11/01/2026
** Ladies: This is the kind of man who doesn’t want women to have the right to vote. Pete Hegseth gave him a platform at the Pentagon. You know what to do on Tuesday. **
Repealing women's right to vote is "a good idea," Doug Wilson -- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's pastor -- declared with a laugh during a NPR interview. Pressed on why he wants to end a right American women have held for more than a century, he added: "I don't want women voting as individuals."
In ordinary times, a far-right pastor talking this way could be written off as a fringe extremist and easily dismissed. These are not ordinary times.
Wilson founded the church network Hegseth belongs to, and the Secretary of Defense has drawn him steadily closer -- thanking him from a Pentagon stage "for your leadership, for your mentorship," and inviting him to preach inside the Pentagon itself, a workday sermon in the building's auditorium broadcast live over the department's internal television network, as part of a monthly Christian worship service Hegseth launched there.
More recently, one of the pastors from Wilson's own Christ Church was hired as a Pentagon speechwriter, ABC News reported. In October, Hegseth went further still: he created a new Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs that reports directly to him -- further institutionalizing his infusion of evangelical Christianity into the Pentagon, including a push to add more Christian-influenced coursework in the military’s schools.
Wilson's proximity to power, NPR observed during the July interview, has never been more pronounced -- and he does not disagree. His theocratic-political vision, he told the network, is "closer to getting a hearing" now than at any point in the forty years he has been preaching it.
His ultimate aim is that the U.S. become a Christian theocracy. Critics have drawn uncomfortable parallels between Wilson's vision and theocratic governance more commonly associated with religious extremism abroad. The commonalities run deep, especially as Wilson's brand of Christian nationalism leads heavily toward Christian fascism, embracing many aspects of theocratic authoritarianism.
In the country Wilson envisions, non-Christians could not hold public office and LGBTQ+ Americans would have no legal recognition -- and women's suffrage would be repealed. His followers describe women's suffrage as a "rebellion against God." His publishing house produces books arguing that "voting is an act of rulership" and "since rulership is not given to women, women should not vote."
These are his long-term objectives. What he says he is working toward now is more immediate: an absolute nationwide ban on abortion and an end to same-sex marriage. "Those are the fish that I would want to fry now," he declared.
As for the vote, what Wilson wants is a country where a married woman does not cast a ballot of her own. Under the "household voting" system he describes, each household would get a single vote, cast by its head -- who, in his theology of male "headship," is the husband. He frames it as a family voting together, as one. But the design leaves no room for a family that disagrees: the vote belongs to the head, and he casts it. A wife who saw things differently would not have a vote of her own, only his, cast for them both.
None of this is new for Wilson, who once called women "the kind of people that people come out of." When CNN aired a segment featuring Wilson's co-pastors arguing against women's right to vote, Hegseth reposted it with the caption: "All of Christ for All of Life."
There is an irony in the timing. American women vote at higher rates than men, and have in every presidential election since 1980 -- the gap widest of all among the youngest voters. It is exactly this that Wilson hopes to bring to an end. This is the man the Secretary of Defense calls his mentor, welcomes to the Pentagon, and holds up as a model -- the head of a movement that would take the individual vote from married women, among them many of the more than 200,000 now serving in the United States military.
Senator Tammy Duckworth, who lost both her legs in combat in Iraq, warned that the real danger is views like these taking hold so close to power. They are, she said, "designed to justify discrimination and mistreatment of women, including those who sacrifice in uniform to defend Americans."
The Founders had a word for government that serves one religion above all others. They called it tyranny. And they wrote the First Amendment to prevent it.
--> To listen to NPR's interview with Christian nationalist Doug Wilson, visit https://www.npr.org/2026/07/06/nx-s1-5822558/pastor-doug-wilson-interview-pete-hegseth
--> To learn more about Doug Wilson, the Sons of Patriarchy podcast explores how biblical patriarchy, Christian nationalism, and theologies of authority and submission have fueled abuse in churches, schools, and families -- with a particular focus on the movement centered around Wilson at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sons-of-patriarchy/id1772141068
For powerful books for tweens and teens about girls living in real-life oppressive societies throughout history -- including religious autocracies -- visit our blog post "The Fragility of Freedom: Mighty Girl Books About Life Under Authoritarianism" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=32426
For books for children and teens about the importance of standing up for truth, decency, and justice, even in dark times, visit our blog post, "Dissent Is Patriotic: 50 Books About Women Who Fought for Change," at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=14364
For books for young readers that honor the service of women in the military, visit our blog post "The Price of Peace: A Mighty Girl Recognizes Veterans" at https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=12356
For a children's book that gives groundbreaking women in the military, past and present, the respect they deserve, we highly recommend "Heroism Begins With Her: Inspiring Stories of Bold, Brave, and Gutsy Women in the U.S. Military" for ages 9 and up at https://www.amightygirl.com/heroism-begins-with-her
For several excellent books for teen and adult readers about heroic women who served in the U.S. military, we recommend "Women Heroes of World War II"(https://www.amightygirl.com/women-heroes-of-world-war-ii), "Women Heroes of the US Army" (https://www.amightygirl.com/women-heroes-us-army), and "Courageous Women of the Vietnam War" (https://www.amightygirl.com/courageous-women-vietnam)
