For centuries, religious conviction has served as both the spark and the fuel for some of humanity's most devastating conflicts. The medieval Crusades. The Thirty Years' War. The violent partition of India and Pakistan. In each case, grievances became supercharged when wrapped in the language of God's will.
Now, as military action continues in Iran and across the Middle East, some are concerned we could be headed for another faith-inspired conflict over the holy land – this one with potentially devastating consequences.
It's not a comfortable thought, but there’s enough evidence that it’s one worth exploring.
"The Providence of Almighty God"
Even after the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran remains ruled by a theocratic government that adheres to conservative Islamic principles. Yet, the most immediate signs that religious belief is shaping this conflict don’t come from Tehran. They come from Washington.
In a recent interview with 60 Minutes, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth acknowledged openly that he views the current conflict through a lens of faith.
When asked whether he sees the war in religious terms, he invoked "the providence of Almighty God" as a protective force over U.S. troops and called himself “a man of faith who encourages our troops to lean into their faith, rely on God.” He alsp repeated an often-heard line: “there are no atheists in foxholes.”
Christian Zionism in Action?
Could these simply be attempts to boost morale among the troops? Or is there a deeper religious view behind them?
We wrote recently about Christian Zionism, a theological framework held by tens of millions of American evangelical Christians, and one that some experts believe has shaped U.S. foreign policy around Israel and the Middle East for decades.
Notably, skeptics dug into the archives and found a 2018 speech Hegseth delivered in Jerusalem. In that speech, he expressed optimism that a Third Temple might one day be rebuilt on Jerusalem's Temple Mount – currently home to the Dome of the Rock, one of Islam's holiest sites.
"There's no reason why the miracle of re-establishing the temple on the Temple Mount is not possible," he said.
That quote might sound abstract to some, but according to certain Christian teachings, the rebuilding of a Third Temple in Jerusalem is a specific and necessary precursor to the end times: the reign of the Antichrist, the Tribulation, and ultimately the Second Coming of Christ.
Where exactly Hegseth and his religious teachings stand on the matter is unclear, but his recent faith invocations and past comments will no doubt serve as cause for speculation.
"Anointed by Jesus to Light the Signal Fire"
If Hegseth's comments raised eyebrows, the reports emerging from within the military itself are raising alarm bells.
We wrote last week about hundreds of active service members filing complaints alleging that they were being told – in official military settings – that the conflict with Iran is “part of God’s divine plan.”
One complaint described a commander informing non-commissioned officers during a briefing that the president had been "anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran" for Armageddon and Christ's return.
But it’s not just military commanders sharing these views. Senator Lindsey Graham has also publicly characterized the conflict as "a religious war" – framing it as clash between radical Islamic terrorists and those they consider infidels, particularly Jews and Christians.
Hegseth backed this point as well, saying: “Obviously, we're fighting religious fanatics who seek a nuclear capability in order for some religious Armageddon.”
Now you might be thinking, “wait, I thought the Armageddon prophecy was a Christian thing. What exactly is he referring to?”
The Mahdi and a Nuclear Weapon
The dominant belief system in Iran is Twelver Shia Islam, which teaches that the twelfth imam – Muhammad al-Mahdi – has been in a state of divine concealment since the ninth century, and will return at the end of days to restore justice to the world.
This is not a fringe belief; it is mainstream teaching held sincerely by millions of faithful Muslims who have no interest in violence whatsoever.
The more contested question is whether any Iranian leaders have connected this belief in the Mahdi with state violence ...or the country's nuclear ambitions. Some experts have argued that hardline figures within the Iranian government view the acquisition of nuclear weapons as a fulfillment of religious prophecy.
Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invoked the Mahdi's return publicly during his tenure, comments which drew significant international attention and concern.
However, the link between Mahdist theology and Iranian nuclear policy remains highly debated. Many Islamic scholars insist that their religious teachings do not encourge the pursuit of violence in any sense – let alone the apocalyptic, end of the world type.
Holy War Incoming?
None of this means WWIII is inevitable, or that every leader involved in this conflict is primarily motivated by theology. But the fact remains that some leaders on both sides of this war view the conflict through a religious lens.
For those with a wider view of history, that alone is a dangerous prospect.
It also raises some obvious questions. When leaders on multiple sides of a modern conflict begin framing it in explicitly religious and end-times terms – how worried should the rest of us be?
