Sean Duffy turns military graduation into blatant ad for Christian Nationalism
The Transportation Secretary pushed Christian Nationalism during his address at the Merchant Marine Academy, sidelining real issues
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On Monday, during his commencement address to over 200 graduates of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy—people who will go on to be active-duty officers or reservists in different branches of the military—Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy delivered a Jesus-packed sermon rather than anything inspirational. Naturally, he also pushed Christian Nationalist lies along the way.
The bulk of his speech was a set of nine “life lessons” he’s learned throughout his career, beginning with his time on MTV’s Real World and Road Rules (because he has no actual qualifications for the job he’s in).
The final rule? Believe in God or there’s something wrong with you.
There are two kinds of people in life: those who believe in God and those who think they’re God. There’s something beautiful, humbling, and properly ordered about a man and woman who understand that there is a power greater than themselves. That everything is not in their control. And that they are the beloved child of a merciful God who hears their prayers.
Before the time of GPS technology, sailors solely relied on key stars to help them navigate where they were going. Sailors, as you know, rely on the North Star to lead them, because the North Star remains fixed in the same location throughout the night.
In the Middle Ages, men of the sea, prayed to the Virgin Mary who they called “Stella Maris” because she was their North Star that pointed them towards God, the father, their protector and spiritual destination.
No one knows the unpredictability and storms of nature and life like a sailor. A good sailor knows that in the end, only God can calm the seas and bring them to safety. So stay faithful and never underestimate the power of prayer.
That is beyond offensive. It reeks of the offensive old adage about how “there are no atheists in foxholes,” suggesting that when they’re under attack, every soldier becomes a believer if they weren’t one already. It’s a flat-out lie.
According to a Department of Defense report from 2019, while 70% of active duty personnel were Christian, 2% were atheist/agnostic and another 24% were “other” or “unknown.” That means there are absolutely people in the military who reject belief in God—and possibly quite a large number of them.
To denigrate their sacrifice by pretending those non-theists must “think they’re God”—that they’re selfish, arrogant, and unwilling to put others and the country before themselves—is deeply offensive coming from someone representing the administration. If officers are religious, so be it, but the U.S. military is and must remain secular. (Plus, if you’re in the middle of a battle, and you’re relying on prayer to get you out of it, good luck. You’ll need it.)
Elsewhere in the speech, Duffy also chastised the previous administration for the state of the Merchant Marine Academy building. And even then, he tossed religion into it:
There’s a lot of lessons you all have learned over the last four years. One of them—probably the most important—is perseverance.
You’re the class of COVID shutdowns of Sea Year.
You’re the class of no hot water for months.
You’re the class of not enough food.
You’re the class of paper plates and plastic forks.
You’re the class of dorms with mold and a dilapidated, falling apart library.Congratulations. You have perseverance.
Now, several months ago, I was able to see for myself old tar dripping from the ceilings. I saw dorms rotting with mold. I saw rusty showers with no hot water. And worst of all, I saw Jesus stuffed in the basement.
(His prepared remarks actually refer to the class of “stupid” COVID rules. Duffy also planned to say he “saw no work from the previous administration to bring your campus to the standard of a United States service academy.” It’s unclear why he went off-script in those parts.)
Duffy didn’t elaborate on the Jesus bit, but he was implying that the previous administration was to blame for everything, including this supposed attack on Christianity. This was allegedly the “worst” thing in a list that included “not enough food,” “no hot water,” and “mold.”
The fact that he didn’t mention he was actually talking about a painting also made it sound like they had hidden someone’s body in an unused room.
Anyway, what the hell was he talking about?
In 1944, a marine artist painted “Christ on the Water,” which depicts (a very large) Jesus helping “merchant seamen adrift in a lifeboat, presumably after being torpedoed.” (No word on why Jesus was nowhere to be found during the actual torpedo-ing.)
