National Security

Holy Warrior

Pete Hegseth is bringing his fundamentalist interpretation of Christianity into the Pentagon.

First published in The Atlantic on October 22, 2025.

by Missy Ryan, The Atlantic

October 23, 2025 | reading time: 16 Min.

Doug Wilson has a white beard and a round belly, and is therefore somewhat Santa-like in appearance. He does not seem at all like someone who delivers denunciations of homosexuality and women’s suffrage, and who takes an ambivalent position on the subject of pre–Civil War slavery.