authority to redefine killing as righteousness.
Faith should strengthen those limits, not erase them.
It should remind those who command force to distinguish combatants from civilians, use no more force than necessary, protect the wounded, accept surrender and seek peace when war has accomplished its legitimate purpose.
Mercy does not mean surrendering to an enemy. It means recognizing that even war has rules.
The Good Samaritan did not first ask whether the wounded man belonged to his tribe, shared his beliefs or deserved help. He saw a human being in the road and stopped.
The Good Samaritan ran toward the wounded.
A double tap makes the wounded the next target.
Iran’s regime is brutal. Drug cartels are brutal. Neither fact gives the United States permission to abandon law, evidence or restraint. America can destroy legitimate military targets without declaring every enemy beyond mercy. It can fight terrorism without turning war into theology. It can defend itself without claiming God as a member of the chain of command.
Congress should demand the evidence from the boat campaign: the strike video, the orders, the legal memoranda and the complete casualty record.
Congress should also investigate reports of religious coercion or apocalyptic messaging inside military commands and make clear that American service members must never be pressured to confuse obedience to lawful orders with obedience to a commander’s private theology.
The Constitution gives government enormous power to wage war. It does not give government the power to declare its violence holy.
The Good Samaritan ran toward the wounded. America should remember that before the next target is declared righteous to kill.
About the author ~
Van Abbott is a long time resident of Alaska and California. He has held financial management positions in government and private organizations in California, Kansas, and Alaska. He is retired and writes Op-Eds as a hobby. He served in the Peace Corps in the late sixties. You can find more of his commentaries and comments on
life in America on Substack.
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TAGS: religious language and military violence in America, Pentagon faith and constitutional limits on war, Pete Hegseth religious comments and military force, Good Samaritan lesson for American military policy, Constitutional limits on religious justification for war
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