The State eagle should not be holding the pastoral staff of the Church

Image: U.S. Department of Defense. Public domain.

When I saw that Secretary Pete Hegseth rolled out a brand-new Office of Religious Affairs inside the Pentagon, I nearly choked. And then I saw the logo.

I am talking about the eagle of the state holding the pastoral staff of the Church right there in its talons. Come on. That is straight-up, in-your-face Christian Nationalism, plain as day.

Long before I ever stood at a pulpit or found myself representing the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as General Assembly Commissioner, I sat in a classroom back in Moanalua High School with Mrs. Darlene Pang. She was a fantastic teacher. She is the one who drilled into our heads that the real magic of this country is not just keeping church and state separate. It is about having freedom from that whole messy entanglement.

There’s freedom of religion. And there’s freedom from religion.

Thank goodness Mrs. Pang is still here with us today, because if anybody has the right perspective to look at this mess and call it out for what it is, it is her.

Some folks are already pushing back by saying we have always had chaplains in the military, so why get worked up over a new office? But anybody who knows the difference understands that is apples and oranges. Military chaplaincy is there to protect the free exercise of religion for service members of every background, ensuring a Jewish soldier, a Muslim marine, or a secular airman can practice their conscience or find pastoral care. That is about accommodation and protecting individual rights under the Constitution.

This new office is a whole different ballgame. Stamping an ecclesiastical staff into the talons of the state eagle is not about serving troops; it is about projecting institutional religious power from the very top of the chain of command.

Mixing politics and religion is a bad deal all the way around. History tells us that whenever the state tries to buddy up with religious authority, religion just turns into a tool for pushing people around, and government turns into a bully. Our founders knew that. They knew you have got to keep the cross off the flagstaff if you want to keep the republic working for everybody.

What kind of message does an eagle with a shepherd crook send to the kids from all over the country of different faiths, or no faith at all, signing up to serve in uniform? It tells them their service is getting slapped with a sectarian stamp of approval. It tells them the Pentagon thinks it gets to play spiritual referee.

That flies right in the face of everything our democracy stands for. Our military protects the Constitution, period. It does not belong to any single theological camp.

As someone who cares deeply about matters of the spirit, true faith does not need the Department of Defense running interference for it. A free country definitely cannot survive when the state starts picking up the shepherd staff.

We have got to call this what it is, shake off the shock, and make sure our military stays what it is always supposed to be: a defender of a country that belongs to all of us, no matter what is on our minds on a Sunday morning.