Different Gods, Same Weak Men
Theonomy, Pete Hegseth, and the self-worship of the broligarchy
Yesterday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in an aggressively unconstitutional stunt, invited the entire Pentagon to a “Christian prayer and worship service” during work hours, featuring his personal pastor.
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, of course, guarantees that this sort of thing is not supposed to happen. Separation of Church and State is the core reason the United States was fought and died for. The Founders knew religion has historically been used by despotic men to fuel violence, oppress enemies and control their own populations—because before the Revolution they were effectively involuntary servants of the Church of England themselves.
“Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion” is the first ten words of the Bill of Rights for a very good reason. It’s why the oaths government employees and military service members swear are to the Constitution, not to a god—or a man.
Despite this, here is Pete Hegseth swearing his allegiance to the laws of his Christian god, above the laws of the United States, in the auditorium at the Pentagon.
Let me say something briefly as I look out at this audience. This is precisely where I need to be. And I think exactly where we need to be as a nation at this moment, in prayer, on bended knee, recognizing the providence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That there are so many things we do in this building and across this nation with such great consequence. It's almost unfathomable.
When I think about the tasks that I've even undertaken thus far this morning and what I'll partake in the remainder of the day, to think it relies only on my strength would leave me completely incapable of addressing the issues of the day or those going forward. And knowing that there's an author in heaven overseeing all of this who's underwritten all of it for us on the cross is me the strength to proceed and to look out at this audience and know there are so many others online here at the Defense Department who share that understanding of appealing to heaven for that guidance, for that wisdom, for that courage gives me strength. So thank you for joining us today.
This is something we plan to do on a monthly basis, on a voluntary basis here in the auditorium. Hope you'll let those you work with know about it. We're grateful that you would join us here briefly. It's just a brief moment. But pausing and creating that routine of prayer, of humility, of seeking his grace and his guidance, just like George Washington did, on bended knee in the most difficult moments with his troops in impossible circumstances saying, Lord God, I cannot do it alone. So thank you for joining us here. And we look forward to doing it each month. If you would bow your head in prayer.
King Jesus, we come humbly before you, seeking your face, seeking your grace, in humble obedience to your law and to your word. We come as sinners, same only by that grace, seeking your providence in our lives and in our nation. Lord God, we ask for the wisdom to see what is right. And in each and every day and each and every circumstance, the courage to do what is right, in obedience to your will. It is in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ that we pray. And all God's people said. Amen
This is flatly illegal, and a continuation of Hegseth’s demolition of the Constitution, but the danger of his appearance was not just the blurring of the line between church and state. The pastor Hegseth brought in, Brooks Potteiger, is a theocratic misogynist who thinks women should be subservient to men, and that government should be ruled by “God’s law.”
One of the ways he “ministers” is as a sidekick on a Youtube channel called “Reformation Red Pill” with a number of other “based” Christian influencers who go into long detailed theological flights of fancy about why the world should orient itself around them—white men. It’s Christian Incel Theater.
For example, here Potteiger argues that women shouldn’t have ministries because they gossip too much.
In this episode the boys discuss the virtues of theonomy, which is a step beyond theocracy. For example, here’s how theonomists would handle the justice system.
“And so I always tell people that what the ministry of justice is for is for someone who's blindfolded to weigh something in one hand and then start chopping with the other, okay? No pity, justice has no pity.”
Christian theonomy is the dominionist idea that basically everything after the Old Testament is woke and we don’t need more than what was written down thousands of years ago for rules.
Theonomy (from Greek theos "God" and nomos "law") is a hypothetical Christian form of government in which divine law governs societies. Theonomists hold that societies should observe divine law, particularly the Old Testament’s judicial laws. The movement’s chief architects were Gary North, Greg Bahnsen, and R.J. Rushdoony.
Theonomy presumes biblical Israel’s Old Covenant judicial laws have not been abrogated, and therefore all civil governments must enforce them (including the specific penalties). Theonomy holds that all civil governments must refrain from coercion if Scripture has not prescribed their intervention (the "regulative principle of the state")
This is what the man who gave away real-time battle plans to the editor of the Atlantic on Signal believes—the man being entrusted with the lives of 1.3 million active duty Americans, a $850 billion budget, and the safety and security of the entire planet.
Of course, it’s also what 6 of 9 members of the Supreme Court believe, to slightly varying degrees. They don’t actually serve the Constitution they swore to protect, they serve their extreme versions of a Christian god.
But if we consider theonomy to be the belief in the laws of a god over the laws of humans, regardless of who or what that god is, the affliction is deeper than extreme versions of Christianity. I would submit that people like Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Mike Flynn and Peter Thiel are also theonomists, but they have substituted themselves and their judgments over either the laws of people, or the laws of any religious god.
They have to see themselves as gods, because if they drop that self-delusion they would have to look in a mirror, and they already hate what they see there.
The desperation of white men to weaponize everything, from religion, to technology, to government, in order to retain their dominance over other people and resources is, as a white man, deeply embarrassing, not to mention existentially dangerous to civilization.
Please, boys, get over it. You’re going to be ok.
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This is a ten alarm fire, we are at defcon 11 🚨This is pure P2O25 in action and should be splashed across all media but that won’t happen - it’s up us to scream it from the mountain tops. Thank you Jim for all you do!
Once a commanding officer of mine tried something like this. His own commanding officer, in turn, cut him off at the knees and required him to publicly apologize to the entire unit at morning formation the next day.