Pete Heggseth just used a fake Bible verse from Pulp Fiction in a prayer at the Pentagon to justify the war in Iran. So on brand. And all of this is potentially complicated by data showing that young Republican men, people who likely look up to Heggseth, are flocking to the church trying to find holy inspiration for their political beliefs. Now Hegset claims that this verse comes from a military source who used it during combat, search and rescue mission, saying it meant to reflect Ezekiel 2517.

Right, you have a mask in the crowd to pray with him except the verse that he ends up quoting as almost verbatim to Samuel L. Jackson's monologue at the beginning of Pulp Fiction, right, as Jackson's character is gearing up to kill a guy. The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.

Blessed is he who is aviator is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.

Blessed is he who in the name of camaraderie and duty shepherd the loss through the valley of darkness,

for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon

thee with great vengeance and furious anger

those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother. And you will know my call sign is Sandy One

when I lay my vengeance upon thee. And just so you know what Ezekiel 2517 actually says,

it's I will execute severe vengeance against them with furious rebukes. They will know that I am the Lord when I take my vengeance on them. So it doesn't mention anything about an aviator or camarader and duty, and it definitely doesn't say anything about Sandy One, which is a rescue mission commander call sign. Most of that's Quentin Tarantino, along with a few riffs from Hegset to make it sound sound more military-like. So that, it ended up receiving some pretty embarrassing backlash.

But also aside from how weird or how hilarious it is to a lot of people, it speaks to the bigger issue of this administration's weaponizing of Christianity to justify the war.

Grant this task force, clear and righteous targets for violence, that every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation. An overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy. Right, one of the concerns here is that this violent version of Christianity, it could be spreading to younger minds across the country. Recent studies show that 42% of men under 30, they now say that religion is very important to them compared to only 28% in 2023. Young men have even started to grow more religious than young women, which hasn't happened in decades. And you have Bible sales rising along with church membership and attendance as men look for purpose in life that they say the church can provide. And studies say that the men who are flooding the pews are largely Republican, whose numbers are double those of the men on the left. Though I will say that only tells part of the story because all this is happening as American religiosity is still generally on the decline. Which is actually why you have researchers also saying that this influx of Republican men in church suggests political dynamics could be playing a role in all this. And so all of it together, it's something to keep an eye on as you have the top warmonger using the Bible to justify things like bombing school girls and threatening to cut water supplies. Though it's also not just limited to that. Because Hegset's also invoking the Bible to attack the media for its coverage of the conflict while

near simultaneously repeating threats to commit what experts say would very likely be war crimes

if Iran doesn't quote choose wisely and reach deal with the United States. And that's even as he's

now had articles of impeachment filed against him in part for war crimes that Democrats say that he is

responsible for. And then in the meantime, the Pentagon's ratcheting up the pressure by expanding its blockade to apply to almost every Iranian-linked vessel anywhere on earth, and Israel and Lebanon have, according to Trump, agreed to attend a ceasefire. So there's a lot that we're going to be diving into here, but as we've covered on the show, you know, Hegsef has repeatedly cast the war in explicitly Christian terms. You've had him literally arguing that American troops are fighting for military victory in Iran, quote, in the name of Jesus Christ.

And in a press

briefing this morning, you ended up comparing the rescue of the crew members of two down fighter jets

inside of Iran to biblical miracles and likening reporters in the Pentagon Press Corps to the Pharisees

who criticized Jesus. A note to the press, to the press corps, to the American media, as I just can't help but notice the endless stream of garbage, the relentlessly negative coverage, you cannot resist peddling, despite the historic and important success of this effort and the success of our troops.

Sometimes it's hard to figure out what side some of you are actually on.

It's incredibly unpatriotic.

Our press are just like these Pharisees.

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