And Sec. of War Pete Hegseth assured a crowded ballroom at the Gaylord Opryland Resort Thursday evening that President Donald Trump is working daily to strengthen the right to worship that source.
Trump addressed this group two years ago.
Hegseth appeared first in a lineup designed to honor America’s coming 250th birthday. His 24-minute address was interrupted by standing and applause five times including the very beginning when he paused to allow chants of “USA, USA” to fall away.
He began with a nod to English philosopher John Locke whose writings helped shape America’s beginnings.
“Thinkers like John Locke, whose philosophy profoundly influenced our founders, argued that rights, liberty, and property are not grants from a king or government, but rather gifts from a creator.
As such those gifts are “endowed, not enshrined, gifted, never legislated. This idea of a higher law, God's law, the perfect law, a virtuous order that stands above the edicts of temporary rulers is a direct inheritance from our religious tradition.”
Hegseth told the crowd Trump is “a fierce defender of Christians and people of faith. I get to see it every day. President Trump fights for religious liberty and combats anti-Christian bias every single day.”
Hegseth declared his own commitment to Christ while proudly highlighting his efforts to remove woke policies from the military that he inherited from the previous administration.
It’s not ‘In woke we trust’
“We are one military, one fighting force, one nation under God. We are not in woke we trust; we are in God we trust,” Hegseth said.
His comments came amid the cloud of possible strikes by the military he commands against a sovereign nation who is killing many of its people in a wave of social unrest seen before but not to this level.
Hegseth never mentioned Iran hours after longtime Israeli politician and diplomat Gilad Erdan in the same ballroom called for U.S. strikes against Iran. Erdan served as Israeli ambassador to the U.S. and his country’s representative to the United Nations during his career.
“Let's pray that President Trump is guided by wisdom from above, that he sees clearly the difference between illusion, danger, and evil and that he acts to protect freedom and secure a safer future for our children,” Erdan told an NRB audience Thursday morning.
Erdan reiterated the threat posed not only by Iran’s nuclear program – which was weakened but not put out of commission by U.S. strikes against three facilities last summer – but by its ballistic missiles.
They threaten not only Israel, he said.
“We are on the same continent for them, but they are meant for London, Paris, New York, and Washington. The Ayatollah regime is not just Israel's problem. It's the free world's problem,” Erdan said.
Hegseth has overseen massive U.S. military build-up in the region.
The Bible tells us so
While he did not get into a potential engagement, Hegseth leaned heavy into cultural battles of the day. He said:
-- “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.”
-- “Staying 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 encouraged the audience to always be bold in speaking the truth.
“Christ is King. He died for our sins. I commit to speak truth, to praise God, to reclaim Christ, not because we're perfect, but because He redeems us,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth laid out the connections between faith and the founding fathers but also explained how the very first president understood the need for God’s blessing on his life and the life of the country he helped birth.
It was George Washington who urged the Continental Congress to establish the Military Chaplains Corp in 1775.
“To serve the spiritual needs of the force, Washington recognized that faith provides comfort, guidance, and resilience in the face of hardship and danger. Chaplains have served in every American conflict, providing spiritual care, moral counsel, and as a reminder of the Sacred, even in the darkest of those places of the battlefield,” Hegseth said.
For Hegseth, speaking to the packed crowd was like a home game.
He and his family reside in the Nashville area when not in Washington, D.C. Hegseth purchased a large estate home in 2022 in Goodlettsville about 15 miles north of downtown Nashville. He lives there with his wife Jenny and their seven children.
Hegseth served in the U.S. Army and Army National Guard at various times between 2003-2021.
He held the rank of Major and served in Iraq and Afghanistan where he earned two bronze stars and other military honors.
He survived a cantankerous confirmation process with scrutiny over allegations of questionable past conduct and past controversial statements, particularly on the subject of women in combat.
“I stand before all of you simply as a sinner, imperfect yet forgiven, redeemed by Christ, to speak of the enduring inheritance that has shaped our great republic … the Western Christian tradition, a vibrant and living legacy that has shaped our civilization for millennia.”
Editor's Note: The photos for this story are file photos from The Associated Press.
