What Worship Looks Like in a Government-Run Church Service
A controversial new leader in Washington, D.C., organizes worship services in a federal building, hosts the services, picks preachers to speak, invites staff and special guests to attend, and claims to do it to advance religion. That could describe Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, whose monthly prayer services are unprecedented at the Pentagon. But it could also describe a series of worship services more than a half-century earlier.
President Richard Nixon stands out among U.S. presidents. He’s the only one to resign the office in disgrace. He’s also the only one to regularly organize and lead church services inside the White House.
Started with the assistance of evangelist Billy Graham, Nixon’s services allowed him to shape church under his control. Decades later, echoes of this project are emerging at the Pentagon and the Department of Labor (with other agencies to perhaps be added to the list this year).
Hegseth has hosted seven monthly Christian worship services since May and promises to continue them this year. The most recent one featured evangelist Franklin Graham, son of Billy, heralding a “God of war” ahead of U.S. military strikes on Nigeria and Venezuela. The other monthly preachers, many with connections to Hegseth, have all come from the rightwing patriarchal slice of evangelicalism that Hegseth professes. In addition to the preachers, other special guests have attended the services, including Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, and former U.S. Rep. Dave Brat (now dean of the Liberty University School of Business). Inspired by the effort, Chavez-DeRemer in December started her own monthly prayer service for employees during work hours.
With the growth of these worship services by leaders in a Christian Nationalist administration, it’s worth revisiting the most significant previous effort to craft worship services inside the federal government. So this issue of A Public Witness looks back at the church of Nixon and the dangers of state-run services.
All Hail the Power
Holding worship services in the White House wasn’t a sign of Nixon’s piety. The man who later shocked the nation with his profanity and vulgarity on his secret Oval Office tapes was more concerned with his image and power.
