Army combat veteran and On Democracy blogger Fred Wellman reported “breaking news from sources in the Pentagon” today on X. Wellman wrote: “[Secretary of Defense] Hegseth has invited what appears to be the entire Pentagon workforce to a Christian prayer and worship service in the official Pentagon auditorium during duty hours in violation of the First Amendment and military regulations.”
I’ve got breaking news from sources in the Pentagon. Hegseth has invited what appears to be the entire Pentagon workforce to a Christian prayer and worship service in the official Pentagon auditorium during duty hours in violation of the First Amendment and military regulations.… pic.twitter.com/ZzKsTG2nwm
— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) May 21, 2025
Wellman added: “An email went out at 9:00 AM today to a wide distribution that might be the entire Pentagon email list to attend a Christian service from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. This breaks the Establishment Clause and military regulations for prolestitizing [sic] in the government.”
The Establishment clause prohibits the government from “establishing” a religion, to avoid “excessive entanglement between church and state.”
[NOTE: For a historical examination of the Establishment Clause, including its history in the Supreme Court and its effect on military regulations, see Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America’s Tradition of Religious Equality by University of Chicago Law and Ethics Professor Martha Nussbaum.]
As Wellman writes on his Substack: “The leader of the entire United States military just sent out an invite to share his personal religion with all of his subordinates from an official government account, in a government building, attended by government employees on government time. That, my friends, is ‘entanglement between church and state.'”
An email went out at 9:00 AM today to a wide distribution that might be the entire Pentagon email list to attend a Christian service from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. This breaks the Establishment Clause and military regulations for prolestitizing in the government.…
— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) May 21, 2025
Wellman contends: “Hegseth just asked thousands of service members and civilians that all work for him to join him at a celebration of his religion during duty hours. That isn’t a suggestion to most of them…it’s an order to join his religion.”
He added, “How do atheists feel? What do Jewish service members do? Attend a Christian service or skip their bosses [sic] big event? What if you are Muslim…etc…etc…etc.”
More than one MAGA supporter has criticized Wellman’s news by noting that it was an invitation and attendance is not mandatory.
Graham Allen, who reportedly manages the DoD’s social media, replied to Wellman’s post in a similar vein: “[Wellman] leaves out this prayer service was VOLUNTARY! Only a truly EVIL/DEMONIC individual would find issue with a VOLUNTARY prayer service at the Pentagon!!”
This is the gentleman now running the Pentagon's social media channels for Pete Hegseth. I blocked him years ago. We were all taught has young officers that there are no "suggestions" from Commanders. When a leader suggests or invites people to something its an implied task. To… https://t.co/vw3NbtVzwU
— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) May 21, 2025
Wellman responded to Allen’s post: “We were all taught has [sic] young officers that there are no ‘suggestions’ from Commanders. When a leader suggests or invites people to something its [sic] an implied task. To do so during duty hours in the military’s headquarters only makes it worse. I know the law. I did 22 years in the Army and graduated from West Point. I learned some stuff.”
Wellman added of Hegseth: “As a former officer he should know better. As a Cabinet official he should be fired.”
Retired U.S. Army Lt Col. Alexander Vindman, former Director for European Affairs for the U.S. National Security Council, responded to Wellman’s report: “‘There are no suggestions from commanders to subordinates.’ Hegseth continues to propagate Christian white nationalism, while undermining the separation of church and state and the norms of civil-military relations.”
