Doug Wilson, the Christian nationalist pastor that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calls a mentor, said in a recent interview that he would have fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, a war waged to preserve the enslavement of 3.5 million people.

What Wilson Actually Said

Pressed by Hasan on why he'd take up arms for a government built on human bondage, Wilson tried to draw a line between fighting for his home region and fighting for slavery itself. He said he would have defended "Maryland or Virginia or something like that," apparently forgetting that Maryland never seceded. When Hasan noted that the Confederacy's own founding documents made protecting slavery a core purpose, meaning there was no separating the cause from the war, Wilson simply replied, "I deny your minor premise."

What kind of moral man are you if you were willing to fight for a side that enslaves and tortures people?
Mehdi Hasan

Hasan also revisited Wilson's 1996 pamphlet Southern Slavery As It Was, in which Wilson argued antebellum slavery produced a racial "affection and harmony" never since recreated. Mainstream historians have rejected that claim outright, and Hasan called it what it is: racist. The research around Wilson's writing shows he has gone further still, describing the enslavement of fellow Christians as resting on "firm scriptural ground," a distinction without much of a difference.

Who Is Doug Wilson, and Why Is He Near the Pentagon?

Wilson co-founded the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches in 1998. The denomination now counts more than 150 churches worldwide, along with a private school, hundreds of affiliated Christian schools, a college, a seminary, and its own publishing house. Its theology, built on the Christian Reconstructionist idea of applying biblical law to every sphere of life, imagines an America where non-Christians can't hold public office and can't practice their faith in public. Wilson also opposes women's suffrage and wants consensual sex between adult men made illegal again.

Christ Church, Wilson's congregation, opened a Washington, D.C. location explicitly because Trump administration officials follow his teachings. Hegseth attends a church in Wilson's network and has invited him to lead worship at the Pentagon on a monthly basis, a striking arrangement given that Wilson's movement is gaining real traction rather than staying on the fringe.

Why It Matters

Wilson has said he voted for Donald Trump in 2020 and 2024 largely because of Trump's Supreme Court picks, justices who have since delivered a string of rulings favoring religious exemptions over LGBTQ+ protections and reproductive rights. That's the throughline here: a pastor who thinks gay sex should be criminalized and slavery apologetics are up for debate has a direct line to the man overseeing the U.S. military, and a monthly platform inside its most powerful building.

MQ's Take

It's easy to treat comments like these as just another culture-war soundbite, but the arrangement behind them is the real story. Hegseth didn't stumble into this relationship; he sought Wilson out and elevated him. When the Pentagon's civilian leadership treats a theocrat who romanticizes the Confederacy as a spiritual authority, that tells LGBTQ+ service members and their families exactly how seriously their safety is being weighed.

Source: LGBTQ Nation

Cover photo: United States Department of Defense, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

pete hegseth

Hegseth's Pentagon Pastor Says He'd Have Fought for the Confederacy