Hegseth's Christian Nationalist Imagery Fuels Warning America Is Living Through a 'Nazi Germany 1933' Moment

One of America's leading scholars of religion has warned that the country has reached its own 1933, as the religious imagery coming from the head of the Pentagon draws fresh criticism from academics who study Christian nationalism.

Robert P. Jones, founder and president of the Public Religion Research Institute, makes the comparison in his new book, Backslide: Reclaiming a Faith and a Nation After the Christian Turn Against Democracy, and in an interview with The Guardian published on Saturday 3 October 2026.

Separately, the sociologist Andrew Whitehead has described Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's Bible-quoting speeches to troops as a textbook example of American Christian nationalism.

The historical comparison is Jones's argument and is contested, and criticism of Hegseth's religious messaging is distinct from any claim about his personal beliefs.

'This Is Our 1933'

Jones thought hard before reaching for the analogy. 'This is our 1933,' he writes, referring to the year Adolf Hitler became chancellor and the Nazis began consolidating their dictatorship, and the book opens by examining the party's rise and the complicity of German Christians and churches, the Guardian reported.

His central argument concerns religion rather than politics alone. Jones contends that the United States is experiencing a severe democratic backslide aided by what he calls an apostate white Christianity.

He argues that Donald Trump has forged a transactional political bargain with a shrinking white evangelical population anxious about losing cultural and political influence.

He cites PRRI's own research. 'Particularly among white evangelicals, on several measures around Christian nationalism, anti-immigrant views, anti-Black views, and anti-Muslim views, going to church actually makes your views more extreme,' Jones told The Guardian.

The findings he describes show an association between more frequent attendance and stronger views on those measures, which he says challenges the assumption that greater religious participation promotes tolerance.

The 'Send Me Tour' and the Secretary's Tattoos

Hegseth has become a prominent focus of that criticism. His Bible-quoting 'Send Me Tour', a military outreach initiative launched in September, has drawn objections from scholars and religious freedom advocates, and Whitehead, a sociology professor at Indiana University Indianapolis, described the speeches as a 'textbook example of American Christian nationalism', according to HuffPost, as cited by PRRI.

The imagery predates his time at the Pentagon. Hegseth's tattoos include a Jerusalem cross and the Crusader-era phrase Deus Vult, symbols that drew scrutiny during his confirmation because some Christian nationalist and far-right groups have adopted them. Such symbols alone do not establish extremist beliefs or affiliations.

A Contested Comparison

Jones knows the analogy will draw fire. Panicked allusions to Nazi Germany have been common during the Trump years, Vox's Christian Paz noted in an interview with him.

Jones, who grew up Southern Baptist, argues the comparison rests on a specific parallel: the role religious institutions played in legitimising authoritarian politics, rather than any claim that the two political systems are identical.

He stops short of despair. Jones argues that democratic backsliding is not irreversible, and points to Christian leaders across the country who have begun to organise against Christian nationalism.

Jones has said he expects religion to feature in the campaign for the November midterms, and his book argues that America's churches face a choice that German ones failed to make in 1933.