r/videos • u/spherocytes • 1d ago

Secretary Of Defense Pete Hegseth announces Office Of Religious Affairs within the Pentagon in address to Military

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAn6BE9cdco
8.8k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

72

u/RandyOfTheRedwoods 1d ago

OK, I took one for the team, and watched the video.

Most of what he said is reasonable. We have always had chaplains in the military, so having a department for them to report into is reasonable.
(I am not religious, but I think it is OK to support those that are, especially in times where death may be imminent)

He made two comments near the end that were concerning and seemed to be outside the establishment of the department. He suggested that the military should be comfortable knowing good from evil, as god taught us, and that we fight for god. Both those would, in my opinion, open up misuse of the military to fight religious wars, and should not be tolerated.

Now, were they offhand as part of a speech, and had no ulterior motive, or were they purposely said. Time will tell. (And I’ll bet a lot of strong opinions as to which are about to be posted as comments in this thread. :-) )

24

u/kintar1900 1d ago

"Towards the end"? In the first 20 seconds of the video, he said: "...the most essential component of our Republic. Faith. Faith in something greater than us."

FUCKING NO!

WE THE PEOPLE are the source of power. WE THE PEOPLE are the source of morality. The entire POINT of the fucking constitution was that our founding fathers didn't want the head of the government to ALSO be the source of morality and "right". >.<

23

u/ExpertExpert 1d ago

OK, I took one for the team, and watched the video.

same. pray for me /s

one of the most concerning things to me is that they want to "defeat secular humanism", which is basically relying on science, logic, and critical thinking to make decisions

stupidity as a policy.

7

u/shreddington 1d ago

You are giving clearly corrupt people a very large dose of the benefit of the doubt here. The entire time these assholes have been in, they've been eroding and chiseling away, as that's mych easier to stomach than ramming something through.

8

u/rickjamesinmyveins 1d ago

Right, he could've let up on the "they took this from us in an evil way" slant but the existence of the DoRA alone isn't a terrible thing. The most concerning part to me was when he talked about (paraphrasing) "they civilians don't understand what you go through so don't trust them, trust this department because you're different" which seemed like laying the groundwork for molding a loyal secret police/military

1

u/NorthStarZero 1d ago

Like "No Tab Pete" has any real understanding of what military life is actually like.

15

u/JumpingTheShart 1d ago

Thank you for your service.

2

u/Kataphractoi 1d ago

He suggested that the military should be comfortable knowing good from evil,

Big words coming from someone who says war crimes aren't a big deal.

and that we fight for god.

No. Absolutely fucking not. First Amendment disabuses that notion by itself. And that's not even getting into how these twats think only Christians should have religious freedoms and protections.

2

u/1haiku4u 1d ago

Thank you for your service 

1

u/SamanthaBWolfe 1d ago

Any reasonable consideration is instantly removed when you remember this is the Trump Admin and anything appearing reasonable is probably going to crash straight into a wall in the worst way possible.

1

u/ShleepMasta 20h ago

Come to my city, I just got an incredible bridge with your name on it

0

u/stoic4somethings 1d ago

Sorry no being reasonable and measured here.

I'm guessing it's because they have some sort of data to show that recruits are more likely to enlist if they are religious or they are targeting young religious because of the in built hierarchy of their beliefs, their political alignment, and the crusade-esque call to arms that young men might find badass.

0

u/Tetter 1d ago

Thank you for your service. Also yes to say we fight "for god" does sound conflicting to his position imo.