皮特·赫格塞斯将基督教融入美国军队的运动正引发愤怒和反对。国防部长表示，他正在创建一个新的五角大楼办公室，以“提升精神准备度”贯穿整个武装部队。但并非所有人都感到被包容，就在赫格塞斯的基督教民族主义个人品牌导致军队内宗教选择日益减少之时。
Pete Hegseth’s crusade to infuse the U.S. military with Christianity is provoking outrage and pushback. The secretary of defense says he is creating a new Pentagon office to “elevate spiritual readiness” throughout the armed forces. But not everyone feels included at a time when religious choice in the military is dwindling under Hegseth’s personal brand of Christian nationalism.
人员正在赶时间，以满足从一个新的、大幅削减的宗教选项菜单中选择宗教信仰的要求。
Personnel are scrambling on deadline to fulfill a requirement to choose their religion from a new, drastically reduced menu of options.
国防部长最近宣布他将创建宗教事务办公室，此举紧随国防部决定将被承认的宗教归属数量削减85%的决定之后。
The secretary’s recent announcement that he was creating an Office of Religious Affairs followed a decision by the Department of Defense to slash the number of recognized religious affiliations by 85%.
MS NOW获得的一份5月份备忘录，率先由Military.com报道，显示国防部将从军队承认的宗教名单中删除180种信仰，使该数量从211种减少到31种。
A May memo, obtained by MS NOW and first reported by Military.com, shows the Department of Defense dropping 180 faiths from the military’s recognized religions list, reducing the number from 211 to 31.
在剩下的31种选择中，只有九种是非基督教信仰。空军表示，现役空军人员必须在10月16日前完成选择。
Of the 31 remaining choices, only nine are non-Christian faiths. The Air Force says active duty airmen must make their selections by Oct. 16.
“我们对每名空军人员和守护者的精神准备和宗教自由的承诺始终坚定不移，”空军人力和预备役事务助理部长理查德·安德森于9月25日宣布，指的是服役于空军和太空军的人员。
“Our commitment to the spiritual readiness and religious freedom of every Airman and Guardian remains steadfast,” Richard Anderson, assistant secretary of the Air Force for manpower and reserve affairs, announced on Sept. 25, referring to those who serve in the Air Force and Space Force.
他说，这些新的称呼将确保军牧队伍中的军官拥有“他们需要的准确人口统计数据，以便为我们的服役人员提供量身定制的资源和支持，同时继续尊重他们的个人信念。”但至少六名现役和前军人，包括军牧，在接受MS NOW采访时并不认同这一解释。
He said the new designations would ensure that officers in the chaplain corps have the “accurate demographic data they need to provide tailored resources and support to our Service members, while continuing to respect their individual convictions.”But at least six current and former members of the military, including chaplains, who were interviewed by MS NOW do not buy this explanation.
“这一推动是为了基督教身份，”一名前军队军牧说道，他目前担任背书人——即由五角大楼选出以审查未来军牧人选的人——并形容自己是一个虔诚的基督徒。
“The push is to a Christian identity,” said one former military chaplain who now serves as an endorser — someone chosen by the Pentagon to vet future chaplains — and describes himself as a devout Christian.
“这个国家并不是作为一个基督教国家而建立的，”前牧师说，并补充道，赫格塞思“希望看到社会走向国家基督教身份。”
“This nation was not founded as a Christian nation,” the former chaplain said, adding that Hegseth “wants to see society go toward a national Christian identity.”
除了大幅削减军队的强制性宗派选择外，赫格塞思还发起了一项名为“派我去”的公共关系运动，针对新兵和学员，使用了一段旧约经文，其中以赛亚对神说：“我在这里。请派我去。”新设宗教办公室和清除被接受的宗教归属，符合赫格塞思在军队内部发动的反对多样性的更大范围的文化战争。
In addition to drastically reducing the military’s mandatory denominational choices, Hegseth has also launched a public relations campaign called “Send Me” that targets recruits and cadets with an Old Testament passage in which Isaiah tells God, “Here am I. Send me.”The creation of a new religious office and purge of accepted religious affiliations fits within a larger culture war Hegseth has waged against diversity in the military’s ranks.
