Last week, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth gathered hundreds of service members at a base in Virginia to lay out his vision for the American military.

Alongside sweeping changes to the way it fights and trains, Hegseth announced a new Office of Religious Affairs – reporting directly to him – aimed at putting what he calls “spiritual health” on the same level as physical health.

It’s the clearest sign yet of how Hegseth’s evangelical Christianity is shaping the Pentagon and religious policy across the armed forces.

Earlier this year, we looked at the beliefs driving Hegseth’s push to remake the military – and why Donald Trump chose him to wage a cultural and ideological battle inside it, bringing so-called “warrior culture” back to an institution they believed had gone “woke”.

Today, former Voice of America chief national correspondent Steve Herman on Hegseth, Christian nationalism and the religious worldview reshaping the US military.

This episode first aired in March 2026.

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