And even if this war finds a resolution, what do these underlying beliefs mean for the next war?
48 comments
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Geoffrey C. Olive
If ALL religions could be made to disappear, then maybe humanity could live in relative peace and harmony!🤔 Question. Why do humans have to make up a god or gods to explain their existence on this planet? Answer. Because they cannot believe science and just say it’s unknown currently and maybe sometime in the future there will be an answer that proves the non existence of a god or gods! The difficulty of this approach is the virtual impossibility of proving a negative! In addition, religion is a very lucrative industry worldwide that employs millions of people!
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Jannetje Eleanore Van Went
Wow...its a UFC of Monostatic faith of Gods?! I think its time to step back and let their Gods decide which one will rain supreme this term...I don't think Christians realize Muslims don't weekend at Bernie's their God, they faithfully pray multiple times a day...their God has been in their minds on a regular system while Christians chase money and success Muslims focus on Gods will for what they receive...there is a tri-system of monostatic faith, each turn of the earth tips that triangle to its next side...Christians have been on top of the tri for 2 thousand years...if there are Gods at work here, they will make the choice of which faith will rule the men this term...and we as the people must believe in our God(s), have faith that it is for the right reasons and and know harm is not the Muslim way...where is the faith in God today...I believe divine power will win and its title is human rights...regardless of the faith that will lead men in their lives.
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John Alex Paxson
I look at it this way, there is only good and evil, whatever "GOD" you worship, it all boils down to common sense, we all have free will, which I'm sure you know what that means. good and evil exist in every religion no matter how many times you pray every day, some pray for money, some pray for someone to die that we do not like, etc., etc. just because someone prays, it does not mean their "GOD" is in their heart. Harm and evil are everywhere, no matter where it is hidden, and it is hidden in everyone, it's just the way you look at it, handle it, and approach it. Remember all humanity has free will, the will to do good or evil, the will to believe in anything you want. we are not slaves to religion; we walk hand in hand with our beliefs.
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Joseph Grieco
I saw this happening once Ronald Reagan crawled into bed with Ralph Reed and Jerry Falwell. Sooner or later the Christofascists would be in charge of the Pentagon. Both Presidents Bush did everything they could to NOT frame their Middle East wars as Holy Wars or Crusades. They quashed any mention that came close to that word. It's amoral, irreligious folks like Trump who wanted to frame things as religious wars.
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Leslie A. Hulberg Née Tomasura
Who are these people that are arrogant enough to believe they speak for a deity?
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Rev. BH
Maybe not a junkie but - "Pete Hegseth, former Fox News host and U.S. Secretary of War nominee, faced allegations of alcohol abuse, with reports alleging he was intoxicated at work events and coworkers expressing concern over his drinking. Hegseth denied having a drinking problem, labeling claims as a "smear campaign," but vowed to stop drinking if confirmed.
If not confirmed?
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Todd Richard Thorne
This isn't a Holy War, it's not even a war. It's called being a school yard bully working for himself and someone else to get richer. Ok, what do I mean with this.? Just like Venezuela he used a false narrative of illicit drugs to use the military, specifically Special Forces and Special Operations Groups to do his bidding. It was all about an oil reserves mineral rights grab. With Iran Trump made the direct statement that he is going in there to grab Iran's nuclear stockpiles whether it's for fuel for electric power or weapons grade uranium/plutonium and will either add to the United States stockpiles or share it with Israel the main backer of this robbery. It's never about keeping weaponized nuclear capabilities out of the hands of Iran and the terrorist groups they backed, it's all about the money. Follow the money trail and it will lead you back to the reasons and people responsible for this. Money, the root of all evil!!! Isn't that one of the 7 deadly sins? He comes off spouting all about God and being righteous, when was the last time you actually heard about him and his Christian Nationalist leaders going to church on a regular basis on Sundays. His God is money and power! Now comes to power end of this burglary. Creating this whatever it is, has brought about relatiation from Iran. Meaning with hightened terror alert status, it's going to cause mass panic in the government that Trump could use executive powers to declare Martial Law because of the levels of terrorist activity. So that in turn means a halt of the mid-term elections, no over turned seats and no other elections including the Presidential elections. So he stays in power and can hand off the Presidency to whoever he chooses that he wants in power after him
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Patricia Sydney Solis
For common sense’s sake, Separate Church and State! Sure makes for a peaceful world. A lot of sexually frustrated men part of a suicide cult of death. Make love, not war. Pretty simple to release all that pent up violence. With Venus, Mars can’t lift a sword after petite mort!
