Overview
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking at a Pentagon worship service on Wednesday, recited a “CSAR 25:17” prayer that closely matched Samuel L. Jackson’s famous monologue from Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction.
- Chief spokesman Sean Parnell said the words were a custom prayer used by the Sandy‑1 rescue team and were obviously inspired by the film, arguing they still reflected the Bible verse Ezekiel 25:17.
- Reporters and viewers noted that the real Ezekiel 25:17 is a short line about divine vengeance, while the film’s expanded wording came from an earlier Japanese movie, Bodyguard Kiba, before Tarantino popularized it.
- The episode drew quick online ridicule and fed ongoing scrutiny of the Pentagon’s prayer services, which already face lawsuits filed in March by Americans United seeking records on government‑run worship events.
- Hegseth has used these services to invoke religious language about the Iran war and later compared critical journalists to Pharisees, while some Pentagon staff told the Los Angeles Times they feel pressure to attend.