Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has stated that the Pentagon will not back down on allowing military personnel to offer religious greetings at New Mexico’s Kirtland Air Force Base. In a message on X, Hegseth said the department would “never cave” to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), a nonprofit that recently pushed to end the practice. The MRFF’s president, Mikey Weinstein, responded to Hegseth’s comments in an interview with The Independent with a brief but pointed message: “Tell it to the judge.” The MRFF announced that it had ended a “weeks-long blitz” of religious greetings from guards at Kirtland’s front gate. In a press release, the group included two emails from an unnamed Air Force member. The first, sent on Wednesday, described how guards had been repeatedly saying “God bless you” to the member over multiple days. The member called the practice “absolutely unacceptable” and a “blatant violation of the separation of church and state.” The member is not Christian and wanted the greetings stopped. The MRFF noted that the member was one of 34 individuals who had raised concerns, with 24 of them being Christians. A follow-up “thank you” email from the Air Force member, sent later that same day, indicated the issue had been resolved. The member wrote that they had passed through the same gate without hearing the religious greeting, and the change occurred within hours, which they called “incredible.” The MRFF highlighted that it has helped nearly 100,000 individuals, including active-duty troops and veterans, with religious freedom issues in the military, with 95 percent of those being Christians. Hegseth has publicly criticized the MRFF, calling it a “radical anti-Christian, pro-atheist group” that targets “any/all faith inside the @DeptofWar.” He said the Air Force would address the issue and added, “God bless our Airmen.” The Independent has reached out to the Pentagon for comment. Hegseth, a Christian, has previously integrated his religious beliefs into military affairs, including organizing monthly Christian worship services at the Pentagon and quoting scripture during a press briefing in March. Weinstein responded to Hegseth’s X post with a personal jab, calling him “little Petey.” He described Hegseth as a “Christian nationalist” and accused him of “defecating all over the U.S. Constitution.” The MRFF cited a clause in Air Force Instruction that requires leaders to balance constitutional protections for free exercise of religion with the prohibition on the government establishing a religion. The instruction also states that actions must not discriminate against individuals based on their faith or give preferential treatment to any particular belief. Weinstein has warned of legal action against the federal government if the greetings continue and against Hegseth personally, citing libel over his X post. He claimed Hegseth’s comments were “complete and total lies” and amounted to “reckless disregard of the truth,” which could support a legal case against a public figure.