Much was been made of Elon Musk’s salute at the inauguration which eerily appeared like the infamous “Sieg Heil” of the Nazi era. Whether it was so intended is a matter of debate and was strongly denied by Musk himself.
There is another and much more critical comparison to be made to the Hitler era which should be noted and that is to the Kirchenkampf or “church struggle” over control of the German church from 1933 to 1945. One side of the protestant church was known as the Deutschechristen (DC) or “German Christians” who were generally supportive of Hitler, including hanging the Nazi flag in their churches. The much smaller group went by the name Bekennedekirche (BK) or “Confessing Church”, so named for the Barmen Declaration (or confession) of 1934. Largely written by Swiss theologian Karl Barth, the Barmen Declaration in essence said that the church has only one “Führer”–and it wasn’t Hitler. (Hitler was actually not named, but the intent was obvious.)
The work of the BK movement was made famous through the martyrdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed on personal order of Hitler shortly before the end of the war. The book he wrote prior to his imprisonment, The Cost of Discipleship, is often considered one of the classic texts of Christian theology.
Equally influential in the BK movement was Martin Niemöller, a Berlin pastor who was the primary instigator of the 1934 Barmen conference and who was sent to a concentration camp in 1937 for his outspoken opposition to Hitler. Niemöller is best known for the saying that begins, “First they came for the socialists and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist….” And it was Niemöller who pushed the Evangelishekirche Deutschland (EKD), the primary protestant church of Germany, to issue the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt in 1945, stating in part, “Through us infinite wrong was brought over many peoples and countries.” With that confession the EKD essentially admitted that the BK members more faithfully represented the Christian faith while those affiliated with the DC churches made the wrong choice.
Our version of the Kirchenkampf is being played out today and became evident in the aftermath of the prayer service held on the morning after the inauguration at the National Cathedral in Washington DC. In that service Episcopalian Bishop Mariann Budde courageously and modestly asked the newly installed President to show mercy on the vulnerable who lived in fear, including gay, lesbian and transgender children and workers without proper documentation. The Reverend Budde went on to say, “…the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches and mosques, synagogues, gurudwaras, and temples. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.”
The President was not pleased by the sermon, to say the least. But it is not the President’s reaction that concerns me. It is the response of religious leaders who were quick to condemn the Bishop that I find most worrisome. Franklin Graham labeled Budde as a LGBTQ+ activist who hates Trump. Sean Feucht, a prominent promoter of Christian nationalism, posted on X “We were all cringing in the room along with the President with how outrageous this was! This is not a church and she is not a pastor.” Lucas Miles, senior director of Turning Point USA was quoted in the Washington Examiner saying, “… a woke clergy member hijacks a church service to promote partisan rhetoric, personally attack the President… and distorts the truth about illegal immigration.” Pastor John Amanchukwu, a staff contributor with TPUSA, told the Examiner: “Many fear a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but there is nothing worse than a wolf in Bishop garments. She’s heretical, diabolical ….” Televangelist Mark Burns posted on X, “Her partisan lecture was inappropriate and embarrassing.”
In fact, Bishop Budde did not attack the President in any manner and her rhetoric was rooted solidly in the Biblical tradition of speaking truth to power. Fortunately, support from her colleagues, other Christian leaders and everyday folk in pews across the country, has been strong.
Not long after the controversy stirred by the Bishop’s sermon had died down, Elon Musk instigated a different one with the religious community. Mike Flynn, the short-lived national security advisor in Trump’s first term, questioned the use of taxpayer dollars by social service agencies, which also happen to be affiliated with Christian denominations, suggesting that the huge sums they received “raise serious questions about how taxpayer funds are being spent and who’s benefiting” and that these groups were using “ ‘religion’ as a money laundering operation.” Nevermind that these are agencies which have historically served the most vulnerable members of our society, providing health care services, shelter, food assistance, and, in one case, the only domestic violence shelter in the county where it is located. Though Flynn made no mention of what these agencies were doing with those taxpayer dollars, nor how they were supposedly “laundering” public funds, Musk was quick to repost Flynn’s scurrilous suggestion, stating that “The @DOGE team is rapidly shutting down these illegal payments.”
The notion that social service agencies rooted in Christian faith are in some way doing something illegal is especially ironic given the recent appointment of Paula White-Cain to lead the White House Faith Office. White-Cain first achieved national attention in 2011 from the scrutiny of the Senate Finance Committee which had conducted a four-year investigation into the finances of several prominent televangelists, including then Paula White and her husband at the time, Randy White, now divorced. The report issued by Senator Chuck Grassley found that tax-exempt donations given to their ministries paid $900,000 for the White’s lakeside mansion, a private jet and over $1 million in salaries to family members.
Matthew Taylor, author of the newly published The Violent Take it by Force: The Christian Movement that is Threatening our Democracy, devotes an entire chapter to White-Cain and reveals how she became Trump’s spiritual advisor. Trump called on the televangelist back in 2002 after seeing a couple of her sermons. He especially liked her perspective on “the values of riches.” As a proponent of the “prosperity Gospel”, the notion that God rewards the faithful with material wealth, White-Cain provided the theological justification that Trump wanted to hear. His success was a sign of God’s blessing. White-Cain would go on to provide Trump with access to the world of a particular subset of evangelical Christians, described in Taylor’s book as the independent or non-denominational charismatics, who would become the base of his electoral support.
It is important to note that many evangelical leaders were not at all pleased with the appointment of White-Cain. John Mason, host of a Christian podcast, wrote “Paula White is a known heretic and known false teacher who has no regard for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Jon Root, a Trump supporter and conservative commentator, called the White-Cain appointment “the worst decision President Trump has made since taking office… Paula White is a heretic, who pedals the prosperity gospel.” This is not an accident, however, as if Trump were unaware. As Taylor notes in his chapter on White-Cain, “Trump’s whole brand is made of similar material. For what is “Make America Great Again” if not a gospel? It’s a nationalistic prosperity gospel, to be sure… Coached by Paula White, Trump has now mastered the religious dimension of his own televangelism career, riding evangelical support all the way to the White House.”
The greatest sin of Nazism, the Holocaust, was rooted in its ideological concept of Aryanism, the notion of a white, master race. For that ideology to succeed, Hitler needed to effectively neuter the traditional teaching within the Church that all people are created in the image of God. The Deutschechristen may not have all embraced Aryanism, but they willingly gave Hitler the blessing he needed to make it the governing ideology of the Nazi regime. Today’s “prosperity gospel” is the Aryanism of our time and should be condemned by all people of Christian faith as contrary to the gospel of Jesus. It is a belief that ultimately will lead to disastrous consequences. We are just seeing the beginning with drastic cuts to humanitarian assistance abroad and likely soon at home. After all, why should we help those whom God has cursed?
There is nothing new about Christians lining up on opposite sides of political debate nor of preachers like Budde challenging a President with appeals to the Gospel. That is the job of a competent preacher. The lesson of the Kirchenkampf is clear—only one side is faithful to the Gospel. Jesus summed it up best in Matthew 25, saying to those on one side, “I was hungry and you fed me,” and to those on the other side, “I was hungry and you did not feed me.” The time has come for us to decide, on which side will we be?
Thanks Dan.