Popular Roman Catholic Jesuit priest Fr. James Martin reprimanded U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for his faith-focused comments concerning U.S. military operations in Iran. At a press conference, Hegseth said: “God deserves all the glory. Tens of thousands of sorties, refuelings, and strikes, carried out under the protection of divine providence. A massive effort with miraculous protection.”
Martin responded: “So God loves only American troops? Not innocent people who lost their lives in Iran? Where was God’s “miraculous protection” for them? This is the inevitable result of believing that God is on ‘our side.’ It’s making a false god in our image: a god who despises Iranians.”
[NOTE: Pope Leo XIV has recently warned against invoking the name of Jesus for battle, and said that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”]
So God loves only American troops? Not innocent people who lost their lives in Iran? Where was God’s “miraculous protection” for them? This is the inevitable result of believing that God is on “our side.” It’s making a false god in our image: a god who despises Iranians. https://t.co/68dy0RdMQ2
— James Martin, SJ (@JamesMartinSJ) April 8, 2026
Former U.S. Congressman Joe Walsh (R-IL), a Catholic, also criticized Hegseth and his remarks. Walsh wrote: “Look, Iran is a radical Islamist theocracy. Their regime has been stuck in the Middle Ages for the past 47yrs. Every war they fight is a ‘holy war.’ I just never figured the United States would regress to Iran’s level and purposely fight a holy war as well, all in the name of white Christian nationalism. Well, here we are. Scary, un-American [expletive].”
Another critic on X added a quote attributed to President Abraham Lincoln: “I am not concerned that God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”
The comment alludes to an anecdote from Francis B. Carpenter’s 1867 book, Six Months at the White House with Abraham Lincoln, in which a clergyman visited Lincoln during the Civil War and expressed hope that “the Lord is on our side.”
Lincoln reportedly responded: “I am not at all concerned about that, for I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.”
Asked about God’s favoritism this week, Vice President JD Vance sounded a similar note, saying, “I think my attitude towards military conflict has always been to pray that we are on God’s side.”