他在五月份在西点军校发表演讲时首次提出了这一概念，对毕业生说：“有些事情能把我们团结在一起。‘派我去’变成‘派我们去’，因为你们是一个作战单位，正如我们是在上帝之下的一个国家。”他在六月于法国的D-Day纪念活动中重复了这句话。
He first introduced the concept when he delivered a speech at West Point in May, telling graduates, “There are things that unify us. ‘Send me’ becomes ‘send us,’ because you are one fighting force, just as we are one nation under God.”He repeated the phrase at a D-Day commemoration in France in June.
本月初，赫格塞思在科罗拉多州科罗拉多斯普林斯的空军-海军比赛中发表讲话，对学员说：“‘派我去打红衣士兵。派我去打共产党人。派我去打纳粹。派我去打伊斯兰主义者。’无论未来什么威胁，都需要像你们这样的美国人举起右手说，‘派我去，我会把战斗带到敌人面前。’”他在五角大楼纪念9/11事件25周年仪式中再次引用了以赛亚的这段经文，期间他还谈到了打击伊斯兰恐怖分子。
At the beginning of this month, Hegseth spoke at an Air Force-Navy game in Colorado Springs, Colorado, telling cadets: “‘Send me to fight the Redcoats. Send me to fight the communists. Send me to fight the Nazis. Send me to fight the Islamists.’ And whatever threats of the future, it’s going to require Americans like you to raise your right hand and say, ‘Send me, I will take the fight to the enemy.’”He again invoked the Isaiah verse in the remembrance ceremony at the Pentagon marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11, during which he also talked about fighting Islamic terrorists.
根据其创始人、空军退伍军人迈克·韦恩斯坦的说法，他的言论促使数百名军人向军事宗教自由基金会提出投诉。
His rhetoric has prompted hundreds of service members to file complaints with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation according to its founder, Mikey Weinstein, an Air Force veteran.
“这是在撕裂他们，”温斯坦对MS NOW谈到他的当事人时说。“这破坏了良好的秩序、士气、纪律，尤其是部队凝聚力。”上周，在“亚伯拉罕·林肯”号航空母舰返航前一天，赫格塞斯表示，军方将执行前陆军少校尼达尔·哈桑的死刑，后者因2009年在胡德堡枪杀13人、打伤30余人而被判有罪。
“It’s ripping and tearing them apart,” Weinstein told MS NOW about his clients. “It destroys good order, morale, discipline and especially unit cohesion.”Last week, aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln one day ahead of its homecoming, Hegseth said the military would execute former Army major Nidal Hasan, who was convicted of killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 at Fort Hood in 2009.
赫格塞斯说：“他将面对由士兵组成的行刑队，这理所应当，我们将确保人们能够观看，使其公开，因为人们需要明白，这类行为会有严重后果。”这将是65年来的首次军事处决。
Hegseth said, “He’s going to get a firing squad of soldiers, as it should be, and we’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public, because people need to understand that there’s serious consequences for these types of things.”It would be the first military execution in 65 years.
温斯坦表示，自该宣布以来，已有72名士兵联系他，寻求提交初步宗教豁免申请，以避免被指派到行刑队。
Weinstein said that since that announcement, 72 soldiers have contacted him looking to file for preliminary religious exemptions that would prevent them from being assigned to the firing squad.
据《陆军时报》报道，周一，美国著名主教蒂莫西·布罗利奥敦促在陆军服役的天主教徒不要参与行刑队。五角大楼为赫格塞斯的政策进行了辩护。
On Monday, prominent U.S. Archbishop Timothy Broglio urged Catholics serving in the Army not to participate in the firing squad, according to the Army Times. The Pentagon defended Hegseth’s policies.
“战争部保护每一位现役军人和文职雇员不受胁迫或歧视、实践信仰的宪法权利，”五角大楼新闻秘书金斯利·威尔逊在一份声明中对MS NOW表示。“尽管左派试图从我们伟大的国家中抹除基督教传统，但赫格塞斯部长是那些拥抱这一传统的人之一。”赫格塞斯的基督教民族主义标志延伸至美国海外基地。
“The Department of War protects the constitutional right of every service member and civilian employee to practice their faith without coercion or discrimination,” Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told MS NOW in a statement. “Despite the Left’s efforts to remove our Christian heritage from our great nation, Secretary Hegseth is among those who embrace it.”Hegseth’s Christian national hallmark extends to U.S. bases abroad.
