Doug Wilson Preaches at Pentagon, Compares Services to Day of Pentecost
Controversial Christian Nationalist preacher Doug Wilson stood at a podium inside the Pentagon on Tuesday (Feb. 17) as the guest preacher for the latest monthly Christian worship service held there for leaders of the U.S. military. The Idaho pastor and self-described “paleo-Confederate” preached about the importance of trusting God for protection in battle and praised the monthly worship services as perhaps a sign of a new revival like the Great Awakening or the biblical Day of Pentecost.
Once considered a fringe far-right Christian figure, Wilson in recent years has found himself increasingly embraced by the broader evangelical world and the conservative political movement in the age of Donald Trump. The biggest evidence of his rise is that Pete Hegseth, who likes to call himself the “Secretary of War,” is part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a denomination founded by Wilson. Brooks Potteiger, Hegseth’s CREC pastor in Tennessee from before joining the Trump administration, preached at the first Pentagon worship service in May and again last month. Wilson recently announced he’s sending Potteiger to Washington, D.C., to lead the new CREC church plant there, which Hegseth has been attending.
Wilson, an outspoken proponent of Christian Nationalism, has sparked numerous controversies over the years for what he preaches and teaches. He has downplayed the horrors of slavery and defended enslavers. He also pushes a hardline version of patriarchy, not just insisting only men can serve as pastors or in other church leadership roles but also that they should rule in families. That latter belief bleeds into civic life as Wilson argues the United States should adopt household voting, where the male head of the household casts the votes for everyone in the family. Wilson also pushes for codifying in U.S. law other theological beliefs he holds, including bans on abortion, same-sex marriage, and Pride parades. Additionally, he garnered headlines for leading his church members in Moscow, Idaho, to disobey public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/doug-wilson-preaches-at-pentagon