Competent people with high ethical standards simply do not work for Donald Trump. Pickled Pete Hegseth is a classic example of those who do prostitute themselves to the Mango Mussolini. Has he ever read the First Amendment bit about making no law respecting an establishment of religion? Of course he hasn’t, and in any event other than the Sacred Second the bill of rights are just suggestions. It will take at least a generation to repair the damage Donald Trump has done to this country, and that process hasn’t even begun.
Regarding your last sentence, my suspicion is that it'll be more than just a generation to straighten out what CAN be straightened, and SOME of the damage will simply be irreparable.
I tend to agree with you. We didn’t just give the fanatics a seat at the table, we put them in charge. Now they feel empowered to change society to meet the criteria of their particular (undetectable) god.
As big boss of the army he doesn't understand that there is no longer a need for a militia, and that the second part of the second amendment is no longer needed and should be repealed.
Hegseth has a BA and MPP from Princeton University. He has undoubtedly read alot, but none of it Trumps the one real book, writen by Jesus himself (who by the way was illiterate and didn't document anything during his 30 or so years as an ordinary human on planet Earth).
Actually, it's more like intentional stupidity for the sake of advancing Christianity. Look at that list and in particular, notice the number of Christian denominations, and the utter LACK of variations on other religions. Jewish military cannot specify whether they are Orthodox (unlikely, but should be there), Conservative, or Reformed. Muslims can't declare whether they are Sunni or Shi'a. And for the record, I do NOT identify as "agnostic." I'm an ATHEIST, mutherfucker, and I don't blink when I say so, even if I DIDN'T serve in the military.
Hegseth once again is playing the "DEUS VULT" card, because he can ... and I rather suspect he's going to get some negative feedback for his trouble.
And the negative feedback will cause him to double down, sewing it as an attack on Christianity instead of a reminder that religious belief is much more diverse than the Abrahamics and the two Eastern religions he knows about. It wouldn't surprise me that the only polytheistic faith on the list is there because of the Vice President's wife.
I doubt he will get much feedback from this at all. Internally, at least. The military and civ folks won't complain, I think many of them are simply in "ride it out" mode.
Agreed, religions in the U.S. military is are well kept secret. The tax money spent on them is buried in the billions spent by the "DoW" every year.
IMO most U.S. citizens have no clue as to how well some religions are protected and exonerated in the military. There is no separation of church and state in U.S. military.
In God We Trust? 😟
"The U.S. spends nearly $1 billion every day on defense, easily surpassing $500 million in just half a day of operations." - ABC news 2025
While I no longer patronize Fantagraphics, their version (referenced at the end of the Wikipedia article) is really special, but not the only version available.
It helps chaplains minister to the flock by mandating that the entire mitary is their flock trained to defend the Bible instead of a diverse group of people trained to defend the Constitution.
Compressing faith groups into one “box” does not serve members contained within that faith group.
Example: the United Methodist Church just split because one group wanted to accept LGBTQ‘s as full and equal members, including the right to be married in the church, to have positions in the church, and to be ordained. The conservative Global Methodist Church does not recognize the United Methodist Church as being Methodist at all, let alone Christian.
The Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) broke with The Episcopal Church over the issues of women’s ordination to the priesthood, and LGBTQ acceptance (including the rites of marriage and eligibility for the priesthood). ACNA does not recognize the Episcopal Church as a member of the Anglican Communion, and consider Episcopalians to be “heterodox”.
The denomination I belong to, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA),ordains women and LGBTQs into the priesthood. We practice open communion: if you want to partake in the Sacrament, it’s your decision. We have a strong and active focus on social justice.
The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS) is much more conservative. Women have no active roles in the church. LGBTQ’s run the risk of excommunication and shunning, should they join an LCMS church. The LCMS does not recognize the ELCA as being properly “Lutheran” or Christian. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod is even more conservative: they don’t recognize the *LCMS* as being properly “Lutheran” or Christian!
(The LCMS and the WELS are considered to be “dark Lutheran” by members of the ELCA. A good example of a “dark Lutheran” is The Church Lady from Saturday Night Live!)
As a member of the ELCA, do I believe for one second that an LCMS or WELS pastor would render spiritual assistance to someone who was a member of the ELCA? I know better than that: the few times that I have interacted with deacons or pastors who are LCMS or WELS, they have generally refused to even acknowledge my presence because:
Well, at least they admit that christians can't even agree on christianity, otherwise there would be only one category instead of 21. Drunktank Pete doesn't think too good, even on the rare occasions he's sober.