一名部署在海外的现役士兵为避免潜在报复而要求匿名，他讲述了在餐饮设施的一张桌子上看到一本摊开的《圣经》，其中标记了段落——“基本上是说，要成为一名好士兵，就必须遵循《圣经》”——以及在美军一个营指挥部大楼看到一张耶稣发射迫击炮弹的海报。
An active duty soldier deployed overseas, who requested anonymity to avoid potential retribution, recounted seeing an open Bible lying on a table in the dining facility with marked passages — “basically saying in order to be a good soldier, that one has to follow the Bible” — and a poster at a U.S. Army battalion headquarters building of Jesus firing a mortar round.
同一名服役人员，他描述自己是在罗马天主教环境中长大的，信奉“以尊严和尊重对待他人，以你希望被对待的方式对待他人，总体上做一个好人”等原则，表示赫格塞斯的教导“完全相反”。“他想让美国军队基本上在这场我们正在进行的对伊朗的战争中发动一场圣战，或者也认为美国军队需要被完全基督教化，”这名士兵说。
The same service member, who described being raised Roman Catholic with tenets such as “treating others with dignity and respect, treating those how you want to be treated, just being a good person overall,” said Hegseth’s teachings were “completely opposite.”“He’s wanting the U.S. military to basically wage a holy war with this war that we have going on against Iran or also believing that the U.S. military needs to be completely Christianized,” the soldier said.
另一名服役人员，他在空军国民警卫队服役，断言宗教归属选项的减少是打造“基督教军队，本质上”的更大努力的一部分。
Another service member, who is in the Air National Guard, asserted that the reduction of religious affiliation options is part of a greater effort to build a “Christian army, essentially.”
这名空军还对五角大楼设定祷告诵读的做法表示担忧，对MS NOW说：“即使是在伊朗战争期间，他也把它描述为一场十字军东征。他把它描述为基督教西方对抗伊斯兰东方，这非常危险。”这名服役人员信奉一种被从官方认可宗教团体名单中剔除的少数宗教，称新政策侵犯了他们根据第一修正案自由信仰宗教的宪法权利。
The airman also expressed alarm over the Pentagon’s set to the recitation of prayers, telling MS NOW, “Even with the Iran war, he’s framed it as a crusade. He’s framed it as the Christian West against the Islamic East, and that’s very dangerous.”The service member practices a minority religion that was purged from the list of recognized religious groups, saying the new policy violates their constitutional right under the First Amendment to practice religion freely.
“我觉得这非常令人震惊和不安，因为作为服役人员，我们通常不会提出太多要求，”这名服役人员说。这名空军国民警卫队成员最终在新表格上选择了“其他宗教”。
“I found that very alarming and upsetting because we don’t tend to ask for much as service members,” the service member said. The Air National Guard member ended up selecting “other religion” on the new form.
根据海军陆战队的一则行政通知，未能及时选择新宗教归属的服役人员将被指定一个宗教归属。
According to a Marines administrative message service members who do not select a new religious affiliation in a timely manner will have one selected for them.
五角大楼内部的人士指出，赫格塞斯每月举办的自愿崇拜服务，其中包含福音派人物，是他推动基督教化军队的另一个例子。
Others inside the Pentagon point to Hegseth’s monthly voluntary worship services featuring evangelical figures as another example of his move to push Christianity on the military.
赫格塞斯是改革派福音派教会共融的成员，该教会由自称基督教民族主义者道格·威尔逊创立，他在美国和以色列联合对伊朗发动战争前11天曾在五角大楼布道。政教分离联合会于3月就每月的祈祷仪式提起诉讼。
Hegseth is a member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, founded by self-described Christian nationalist Doug Wilson, who preached at the Pentagon 11 days before the United States and Israel jointly launched war against Iran. Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit in March over the monthly prayer services.
根据法律文件，该组织要求五角大楼公开与这些仪式相关的费用、受邀嘉宾以及员工提出的任何投诉。
The group demanded the Pentagon release information about associated costs, invited guests and any complaints lodged by employees, according to legal filings.
