A renaming of the Defense Department to the "Department of War" is being called a troubling shift in how America thinks about its military — bad for anyone worried about glorifying conflict.

• The defense secretary has restyled his role as "secretary of war," a change treated here as more than symbolic.
• Critics say it reframes what $1.5 trillion in yearly military spending is really for — waging war, not defending the country.
• Pairing that message with religious imagery, like posting pictures of Jesus, is called an attempt to tie a taste for killing to Christian faith.
• The behavior is labeled "evil," even by someone who knows the official personally and does not think he is an evil man.

Outlook: Expect the "Department of War" framing to keep drawing pushback as a moral and political flashpoint.