The Iran Strike as a Holy War
Trump's bargain with Christian nationalists and the theological bases of the war
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Later this week I will be publishing an essay on when and why authoritarian leaders go to war. I am away from New York City right now, and as I packed my bag last week I had the impulse to bring along the book Why Leaders Fight, by Michael C. Horowitz, Allan C. Stam, and Cali M. Ellis. I felt, and feared, that President Donald Trump was “in the zone,” (my phrase referring to psychological states of strongmen) to want to engage in a military conflict.
Today, in the aftermath of the United States strikes on Iran, I am sending strength and support to all —including and especially Lucid readers in Iran and Israel —as a new cycle of destructive action unfolds in the world.
Millions of evangelical Christians whose faith is tied to political ideologies of far-right nationalism and White evangelical racism would not see Trump’s action as destructive, but rather as cause for celebration. For them, the bombings are acts of destiny that are divinely guided. They are the start of the End they have been waiting for.
As Diana Butler Bass, a historian of Christianity, observes:
The MAGA-Christian far right domestic agenda to end or damage the separation of church and state and secular and democratic models of education receives press coverage, yet the theological underpinnings of the worldview that guides these political ambitions remain unclear to many.
Now that the Christian far right has been elevated to positions of immense power by the Trump administration, we need to understand how fundamentalist religious beliefs, including the concept of holy war, are shaping American foreign and military policy.
Take Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who gave his “Crusader cross” and “Deus Vult” tattoos prominent size and placement on his body. In discussing why he was chosen for the job in the days before Trump’s inauguration, I mentioned those tattoos associated with the Christian far right, but focused on his secular qualifications:
Authoritarian states abound with examples of engineered incompetence, when leaders appoint individuals to Cabinet positions who lack the skill-set and high-level connections needed to succeed. This makes those individuals more dependent on the leader…Appointing someone whose main credential is the ability to smile and repeat propaganda lines convincingly (Hegseth is a former Fox News weekend host) also accelerates the autocratic process of “hollowing out” institutions by replacing expert and nonpartisan employees with zealots.
Yet Hegseth’s zealotry is seen not just in his devotion to the Leader —a staple of secular as well as religious authoritarian regimes —but also in his adherence to doctrines of Christianity that advocate holy war. It is interesting, in this light, that he survived Signalgate and other displays of ineptitude. Perhaps his value to Trump is as a bridge to religious and political extremists and a vessel of the incursion of faith into government. Here is how he ended his remarks at the Pentagon’s press conference on the Iran mission: “God bless America, God bless our troops, and we give glory to God for his providence and continue to ask for his protection.”
To give us expert opinions on the theology that is shaping American policy, I am linking to pieces on “War and Prophetic Ecstasy” by Bass and “Bombs for the Apocalypse?” by Tisby that discuss support for the Iran strike and for Israeli imperialism from this point of view - a frame largely absent from international relations or military analyses.
As Tisby writes:
The recent bombing ordered by Trump—justified as preemptive defense against Iran's nuclear ambitions—can be traced back to evangelical dispensationalist theology, which holds that Israel’s geopolitical security and dominance are essential precursors to the second coming of Christ.
Trump's action underscores how these theological beliefs are not abstract; they have direct, dangerous, and deadly consequences.
The prioritizing of Israel’s security and dominance on religious grounds is a point of convergence among United States pro-MAGA Christian and Orthodox Jewish fundamentalists and the various strains of Israeli fundamentalists who are part of Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition. These groups find their own theological justifications for Israeli expansionism and the “clean out” operation in Gaza (Trump’s phrase for the end goal of the mass killings, starvations, and forced removals of Palestinian civilians) to make it a Israeli Jewish space.
The language used by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is an Orthodox Jew, in his reaction to the recent cease-fire of Iran and Israel is typical: “Now [we turn] with all our strength to Gaza, to complete the task: to destroy Hamas and return our hostages and to ensure, with God’s help, many years of security and growth from strength for the people of Israel.”
Smotrich has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and Norway on grounds he “incited extremist violence and series abuses of Palestinian human rights.”
But who cares about secular legal norms, or rulings of the International Criminal Court (which issued an arrest warrant in Nov. 2024 for Netanyahu that cited allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity) when you obey a Higher Law? In this world of belief, those put in power by His greatness are themselves infallible and their actions manifest divine destiny.
The cover religious narratives and institutions provide to corrupt authoritarians is one of the reasons these partnerships, which date back to Benito Mussolini’s deal with the Vatican, are so enduring. Perhaps because he had the Pope to contend with inside Italy, Il Duce mandated that he be referred to as Lui (He, in upper case) and his slogan was: “Mussolini is Always Right.”
Trump, who, like Mussolini, is an amoral individual and a convicted felon, has hugely benefitted from his partnership with evangelical and non-denominational Christians, who acclaim him as an instrument of divine will. As I wrote in Jan. 2024:
For those familiar with authoritarian history, it is no wonder that the talking point of Trump's holiness has become prominent as more of his malfeasance and illegal behavior has been made public. Nor is it surprising that Trump would share a depiction of himself as Jesus-adjacent during his Oct. 2023 civil fraud trial. The image implies that Jesus is with him on his righteous path….”
So, we should not be surprised to hear the impious Trump, a former reality television star, use religious language in his announcement that the United States had bombed Iran. He knows what will move his audience.
"And in particular, God, I want to just say, we love you God, and we love our great military," Trump said. "Protect them. God bless the Middle East, God bless Israel, and God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank you."
I believe you but it is still hard for me to underdtand that anyone who knows anything about Christ’s teachings could believe trumps cruelty is a gift from God.
When the Colonists claimed Independence from the British Crown, it was both the king the Church England that they were saying goodbye to.
It was (is) the Church of England that anoints the monarchy and that is why there is so much work in the Constitution to keep formal religion out of our democratic workings.
It was not just the possibility of a rouge president and a feckless congress and judiciary that the Founders were concerned about, it was the Church being used as supreme power over a democratic republic.