A strain of aggressive, punishment-focused Christianity is gaining ground at the heart of American power, with figures such as Vice President J. D. Vance and tech billionaire Peter Thiel — dubbed "Katholibans" by critics — stripping the faith of compassion and repurposing it as a political weapon. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who belongs to radical evangelical circles and has Crusader symbols including the motto "Deus vult" ("God wills it") tattooed on his body, has framed US military strikes against Iran as a war fought "for Jesus," while his pastor has publicly called for the abolition of women's suffrage. Thiel has gone further still, arguing in a recent interview that Christianity went astray millennia ago by showing solidarity with victims and the weak, and that the concept of neighbourly love should be abandoned in favour of an extreme libertarian individualism — a vision of the faith that analysts say is now radiating outward, emboldening theocratic fringe movements across Europe as well.