Prayer as Propaganda: How Pete Hegseth’s “Department of War” Video Rewrites Scripture
In this episode, Mike Smithgall analyzes Pete Hegseth’s viral Lord’s Prayer video, highlighting the unsettling blend of religion and state power. Through biblical insights and historical parallels, he critiques how Christian nationalism transforms faith into propaganda and questions the sincerity of government officials using prayer to endorse military imagery.
In this episode, Mike Smithgall dissects Pete Hegseth’s viral Lord’s Prayer video and its disturbing fusion of religion and state power. Using biblical analysis and historical parallels from Sinclair Lewis and Eugene Debs, he explains how Christian nationalism repackages faith as propaganda and patriotism as obedience.
This episode asks a hard question: when government officials use prayer to sanctify military imagery, is it devotion, or theater?