He probably had to split Christianity into that many categories because of the affiliations of the currently serving chaplains. He probably would have preferred two categories: Catholic and Protestant.
Couldn’t help but notice that Pagan symbol (a Christmas tree) off to one side of Hegseth in that meme where he’s sporting a demented smile on his kisser.
"Your faith is a joke, soldier," is the message.
That's the point. That's the entire point.
"Fuck you. You want respect? Conform. Compromise on one of your defining beliefs."
The REAL joke is Hegseth, himself. The tragedy is that he isn't in the least funny.
“Conform” from the same people who throw screaming fits about “Mah RIGHTS!” any time they’re asked to simply be respectful of others.
Competent people with high ethical standards simply do not work for Donald Trump. Pickled Pete Hegseth is a classic example of those who do prostitute themselves to the Mango Mussolini. Has he ever read the First Amendment bit about making no law respecting an establishment of religion? Of course he hasn’t, and in any event other than the Sacred Second the bill of rights are just suggestions. It will take at least a generation to repair the damage Donald Trump has done to this country, and that process hasn’t even begun.
Regarding your last sentence, my suspicion is that it'll be more than just a generation to straighten out what CAN be straightened, and SOME of the damage will simply be irreparable.
I tend to agree with you. We didn’t just give the fanatics a seat at the table, we put them in charge. Now they feel empowered to change society to meet the criteria of their particular (undetectable) god.
"Sacred Second"
As big boss of the army he doesn't understand that there is no longer a need for a militia, and that the second part of the second amendment is no longer needed and should be repealed.
Hegseth has a BA and MPP from Princeton University. He has undoubtedly read alot, but none of it Trumps the one real book, writen by Jesus himself (who by the way was illiterate and didn't document anything during his 30 or so years as an ordinary human on planet Earth).
For all those groups who were erased...
Don't enlist. Let Christians do all the fighting and dying in Trump's/Hegseth's illegal/insane wars for a Christian empire.
💯
𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦.
Actually, it's more like intentional stupidity for the sake of advancing Christianity. Look at that list and in particular, notice the number of Christian denominations, and the utter LACK of variations on other religions. Jewish military cannot specify whether they are Orthodox (unlikely, but should be there), Conservative, or Reformed. Muslims can't declare whether they are Sunni or Shi'a. And for the record, I do NOT identify as "agnostic." I'm an ATHEIST, mutherfucker, and I don't blink when I say so, even if I DIDN'T serve in the military.
Hegseth once again is playing the "DEUS VULT" card, because he can ... and I rather suspect he's going to get some negative feedback for his trouble.
And the negative feedback will cause him to double down, sewing it as an attack on Christianity instead of a reminder that religious belief is much more diverse than the Abrahamics and the two Eastern religions he knows about. It wouldn't surprise me that the only polytheistic faith on the list is there because of the Vice President's wife.
How I would LOVE to see Mikey Weinstein get on Hegseth's case! That would be one for the popcorn and beer! 🍿 🍺
I wouldn't be surprised if the letters are being drafted right now for Mikey's opening salvo.
Ol' Mikey just NEVER has been much of a wallflower, has he? 🤣
I doubt he will get much feedback from this at all. Internally, at least. The military and civ folks won't complain, I think many of them are simply in "ride it out" mode.
Agreed, religions in the U.S. military is are well kept secret. The tax money spent on them is buried in the billions spent by the "DoW" every year.
IMO most U.S. citizens have no clue as to how well some religions are protected and exonerated in the military. There is no separation of church and state in U.S. military.
In God We Trust? 😟
"The U.S. spends nearly $1 billion every day on defense, easily surpassing $500 million in just half a day of operations." - ABC news 2025
The next thing he should do, is creating for every religion and each sect a different army and let them fight. Welcome back to the 16th century.
Correction: 1618-1648 was 17th century
avis,
From what I can tell, MAGA/GOP is more focused on repeating the "successes" of the Children's Crusades.
It is always the young who go to fight and die while the old men tell them what they are doing is good for the country(corporations)
Mark Twain's posthumous work, "(The) War Prayer" sums it all up as well as anyone I can think of.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Prayer
While I no longer patronize Fantagraphics, their version (referenced at the end of the Wikipedia article) is really special, but not the only version available.