That 10-foot by 19-foot painting was soon installed in the Academy’s interfaith chapel, which, in 1961, became the Elliot See Conference Room. In other words, it went from being in an exclusively religious space to a room where a lot of secular stuff happens. The room is now used “by administrators, faculty, staff, and midshipmen for meetings and events [and] as a venue for proceedings held to determine whether a midshipman had violated the Academy’s Honor Code.”
In 2023, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, acting on behalf of “seventeen alumni, staff, faculty, and midshipmen,” demanded that painting be removed. They suggested it could be relocated in the chapel.
The painting was initially covered up with a curtain—which led to pushback from MAGA Republicans—before the academy announced they would move it to the basement of the chapel, which led to even more complaints. (Since it would take a while to move the gigantic painting, the Academy said it would not use that conference room for any mandatory events in the meantime.)
This was apparently the biggest issue facing the Merchant Marine Academy. Not the mold or the food. Just the painting’s location.
Still, the Academy did its best to honor church/state separation without upsetting the religious zealots. By September of 2023, they announced that the painting hadn’t just been taken down and moved to the chapel; it had been restored by a “reputable Pennsylvania art conservation firm.”
The conservation firm noted that “it took 4 distinct separate cleanings to remove nicotine, dirt and varnish from the water, boat, and Christ (with aura).” After cleaning and painting, the artwork which hung in the Elliot M. See Room of Wiley Hall for 76 years, was newly installed in the lower rear hallway of the Mariners’ Memorial Chapel, outside the Protestant and Catholic chapels.
When the Trump administration came to power again in 2025, Duffy himself announced that they would shove Jesus back in everyone’s faces. In an April speech, he even asked the midshipmen, “Can we bring Jesus up from the basement?” (There were cheers from the obsequious audience members.)
In May, he announced that it would finally happen: Jesus would be (re-?)resurrected.
We are moving Jesus out of the basement.
To all the great midship men at the Merchant Marine Academy, you let me know how important this painting was to all of you.
Now we all know it was taken out of a place of prominence and put in down in the basement.
I worked with the Academy and because this is such a historic painting, I’m announcing that through that work with the Academy, this painting is going to go from the basement back to its place of prominence.
It will be a moment to celebrate.
To state the obvious, putting that painting in the chapel wasn’t a demotion or anything anti-Christian. It was exactly where it belonged. But this was an easy “win” for a Republican administration hell-bent on Christian Nationalism. And it’s not like Duffy gave a damn about Jews or Muslims or atheists. For people like him, Christianity is the default religion in the military and there’s nothing wrong with pushing his religion on everyone.
And he seemed to focus on this matter far more than the more pressing transportation issues in Newark… and the Chaos in the Skies.
So when he finally addressed the Merchant Marine Academy on Monday, he didn’t talk about how he fixed any real problems the students were dealing with. Instead, he talking about the horror of a painting getting moved from one part of the building to another. Now, thankfully, everyone will be forced to see it once again. Soon.
A spokesperson for Duffy's office could not provide The Christian Post on Monday with a timetable for when the Jesus painting will be brought up from the basement but said, "The process has begun, and we hope to know more soon!"
It’ll be a perfect reminder of how the Christian prophet is just like this administration: He will never prevent the officers from getting injured, but He’ll always show up during the aftermath to take credit for a job well done.
Incidentally, Vice Adm. Joanna Nunan, the Academy’s Superintendent and the person who first said the painting would move to the chapel, announced her retirement the day after Duffy spoke to the graduating class. It’s not clear if Duffy’s disrespect played any role in that.
"There are two kinds of people in life: those who believe in God and those who think they're God."
Hey, Duffy...
Might want to have a chat with your boss about that.
"Before the time of GPS technology, sailors solely relied on key stars"
Astrolabe ? Compass ? Dumbass.
"In the Middle Ages, men of the sea, prayed to the Virgin Mary"
Oh ? That must be why Phoenicians, Chinese, Polynesians and Vikings were so good at crossing seas and oceans.
"it had been restored by a “reputable Pennsylvania art conservation firm"
I know about someone in Spain who could do it for dirt.