“我认为这是对法律和政策的公然违反，”一位在五角大楼工作了十年的文职人员告诉《军事现状》（MS NOW）。“这制造了一种‘如果你不支持我，就是反对我’的氛围。”“基督教民族主义盛行，其他人都被排斥在外，在这栋楼里这种感觉非常明显，”这位军方文职人员说。
“I think that’s a flagrant violation of law and policy,” a civilian who has worked at the Pentagon for a decade told MS NOW. “It creates the ‘if you’re not with me, you’re against me’ kind of thing.”“Christian nationalism is in, and everybody else is out, and it is palpable in that building,” the military civilian said.
赫格塞斯把宗教信仰字面意义上地“穿在胸前”。他公开承认，他的上司曾取消他参加乔·拜登就职典礼的国民警卫队部署任务，因为他们认定他胸前的“耶路撒冷十字”纹身属于“极端主义”标识。
Hegseth literally wears his religion on his chest. He has publicly acknowledged that his supervisors revoked his National Guard deployment to Joe Biden’s inauguration because they deemed his “Jerusalem cross” tattoo to be “extremist.”
在2024年接受《伯明翰基督教家庭》杂志采访、谈及自己的信仰历程时，赫格塞斯表示，他“在基督徒父母的抚养下长大，他们的信仰与浸礼会教义一致”。他说，他和妻子于2018年加入了一个新教会，并决定让孩子接受古典基督教课程教育，这种教育通过圣经世界观教授博雅教育。
Describing his journey with faith in an interview with Birmingham Christian Family magazine in 2024, Hegseth said he was “brought up by Christian parents whose beliefs paralleled the Baptist Church.”He said he and his wife joined a new church in 2018 and decided to teach their children a classical Christian curriculum, which teaches liberal arts through a biblical worldview.
在去年12月接受《凯蒂·米勒播客》采访时，他的妻子珍妮弗·赫格塞斯也描述了他们如何使用古典基督教课程对孩子进行家庭教育。
In a December interview on “The Katie Miller Podcast,” his wife, Jennifer Hegseth, also described homeschooling their children using a classical Christian curriculum.
3月，赫格塞斯任命保罗·克拉夫特担任国防部教育活动部门负责人。克拉夫特曾是教育工作者和陆军国民警卫队上校，现已退休。该部门运营着遍布全国及11个外国的161所学校，为6.7万名军方子女提供教育服务。
In March, Hegseth installed Paul Craft, a former educator and retired Army National Guard colonel, as the head of the Department of Defense Education Activity, an initiative that operates 161 schools across the country and in 11 foreign countries, serving 67,000 military-connected children.
赫格塞斯称克拉夫特是“迅速将教育项目重新导向‘爱国价值观和古典学习’的合适领导人”。随后，赫格塞斯禁止了国防部运营学校中的近600本书籍，这促使美国公民自由联盟（ACLU）以违反第一修正案为由提起诉讼。
Hegseth called Craft the “right leader to swiftly reorient” the education program toward “patriotic values and classical learning.”Hegesth went on to ban almost 600 books from DOD-run schools, which prompted the ACLU to sue on the grounds of First Amendment violations.
赫格塞斯（Hegseth）在9月份于匡蒂科（Quantico）发表的“部队现状”演讲中还谈到了古典基督教教育，他表示：“我们需要了解西方文明的学生，以及我们共和国的支柱——那些能够理解耶路撒冷的信仰、雅典的哲学、罗马的强大力量以及费城所代表的自由的人。”批评者认为，赫格塞斯禁止某些书籍的做法，以及他强调在政府学校中推行古典基督教教育的主张，体现了教会与国家之间令人担忧的过度干预关系。
Hegseth also spoke about classical Christian education in his September “State of the Force” address at Quantico, saying, “We need students of Western civilization and the pillars of our republic … leaders who understand the faith of Jerusalem, the philosophy of Athens, the power of Rome, and the freedom of Philadelphia.”Critics say Hegseth’s book ban and his emphasis on a classical Christian education in government schools is an alarming intersection between church and state.
“这完全是在践踏我们的宪法，”温斯坦（Weinstein）对MS NOW说道。
“It’s a wholesale burning of our Constitution,” Weinstein told MS NOW.
MS NOW报道称，赫格塞斯在五角大楼推动的这种基督教民族主义运动引发了军队的不满。
The post Hegseth’s Christian nationalist crusade at the Pentagon riles troops MS NOW