In Tennessee, the Hegseth family joined Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship, a small church opened in 2021 as part of the growing Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. The denomination was co-founded by Doug Wilson, a pastor based in Moscow, Idaho; his religious empire now includes a college, a classical school network, a publishing house, a podcast network and multiple churches, among other entities.
Mr. Wilson is a self-described Christian nationalist, which he defined in an interview with The Times as someone who sees that "secular nationalism doesn't work," and who wants to limit the power of the government to impose restrictions on Christians.
He has written prolifically for years, but his profile within conservatism has risen in the Trump era; he was interviewed on Tucker Carlson's podcast this year and was invited to speak at the National Conservatism Conference. The Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches has expanded recently to include about 150 congregations, including Mr. Hegseth's in Tennessee.
In his writings, Mr. Wilson has argued that slavery "produced in the South a genuine affection between the races," that homosexuality should be a crime and that the 19th amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote was a mistake. He has written that women should not ordinarily hold political office because "the Bible does say that when feminine leadership is common, it should be reckoned not as a blessing but as a curse."
The governing documents of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches include a statement that women should not "be mustered for combat." (Mr. Hegseth has also said that he does not believe women should serve in combat roles.) The church reserves leadership positions for men and asserts that men are the heads of their households, views shared by many theologically conservative churches.
In an interview on Wednesday, Mr. Wilson said he had never met or communicated with Mr. Hegseth but expressed enthusiasm about the prospect of his leadership of the Defense Department.
"I would hope Pete Hegseth would be a disrupter of the Pentagon's way of doing things," Mr. Wilson said. "I would like to see a rebuilt military that's far more lethal and a lot smaller."
Mr. Hegseth told the Christian magazine in Nashville that he was studying a book by Mr. Wilson; on a podcast Mr. Hegseth said that he would not send his children to Harvard but would send them to Mr. Wilson's college in Idaho.
Mr. Wilson is among the Christian leaders who in recent years have reframed the Crusades, which included mass killings of Jews and Muslims, in a positive light. In the interview, he described the campaigns as imperfect, even horrifying at times, but also as "a long overdue reaction to Muslim aggression."
Mr. Hegseth has written that while the Crusades were filled with injustice and unspeakable tragedy, the alternative would have been "horrific," because it is Western civilization that has nurtured the values of "freedom" and "equal justice." His writings warn of the growing presence of the Muslim faith in the West, and urge Americans to work on issues such as education, media and law to protect Christian values.
"We're in middle Phase 1 right now, which is effectively a tactical retreat where you regroup, consolidate and reorganize," Mr. Hegseth said on a 2023 podcast affiliated with Mr. Wilson's church. "And as you do so, you build your army underground with the opportunity later on of taking offensive operations in an overt way. And obviously all of this is metaphorical and all that good stuff," he added before breaking into laughter.
In his book, Mr. Hegseth also offered a nod to the prospect of future violence: "Our American Crusade is not about literal swords, and our fight is not with guns. Yet."
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