𝐻𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 “𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒” 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑠. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠 “𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑘”?
It helps chaplains minister to the flock by mandating that the entire mitary is their flock trained to defend the Bible instead of a diverse group of people trained to defend the Constitution.
The US military serves its ruling class, not the Constitution or the people.
Name me one military that doesn't serve its ruling class.
I'm not sure how that is a refutation of my point. I'm not recommending any of them.
Compressing faith groups into one “box” does not serve members contained within that faith group.
Example: the United Methodist Church just split because one group wanted to accept LGBTQ‘s as full and equal members, including the right to be married in the church, to have positions in the church, and to be ordained. The conservative Global Methodist Church does not recognize the United Methodist Church as being Methodist at all, let alone Christian.
The Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) broke with The Episcopal Church over the issues of women’s ordination to the priesthood, and LGBTQ acceptance (including the rites of marriage and eligibility for the priesthood). ACNA does not recognize the Episcopal Church as a member of the Anglican Communion, and consider Episcopalians to be “heterodox”.
The denomination I belong to, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA),ordains women and LGBTQs into the priesthood. We practice open communion: if you want to partake in the Sacrament, it’s your decision. We have a strong and active focus on social justice.
The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS) is much more conservative. Women have no active roles in the church. LGBTQ’s run the risk of excommunication and shunning, should they join an LCMS church. The LCMS does not recognize the ELCA as being properly “Lutheran” or Christian. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod is even more conservative: they don’t recognize the *LCMS* as being properly “Lutheran” or Christian!
(The LCMS and the WELS are considered to be “dark Lutheran” by members of the ELCA. A good example of a “dark Lutheran” is The Church Lady from Saturday Night Live!)
As a member of the ELCA, do I believe for one second that an LCMS or WELS pastor would render spiritual assistance to someone who was a member of the ELCA? I know better than that: the few times that I have interacted with deacons or pastors who are LCMS or WELS, they have generally refused to even acknowledge my presence because:
A) I’m openly gay, but worse;
B) I’m a member of the despised ELCA!
ELCA??? EEEEK! Naughty-naughty-NAUGHTY!!! 😉
Still better than Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.
https://mediaproxy.tvtropes.org/width/1200/https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/emophilips.jpg
That is one of my all-time favorite jokes!
"a member of" Sorry for your loss.
"I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member."
Groucho Marx 😆🤪
Well, at least they admit that christians can't even agree on christianity, otherwise there would be only one category instead of 21. Drunktank Pete doesn't think too good, even on the rare occasions he's sober.
He probably had to split Christianity into that many categories because of the affiliations of the currently serving chaplains. He probably would have preferred two categories: Catholic and Protestant.
I'm guessing the point of the many sects is to overwhelm the chaplain system with Christians.
Fuck Hegseth. No Unitarians-Universalists.
And no atheists! I think the word "ATHEIST" scares poor, pathetic, pickled Pete! 😝
Competency scares Signalgate Hegseth.
Pickled Pete is the worst United States military leader since George Custer led his troops into a massacre.
At least Custer had the guts to actually lead his men into battle and die with them.
𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑒? 𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡. 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛. 𝐷𝑒𝑖𝑠𝑡. 𝑃𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑛. 𝑊𝑖𝑐𝑐𝑎𝑛. 𝐴𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑠𝑡. 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑧𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑧𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑝𝑠.
Basically, it's every religion recognized is monotheistic with the exception of Hinduism, since Usha Vance is a Hindu.
Couldn’t help but notice that Pagan symbol (a Christmas tree) off to one side of Hegseth in that meme where he’s sporting a demented smile on his kisser.
Just wanted to comment my appreciation for this line, which is pure gold:
"But Hegseth is now blowing up that progress like it’s a harmless fishing boat in the Caribbean."
Deus vult Hegseth served 9 years in the military and STILL doesn't understand it.
Trump can sure pick 'em.
A prop, a piece of bling he can point to.
Sorry Petey, but the DoD doesn't get to qualify what is and is not a religion.
...how many JWs are in the military such that it needs to be listed? Aren't JWs pretty famously not supposed to serve?
Finally, after some 1,000,000 years of existence, humans (in the guise of Pistol Pete) have finally managed to "simplify" religion!
Good on ya! Cause "religion is HARD!"