Anointed by what now?

More on Hegseth’s unconstitutional theocracy:

The United States Air Force announced Friday that the service is updating its personnel data systems to align with the Department of Defense’s (DOD) standardized list of Religious Affiliation Codes. Dozens of Airmen and Guardians have already expressed concerns, Military.com has learned.

…

Dozens of Airmen and Guardians, as well as concerned members from other services, immediately reached out to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) to express dismay with the new guidance.

One of them, a senior-ranking active-duty member of the Air Force who has served more than two decades, told Military.com under the condition of anonymity that their initial reaction upon seeing the Air Force’s statement was “confusion.”

“Previously, when updating my emergency data, atheist was always an option,” the individual, an MRFF client, told Military.com on Saturday. “But it didn’t take long to see that it was purposely excluded.

“So, my initial confusion quickly turned into outrage—not just for myself, but for the other Airmen and Guardians who may have the same belief system as I do, or belief system that isn’t one of the 31 options.”

I continue to maintain that it’s not necessarily a belief system. Not eating chicken or chocolate isn’t necessarily a dietary system. Theism is a belief system, because it posits the existence of some kind of god. Simply not signing up to that system is not a belief system; it can be just a no thank you or just a no action.

A former military chaplain who is a devout Christian and now an endorser told Military.com on Saturday that the new guidance is an “attempt to push Christianity onto the troops, and there’s implicit intimidation there.”

“It’s a pretty clear message that unless you fit in—[the Air Force’s official release] had the Christian cross right there on the chaplain’s uniform,” they said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It’s crystal clear.”

The individual said there are all kinds of logos that show distinct religions represented by the chaplaincy, suggesting different patterns or symbols for individuals whose faiths have been excluded from previous DOD guidance. They view this as part of an ongoing effort at the top of the U.S. military “to push Christian nationalism.”

“I think that’s pretty plain,” they said. “Where does it go from here? At this point, I think next is the persecution of non-Christians, or at least non-Christians made to feel at best they are second-class service members.

There are people in the military, and of course, outside the military, who truly believe that this nation was established as a Christian nation, despite words to the contrary in both the Constitution and various founding documents,” they added.

Such efforts, they opined, represent a shift from biblical Christianity to a more nuanced view based on political proclivities. Christianity is being “exploited for political purposes by the extreme far right, and that’s unfortunate,” they said.

Well at least they’re not…oh wait, yes they are.

Christianity and its role in the U.S. military has garnered widespread attention during the current administration, and under the leadership of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

In March, just days after the initial U.S. strikes against Iran as part of the ongoing military operation in the Middle East, MRFF received more than 200 complaints from service members.

They were tied to a combat-unit commander allegedly telling non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that President Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,” as originally reported by independent journalist Jonathan Larsen.

Uh…yeah, that is just a tiny bit over the top.

(Quick question. Why would Jesus pick Donald Trump to anoint? Why wouldn’t Jesus pick someone less…how shall I put this…less horrible? Why pick an ignorant greedy aggressive sadistic rapey thieving cheating bully?)

Hegseth has routinely held Christian prayer services at the Pentagon since May 2025, inviting guest speakers deemed controversial by some.

They have included Doug Wilson, a self-avowed Christian nationalist who has pontificated that women shouldn’t be able to vote and that the era of slavery perhaps had gray areas in how it was perceived.

Only some people deem that controversial?