Jennifer Kady Stanton

Please note: AI was not used in the creation of this essay, including brainstorming, editing, feedback, or creation. 

Growing Support for Pete Hegseth’s Pastor Who Envisions a Christian Nation

By Jennifer Kady Stanton and Karen Benedict

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s pastor, Doug Wilson, has embraced a Christian Nation vision, where Jesus Christ is the Supreme Leader and the Bible is the law of the land. Wilson, whom Pete Hegseth invited to give a sermon at the Pentagon, has exposed his vision that the United States becomes a Christian Nation, guided by a Christian Constitution. These views, while controversial and limited to a minority of believers, are growing in number and have become mainstream, largely due to Hegseth’s influence. (Fadel, 2026)  

As relatives of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, we have written on various topics regarding new and potentially new legislation that affect the rights of women. While this vision is currently hypothetical, support for this vision is growing, as evidenced by Hegseth’s support of Wilson and his teachings. 

Wilson has envisioned a country where the U.S. Constitution is replaced with a Christian Constitution. Correspondingly, we have also envisioned such a world if such a constitution were enacted.

Married women would relinquish their right to vote, and the 19th Amendment would be repealed. Single women would be permitted to vote, but only if they are Christian, and only for specific Christian denominations. For example, those who are members of the Latter Day Saints would be ineligible to hold office and would potentially be ineligible to vote. (Fadel, 2026) Wilson elaborated that ultimately it would be left to individual states to decide if single, non-Christian women could retain their right to vote. If Wilson’s vision, or even some elements of it, were enacted, women would be left without any influence over the laws and policies that directly affect their well-being, giving that authority mainly to men. This would cause a further erosion of other rights. Women who do not support this vision would be forced to not only give up the right to vote, but would be required to live under laws and policies that they do not support and had no influence in passing. 

Members of the LGBTQ community would be exiled and could possibly face Old Testament punishments, such as stoning. Members of this community would live in secrecy, facing extreme punishments if their relationships were discovered. Many members of these communities would live their lives in secrecy and fear. 

In addition, non-Christians would be ineligible to hold office, because they could not uphold the new Christian Constitution. (Fadel, 2026, 29:10) No fault divorce would also be outlawed, requiring women to divorce only on grounds found in Biblical scripture. Women in abusive relationships would not be automatically granted a divorce. Still, they would be required to report the abuse to church elders, relying upon their attempt to end the abuse within the church, rather than legal protections that women are currently offered. As abuse is not grounds for an automatic divorce in Wilson’s vision, the number of women who are murdered or injured by her husband would most certainly vastly increase.    

Wilson also teaches that if women reject the “leadership and protection” of “good Christian men”, then they accept the consequences of “bad men”.  In Wilson’s vision, women who step outside of the “authority” of Christian men must accept all of the potential consequences, including rape. (Fadel, 2026)

Access to reproductive health care would be greatly diminished. Women who are carrying a non-viable fetus would not be allowed to have an abortion and would be required to carry to term and allow the baby to die naturally. Women who receive an abortion would be charged with murder. Doctors treating patients would face a legal maze, leaving them to likely err on the side of caution, placing the lives of millions of women at risk. 

Public schools would be dismantled, replaced instead with Christian homeschooling or classical Christian schools. Mocking God, practicing atheism, or even publicly practicing non-Christian religions (and the “correct” denomination of Christianity) would be illegal and punishable. 

We would return women to a time that we have not seen in generations, where women are second-class citizens, stripped of their rights, and are required to live under laws that they had no influence in shaping. Non-Christian women would be outcasts in their own country. 

It is true that Wilson’s vision is purely hypothetical, as is our vision of its consequences. Wilson has claimed that while his view is in the minority, support for this vision is growing and gaining traction. (Fadel, 2026) Even if small elements of his vision were to be enacted, it would have devastating consequences for women, stripping them of rights and protections that took decades to earn. Women would become second-class citizens in their own country, becoming reliant upon men for not only their well-being, but for their survival. Those who do not practice Christianity would be faced with scarcity and consequences.

The United States democracy experiment would have failed, returning us to a time where there was no religious freedom, no First Amendment rights to speak about one’s own beliefs in public, and there would be no freedom to love whomever they choose. This would not be a step forward to a more righteous nation, but would throw everyone back to a time where judgment, discrimination, and a lack of tolerance for differences are not only encouraged, but would be the law.

References:

Pastor Doug Wilson on his Christian theocracy vision and ties to Pete Hegseth [Audio podcast episode]. In NPR News. National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/2026/07/06/nx-s1-5822558/pastor-doug-wilson-interview-pete-hegseth [1]