The Guardian, that bastion of political chihuahua dung, has this humorous article describing how Pete Hegseth applied a biblical passage (Mark 3) to critique the press. Of course, what they are insinuating is that SecHegseth is reflecting a broader alignment between his rhetoric and the theological vision of leaders within the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches. That's my people, by the way. He dared to sit under the preaching of a godly minister who argued... stay with me...that your theological framework shapes political instincts and public speech. Oh, the horror!

What many are failing to see is rather simple, though it is treated as scandalous. Men like Pete Hegseth do not step into public life as blank slates. They come already formed and are being formed. They come shaped by worship, by Scripture, by habits of thought that have been cultivated over years. That formation does not disappear when they enter positions of authority. It goes with them.

And that should not surprise anyone. Everyone is being formed. Even you are being formed as you read these words. Why? Because everyone has a source of wisdom. Some are catechized by cable news, others by academia, others by the endless churn of social media. The idea that one can operate in a realm of pure neutrality is a fiction we tell ourselves so we do not have to name our own allegiances. But neutrality has its own liturgies, its own dogmas, its own unquestioned assumptions.

So the concern should not be that faith informs a man’s public instincts. The real question is which faith, which vision of reality, which account of the good life is doing the informing. We do not escape formation. We only exchange one formation for another.

This is why my favorite Dutch theologian, Abraham Kuyper, remains so helpful here: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” That claim does not produce overreach; it names reality. If Christ lays claim to all things, then men who believe that will inevitably act like it.

You may disagree with the conclusions, but you should at least see the coherence. No one walks into the public square untouched. We all come bearing a lord—and that lord will speak through us. Hegseth's Lord happens to be the Lord of all!