Pete Hegseth's Pulp Fiction Prayer Isn't the First Time He's Used Religion To Justify Illegal War in Iran

The article uses loaded language ('Pulp Fiction Prayer,' 'illegal war,' 'guise of religion') and frames religious rhetoric as a cover for state overreach rather than analyzing competing interpretations of foreign policy legality or religious motivation. The framing centers criticism of the Trump administration and Hegseth without substantively engaging legal or theological counterarguments about Iran policy or executive authority. The headline and subheading position religion as a tool for disguising illegality—a dissenting rather than neutral analytical stance.

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• This article does not address legal arguments supporting presidential authority in Iran operations or differing interpretations of the War Powers Resolution
• This article does not present Hegseth's or administration officials' stated rationales for the policies beyond characterizing them as using religion as justification
• This article does not examine how similar religious rhetoric has been used across administrations of both parties