On April 15, 2026, a prayer led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at a Pentagon worship service ignited a firestorm of controversy, ridicule, and debate across the country. What began as a solemn moment of reflection for military personnel quickly spiraled into a viral sensation, as viewers recognized the prayer’s uncanny resemblance to a monologue from Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic, Pulp Fiction, rather than a passage from scripture.
Hegseth, who has been holding regular Christian prayer and worship services at the Pentagon in recent months, introduced the prayer as “CSAR 25:17”—an acronym for “Combat Search and Rescue” and a nod, he said, to the Bible verse Ezekiel 25:17. According to Meidas News, Hegseth told the congregation, “It reads, and pray with me, please. The path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of camaraderie and duty, shepherd the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children.” He continued, “And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother. And you will know my call sign is Sandy 1 when I lay my vengeance upon thee, and amen.”
It didn’t take long for attentive listeners—and especially fans of 1990s cinema—to spot the similarities between Hegseth’s prayer and the fictional Bible verse recited by Samuel L. Jackson’s character, Jules Winnfield, in Pulp Fiction. In the film, Winnfield delivers an almost identical monologue before executing his mark, a scene that’s become one of the most recognizable in American pop culture. As The Independent points out, Hegseth’s adaptation swapped in military-specific language, referencing “downed aviators” and the call sign “Sandy One,” but the cadence and structure remained unmistakably close to the movie’s script.
The actual Ezekiel 25:17, as found in the King James Bible, reads: “And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.” The elaborate language about shepherding the lost and striking down with furious anger is, in fact, a creation of Tarantino and screenwriter Roger Avary—an embellishment that’s never appeared in any biblical text. As Military.com noted, the fictionalized verse was originally written for the movie, itself taking liberties with the original scripture, and has been widely quoted ever since.
Hegseth claimed the prayer was shared with him by a military planner involved in a recent Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission in Iran, which brought back two U.S. Air Force crew members shot down earlier in April. He said the prayer had been recited by “Sandy 1,” the lead planner, before the operation. “They call it CSAR 25:17, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17,” Hegseth explained, according to The Tennessean. However, he did not clarify how the prayer was relayed to him or whether he knew of its pop culture origins.
The moment was quickly captured on video and spread widely on social media platforms like X and Reddit. Some users responded with humor, others with outrage. “Bro, there’s no way his speech writer isn’t memeing on him,” wrote one Redditor. Another user on X commented, “Quoting Pulp Fiction as scripture at a Pentagon prayer session is beyond embarrassing, it’s a shocking mix of ignorance and theatrics. The Pentagon deserves seriousness, not Hollywood cosplay.” A more caustic take came from liberal commentator Mehdi Hasan, who wrote, “He literally fabricated a Biblical quote, based off of a movie, while pretending to be a pious Christian. But under Trump, we’ll have moved on by tomorrow.”
This isn’t the first time the blending of religious language, military rhetoric, and pop culture has raised eyebrows in the current administration. As Military.com reported, the incident comes amid wider scrutiny of religious imagery in political messaging. Just last week, President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated image on Truth Social depicting himself in a Christ-like pose, which was later deleted after widespread reaction. Trump later claimed he believed the image showed him as a doctor.
Critics of the administration have seized on Hegseth’s prayer as emblematic of a broader tendency to invoke Christianity for political purposes, often without deep theological understanding. As Paste Magazine observed, “It’s pretty terrifying how often the Trump administration tries to invoke Christianity to do whatever it wants. The fact that no one involved seems to know much about theology doesn’t make it any less terrifying, even if it does occasionally make it kind of funny, if only in a ‘You have to laugh’ way.” The magazine further noted that Hegseth’s use of the Pulp Fiction monologue occurred in the context of blessing the United States’ ongoing military actions in Iran.
The timing of Hegseth’s prayer added fuel to the fire. House Democrats, including a Tennessee lawmaker, have introduced articles of impeachment against the Defense Secretary, accusing him of war crimes, abuse of power, mishandling the Department of Defense, and personal misconduct related to U.S. operations in Iran and the so-called “Signalgate” controversy. While impeachment is considered unlikely to proceed—given Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress—the incident has provided fresh ammunition for Hegseth’s critics.
Defenders of Hegseth have been less vocal, but some social media users suggested the prayer might have been an intentional cultural reference or a rhetorical adaptation for a military audience. Still, the juxtaposition of a violent, fictional monologue from a Hollywood film with a religious invocation in the halls of the Pentagon struck many as jarring, if not outright inappropriate.
The Department of Defense has not issued an official comment on the episode, despite multiple requests for clarification from outlets like Military.com and The Independent. As the video continues to circulate online, it serves as a potent reminder of how quickly moments from official settings can be reframed—and ridiculed—once they enter the broader social media landscape.
For now, the prayer known as “CSAR 25:17” stands as a surreal intersection of faith, film, and politics in 2026 America, leaving many to wonder just where the line between solemnity and spectacle should be drawn.