You'd think the Pope's words would carry weight, seeing as the Secretary of War loves the Crusades, which the Catholic Church was the main driver of initially. But in reality, the Secretary's allegiance is to a tiny sect of Evangelicalism that is, to put it mildly, extremely hostile to most people on the planet.

My favorite part of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (the Secretary's faith) isn't their desire to kill idolators, homosexuals, adulterers (oh the irony!), witches, and blasphemers. It's their figurehead, Douglas Wilson. After he writes a pamphlet and gives speeches about how Southern slavery was a good thing that made all races love each other than any other time in history, and denounces detractors as "abolitionist propagandizers", he says he's not a racist. After he says women shouldn't have the right to vote or serve in the military, he says he's not a misogynist. After he says he'd like sodomy to be made illegal again, he says he's not homophobic. He is the poster child for 1984's Doublethink. War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. And this is what's informing the thought-leaders in the US administration.