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Ronaldo
Unless you find a way to force the People to either vote or worship, but not both, you cannot separate Church and State. The same people who frequent churches, synagogues, mosques, etc. also frequent voting booths.
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Rev. BH
And frequent Burger King -- so what?
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Randall William Fox
We must accept the obvious and reclassify church structures as entertainment venues and ministry as entertainment and tax them all accordingly. And while I applaud your reasoning I'm afraid that it will not be possible without "Venus for hire"...
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Roy S. Thorpe
As the dumbing down of America rolls on so does the dumbing down of the world! More and more illiterate people are taking positions of power. Look at the world leaders today! They act like a bunch of feces flinging monkeys! Illiterate people are superstitious and resort to made up religions to hold power and control the illiterate masses! This mess will bring about more wars both large and small! So saddle up kids its going to be wild ride!
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Lynn Kendall
The way I see it, this war is about money, using prophecy as an excuse. Reports indicate proposals to relocate residents of Gaza to other countries, which has drawn condemnation as ethnic cleansing from Palestinian groups. Infrastructure & Development: The U.S. administration has shared plans to transform Gaza with, for example, a "beachfront Riviera," focusing on rebuilding through a $10 billion US commitment and funding from other nations.
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Rev Ned
AIPAC has had some success, sadly, with equating antisemitism and antizionisn. They are NOT the same. djt is Bibi’s stooge. When the dog barks in Jerusalem, the tail wags in the White House.
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ServantOfJudgement
Back when Hillary Clinton was running against Trump I was driving to a factory to do some robot programming. On the drive I had a vision if Hillary won, the nation would die from a rotting cancer and if Trump won the world would attack us to destroy us.
Trump won but no attacks.
Then Trump lost to Biden. I thought well, guess I just imagined it. Then Biden imported tens millions of whoevers. I thought there's the cancer I saw. Here comes the rot.
Then Trump won. Our own body is protecting the cancerous rot and Trump bombed a couple few countries.
I thought, wow, we'll rot from inside, get attacked from inside and get attacked from outside.
Are we in a holy war? No, we are in an unholy war from within and from the outside.
Smoke'em if ya got'em kids.
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Bernard Duffy
The only "rot" I see is your bigoted remarks. Reflect on the division you are promoting here and repent for your sin.
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Pastor Jim
One need only to see what has happened to the Iranian people, and the threats Iran has perpetrated on the rest of the world for the past fifty years to know what would happen here in the USA if Islam takes hold. Our American values simply cannot coexist with the values of Islam.
Before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran under the Pahlavi Shah was rapidly modernizing and secularizing. Women commonly wore Western-style clothing, miniskirts, jeans, and uncovered hair in public; they had gained voting rights, access to education and professions, and legal reforms via the Family Protection Act that improved marriage, divorce, and custody rights. The country was urbanizing, industrializing, and aligning culturally with the West in many urban areas.
After the revolution—sparked by a broad coalition against the Shah's authoritarianism and Westernization but quickly hijacked by Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamist forces—Iran became an Islamic Republic with clerical rule (velayat-e faqih, or guardianship of the jurist). Key shifts for the Iranian people included: Mandatory hijab and gender restrictions: Within weeks, Khomeini decreed compulsory veiling for all women (regardless of faith). The Family Protection Act was voided. Women lost equal rights in inheritance (half that of men), testimony in court, divorce, custody, travel (needing male guardian permission in some cases), and public life. They were barred from certain jobs, sports arenas, solo singing/dancing publicly, or riding bikes in some interpretations. "Morality police" enforced dress codes, leading to arrests, beatings, and deaths—like that of Mahsa Amini in 2022, which ignited the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests met with lethal force.
Broader human rights rollback: Executions surged for political opponents, apostates, LGBTQ individuals, religious minorities (Baha'is, Christians, Jews faced systemic discrimination), and "moral" crimes. Free speech, assembly, and press were curtailed under Islamic codes. The revolution's early promise of democracy gave way to one-party clerical dominance, with the Revolutionary Guards enforcing orthodoxy.
Economic and social fallout: Decades of isolation, mismanagement, and sanctions exacerbated poverty, youth unemployment, and emigration. Millions of Iranians (especially the diaspora) fled precisely because of this theocratic turn.
The Iranian example validates the warning: when a theocratic, expansionist reading of Islam seizes state power, personal freedoms (especially for women, minorities, dissenters) erode, and external threats multiply. America's experiment in pluralism has succeeded partly because no single faith claims total sovereignty—its values prioritize the individual over group orthodoxy. Private practice of any religion, including Islam, coexists fine. But importing or empowering political ideologies hostile to secular equality risks the same trajectory observed in Tehran.
Vigilance on integration, counter-radicalization, and preserving constitutional supremacy isn't bigotry; it's pattern recognition from 50+ years of evidence. Reform within Muslim communities (as many do) or secular governance offers paths forward, but pretending no tension exists ignores history and doctrine at our peril.
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Pastor Jim
One need only to see what has happened to the Iranian people, and the threats Iran has perpetrated on the rest of the world for the past fifty years to know what would happen here in the USA if Islam takes hold. Our American values simply cannot coexist with the values of Islam.
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Merlin
Trump wants to make it a Holy war to maintain Evangelical Support.
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Nicholas J Page
Trump and his crew are warmonger It is not a holy war God wouldn't start a war.Why are other countries being involved it's between Iraq and Iran let them sort it out or destroy each other.
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Father Frederick
Short answer; (all rhetoric aside), it's being called a Holy War when it's more of ancient culture's will over another, or the supreme "I'm right and you're wrong, and you're the enemy."
Let's not forget that as far back as the 70s there has been the cry of "death to (Christian) America, and all those who support it." Iran has hardly been a sidelines aggressor in causing this conflict.
Historically, the world has had these clashes of culture from the Serbs and Bosnia, to the Finnish–Novgorodian war, to the Polish-Hungarian raid on Ruthenia, and I would even say there is portion of the present Ukrainian-Russian war in which leaderships have "claimed" moral superiority using the Russian Orthodox church as it's base argument, and have used Holy War as an excuse for their conflict and reason for slaughter.
The name is arbitrary and unless we get down to debating words, it remains a war, in which the Holy name is used for justification. Easiest way to justify war.
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Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
F.F. said “Iran has hardly been a sidelines aggressor in causing this conflict.
Ever here of something called the Crusades?
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David Douglas Winters
The crusades. Yep. Good stuff. They ejected the Moslem aggressors from Europe (notably Spain) and opened the sea lanes.
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Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
The stated purpose of the Crusades was to ‘free’ the ‘Holy Land’ from the Muslims.
The Muslims responded quite a bit later when they learned to fly, if not land, passenger jets.
You need to brush up on your history.
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John Alex Paxson
No such thing so far on this planet as a "Holy" war, I don't think humans even know the meaning of "Holy". All countries, governments, and people, bend religion, and the meaning of "Good" and "Evil" to their own meaning. May we learn from our mistakes.
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Robert Gagnon
There’s nothing holy about war. It’s all about oil. America convinces its allies to honor sanctions and buy only higher priced oil from America. What better way to knock out the competition then rip up a contract and declare Iran a dangerous nuclear risk. Afterwards Iran still exported to Asian countries. So let’s attack Iran and stop their sales altogether. So who profits from this, American oil companies. To pretend Jesus has our backs in this profit driven war is a bit of a stretch.
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Wayne L Christensen
Hegseth is an idiot and a fool seeking excuses for his confused and wrong beliefs, proving he knows nothing about God, and it was and is not God's pleasure to see us murder his other children regardless where they live in the world. And, not one innocent should be considered okay, when fools seek to destroy instead of learning how prevent wars. This current administration is criminal in its intent to provoke, and support wars, because they have glorified opinions of themselves.
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Rev Ned
Since Christians, Jews and Muslims (alphabetical order) all worship the same God, in different ways, who do you think God’s rooting for in this kerfuffle?
Also, has anything “holy” EVER happened in the “Holy Land”?!?
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Douglas Robert Spindler
God has been rooting for the LDS Church providing them with unbelievable wealth in the amount of $330 Billion dollars. God doesn't seem to like the Christians anymore and seems to favor the Muslims.
If Christians want to get in God's good side they should become Muslims.
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ServantOfJudgement
Na, we don't like stoning women with pretty hair and pushing gays off the roof top. And that psychopathic chant they make as they run into a nightclub with a bomb strapped to the chest is a little creepy.
Since the lb2tqia++map hate Christians so much, they should become Muslim, that way it's legal to kill us. They'd have to use Clinton's Don't ask Don't Tell rule...shhhhh
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Brian Hand
What we do need is the 2nd coming of Vlad to finish what he started! Enough is enough!
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Rev. Miche'al Yosef Dixon
No if Christians want to get on God's Good Side then they should try being "Christians". Not just call themselves that. "and they were called Christians first at Antioch" not called themselves that, others called them that. And the so-called "Muslim" which actually Islamic, is founded by a disciple of Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus The Christ) and his teachings twisted. The Iranian (Persia) royal family is descendants of Esther a Hebrew.
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Christian
Review, from END to now: The Kingdom of YHVH expands as Humanity colonizes the Milkyway Galaxy. Christ CUBE Colony Starships are assembled in near Earth orbit. Planet Earth is DEAD, as explained in 7 - 7 - 7 Revelation. The Sun expands and the oceans boil away. Sorry, but both planets and stars die from natural causes. Building the Automate factories off world thay build the automated shipyards in orbit that cobstruct Christ CUBE colony starships is the only objective we must focus upon. If not flesh & blood humans, then the a.i. that replaces us long after homo sapiens go extinct.
Nothing of old Earth remains, LOOK UP ! We Are Going HOME, home to the stars.
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Robin Anne Hannon
No this is not a holy war. This is not even close. I agree with you Brother Sen, people are misusing religion and scripture to justify this travesty
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Geoffrey C. Olive
Something that doesn’t physically exist cannot be involved in a war! Just in human’s misguided foolish minds!
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Geoffrey C. Olive
Religion + War = The Bane of Humanity!👎💩
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ServantOfJudgement
War is the result of mankind's total depravity. It's the fruit of our own light. Mankind suffers from an unquenchable blood lust to the point if we're not busy killing people, we create movies about killing people to pacify us until we find a reason, any reason to kill people.
Godless science has spawned the most vile weapon imaginable for a deplorable race of self appointed gods and high priests of nothingness.
War is the bane of humanity. No religion, no problem. Do what comes natural and just start shooting.
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Brother Sen
Are the Gods physically involved in this war? If not, then it isn't a holy war, it's just a war that people are misusing religion to justify.
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Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
Any ‘holy war’ is misusing religion. But the xtians did it to the Muslims. Then the Muslims said, ‘Hey! Jets!!’. Now you have idjits within the military of one of the most powerful militaries in the world saying IT’S A HOLY WAR!!
This does not give me the warm fuzzies.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Holy War is an oxymoron. There is nothing "Holy" about war.
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Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
I agree. But to religious zealots it’s a war for whatever Mr. Magic they believe in. They’re already delusional so…in for a penny in for a pound.
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John A Carreiro
Hi, The first casualty of any war is the truth.
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John P Maher
DID JESUS APPEAR to PETE the JUNKIE BEFORE or AFTER GETTING STONED ???
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Katelynne Shouse
👍
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Thomas A. Murphy
This site is just a Libera, pacifist repository of head in the sand loosers!
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Rev. BH
The word is "loser", Thom
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John A Carreiro
Hi, I do not know if in fact Jesus appeared before Pete "the junkie" at all. But by your comment you must have some pretty good evidience as to your claim as to Pete being a Junkie. Please post your verifiable evidence as to his being a Junkie for all to see. But I bet you have no verifiable evidence to post. The Bible strongly condemns unproven rumors, gossip, and slander as serious sins that destroy unity and reputation, often characterizing them as abominations to God. Scripture demands truthfulness, warning against bearing false witness (Exodus 20:16) and encouraging believers to speak only what is helpful for building others up (Ephesians 4:29). So if indeed you have no verifiable evidence to maybe you should avoid these sins as you are on a religious site. Have a nice day. Rev J
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Rev. Phillip Harris First of all, we must understand that Pete Hegseth is a complete idiot. That's why Trump appointed him. That's why Trump appointed all of his Magateers. This is not our war, it's their war. They talk about the "radical Islamic terrorists." While they do exist, they are no different than our "right-wing extremists". This, unfortunately, includes some of our high-ranking military leaders who willingly and knowingly follow illegal orders from the commander and thief.