The Independent Asks: “What in God’s name is Pete Hegseth doing in Iran?” — MRFF’s Mikey Weinstein on Erika Kirk’s appointment to USAFA Board

Friday Afternoon, April 3, 2026

THE INDEPENDENT ASKS: “WHAT IN GOD’S

NAME IS PETE HEGSETH DOING IN IRAN?” —

MRFF’S MIKEY WEINSTEIN ON ERIKA KIRK’S

APPOINTMENT TO USAFA BOARD OF VISITORS

Mikey Weinstein weighs in on Trump’s appointment of slain Christian nationalist hatemonger Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk to the Air Force Academy’s Board of Visitors, telling Truthout:

“It’s abominable. Tommy Tuberville is on [the board] along with Markwayne Mullin, two major Christian nationalists right there. What background does Erika Kirk have in regard to the academy? But my school has been ground zero for Christian nationalism for a very, very, very long time.”

(AI-generated image)

THE INDEPENDENT (UK)

COVERS MRFF

What in God’s name is Pete Hegseth doing in Iran? Religious framing is ‘completely, totally unprecedented,’ experts say

By: Brendan Rascius

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Article excerpts (emphasis added):

“For Pete Hegseth, the Iran war is not only a conflict between states, but a cosmic showdown between good and evil, where bullets are instruments of divine will, and fallen foes are condemned to eternal hellfire.”

“And the consequences could be dire. His language potentially undermines the constitutional separation of church and state, alienates patriotic non-Christian service members and risks supercharging the conflict with Tehran, whose leaders are Islamic fundamentalists, they said.

“‘This is completely, totally unprecedented,’ said Michael Weinstein, the president and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. ‘He's making it clear that this is Jesus versus Muhammad.’”

“Weinstein said any attempt to equate Hegseth with his predecessors is ‘fatuous.’ In his telling, the defense secretary is the ‘poster child” for the “ninth f****** version of the eight prior crusades.’”

Click to read on the Independent

TRUTHOUT

COVERS MRFF

Christian Nationalists in US Government Push Attacks on Iran as Holy War

By: Sara Gabler

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Article excerpt (emphasis added):

“White Christian nationalist messaging isn’t coming from Hegseth alone. In March, Trump appointed Turning Point USA’s Erika Kirk to an advisory role for the Air Force Academy. She replaces her late husband, Charlie Kirk, who, in the one board meeting he attended in August 2025, insisted the academy finish repairing an on-site chapel because its closure has had a ‘depressing effect on the psyche of the cadets.’

“Charlie Kirk also asked for confirmation that the Air Force Academy isn’t teaching critical race theory, saying, ‘We need to educate the cadets towards being something, towards being a warrior but for what. We want them after four years to be able to articulate and feel in their soul American exceptionalism.’

“I asked Mikey Weinstein, a Jewish graduate of the Air Force Academy and founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, what he thought of the appointment of Erika Kirk. He said, ‘It’s abominable. Tommy Tuberville is on [the board] along with Markwayne Mullin, two major Christian nationalists right there. What background does Erika Kirk have in regard to the academy? But my school has been ground zero for Christian nationalism for a very, very, very long time.’”

Click to read on Truthout

The U.S. Air Force Academy “has been ground zero for Christian nationalism for a very, very, very long time.”

— MRFF Founder and President Mikey Weinstein, quoted by Truthout

Click to visit MRFF’s U.S. Air Force Academy Wall of Shame

THE MANILA TIMES

COVERS MRFF

Ungodly faith propels US-Israel war on Iran

By: Ricardo Saludo

Thursday, April 2, 2026

Article excerpts (emphasis added):

“BROTHERS and sisters,” intoned Pope Leo XIV at his Palm Sunday homily, “this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”

“In case Christians forgot, the Holy Father spelled out the obvious: Violence isn’t the way of the Messiah, who suffered scourging, thorning, nailing, spearing and dying rather than call on his Father in heaven to “provide me with more than twelve legions of angels” defending him, as the March 29 Mass Gospel reading from Saint Matthew recounts (Mt 26:14-27:66).”

[…]

“Yet Christian Zionists, especially American evangelicals backing President Donald Trump, have joined Zionist Jews in backing the United States-Israel war on Iran. It is claimed to be divinely prophesied and decreed in biblical passages said to reveal God’s will for His Chosen People, the Israelites, to dominate the Middle East and eventually undertake a conflict in which the Messiah or ‘Anointed One’ will come down from heaven to subjugate Israel’s enemies and establish God’s Kingdom.”

[…]

“Notably, more than 200 US servicemen in 50 military installations and all branches of the armed forces filed complaints with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation over commanders saying the Iran war was ‘biblically sanctioned’ and ‘God’s divine plan’ with Trump as ‘anointed by Jesus’ to unleash Armageddon in Iran.”

Click to read on The Manila Times