As Team Trump wage unceasing war on Iran, evangelical nationalists are destroying any moral world order we once had | Simon Tisdall

The brutalisation of global norms by figures like Pete Hegseth must be seen as an ethical issue.

It’s a fight against chaos, and all major religions must play a role

That combative old hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers, is not much heard these days, though it was once a favourite with church congregations and school assemblies.

Written in 1865 by Sabine Baring-Gould, an English clergyman and religious scholar, its belligerent refrain urges the faithful on to battle, victory and conquest: “Onward, Christian soldiers / Marching as to war / With the cross of Jesus / Going on before!” Its martial tone suited the Victorian zeitgeist but it made succeeding generations uneasy (though it was still sung in my primary school in the early 1960s).

Nowadays, this sort of triumphalism gives religion a bad name.

Pete Hegseth, US defence secretary, and a leading Christian soldier, would certainly disagree.

He probably hums it on his way to work.

At a recent https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/26/hegseth-prayer-violence-pentagon">Christian worship service in the Pentagon – an irregular event, given the constitution’s dislike of anything smacking of state religion – Hegseth, referencing Iran, prayed for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy”. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/30/war-crimes-hegseth-venezuela-strikes-00671160">Hegseth’s creed is killing.

He describes Iranians as “religious fanatics”.

And he should know.

His intolerant brand of evangelical Christian nationalism is extreme even by US standards – yet has Donald Trump’s backing.

Trump was a Presbyterian until 2020, when he abruptly declared he wasn’t.

God knows what he is now.

Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator