NOTE: This piece was originally published at our e-newsletter A Public Witness.
We might need to update that famous saying by German Lutheran theologian Martin Niemöller. First they came for the Episcopalians … then they came for the Catholics … then they came for the Lutherans.
The first week of the new Trump administration was filled with attacks on the religious liberty rights of Episcopalians after Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde asked the new president during an inauguration prayer service to “have mercy” on LGBTQ children and migrant workers. The second week featured Vice President J.D. Vance attacking the Catholic Church for assisting immigrants and refugees as he made inaccurate claims to suggest they care more about money than people.
Over the weekend, another Christian group found itself in the crosshairs of Trumpian figures: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Despite the word “evangelical” in the group’s name, the ELCA joins the Episcopal Church as one of “seven sisters” of the mainline Protestant world that have historically had a lot of political and cultural influence. But now, in the new age of Trump fueled by billionaire oligarchs and charismatic “prophets” preaching Christian Nationalism, these Christian denominations are denounced by powerful figures as non-Christian.
On Saturday evening (Feb. 1), disgraced former Lt. General Michael Flynn went to war against the ELCA, accusing them, without evidence, of illegally taking taxpayer money. It’s not just that Flynn disagrees with their efforts to help immigrants, refugees, and others. Flynn also used scare quotes in his social media post to question the religiosity of Lutherans. Some of the groups he targeted for criticism are jointly affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which is a smaller, more conservative, and evangelical branch of the Lutheran tradition.
“Now it’s the ‘Lutheran’ faith (this use of ‘religion’ as a money laundering operation must end),” Flynn wrote on X, the social media platform owned by Trumpian oligarch Elon Musk. “Lutheran Family Services and affiliated organizations receive massive amounts of taxpayer dollars, and the numbers speak for themselves. These funds, total BILLIONS of American taxpayer dollars. … It’s time to hold these organizations accountable. American taxpayers deserve transparency. Enough is enough!”
Alongside his rant, Flynn posted a screenshot of grants received by Lutheran organizations from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Although the focus of his attack seemed to be on immigrant and refugee assistance — things now targeted by the Trump administration — the nonprofits he attacked also assist with foster care, adoption, head start, food pantries, elder care, resources for victims of domestic abuse, and more. A few days earlier, Flynn had joined Vance in leveling similar attacks against the Catholic Church. As for the Lutheran groups, he pledged to “examine them all and shut them down,” and he labeled one ELCA-affiliated group a “snake oil organization.”
This isn’t the first time the ELCA came under attack from conservatives in recent months. They were also falsely targeted after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, an ELCA member, was chosen as Kamala Harris’s running mate last summer. Some of the loudest voices attacking Walz’s church and denomination were Missouri Synod Lutherans.
Flynn’s broadside over the weekend received lots of affirmation from his supporters. And it quickly grew in reach after Musk, who recently sparked headlines for twice making a Nazi salute, amplified Flynn’s post and added in the wee hours on Sunday, “The DOGE team is rapidly shutting down these illegal payments.” He offered no evidence to suggest any payments were actually illegal.
Elon Musk arrives in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., for the 60th Presidential Inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool Photo via AP)
DOGE is the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” that Musk runs. It’s not actually a U.S. governmental department (since creating one requires congressional approval), but it is a unit Trump created with an executive order. DOGE has an office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House and its employees are embedding themselves in various governmental departments — but it’s free from congressional oversight. Musk’s DOGE is slowly obtaining access to government data in ways that appear to be illegal. The Trump administration over the weekend removed two top security officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development after they refused let Musk representatives receive access to restricted spaces at the agency. And the acting deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury resigned in protest as Musk recently gained access to Treasury data that includes Social Security and Medicare customer payment systems.
“We are living through a new kind of coup in which Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, has taken over the payment and other administration systems that allow the American government to function, and has locked out federal employees from computer systems,” Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a leading scholar of fascism and author of Strongmen: From Mussolini to the Present, argued yesterday. “Random individuals, whose credentials seem to lie mainly in their loyalty to Musk, now have enormous power over America’s purse strings and access to a treasure trove of sensitive personal data. They locked out the federal employees to prevent any obstructions to this access.”
One sign of Musk’s authoritarian impulse noted by Ben-Ghiat was Musk’s quick support of Flynn’s attack on Lutheran charities. Flynn briefly served as Trump’s National Security Advisor before resigning because he lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his communications with a Russian government official. Later in 2017, he pleaded guilty in the Mueller investigation to a felony count of making false statements to the FBI, but Flynn later received a pardon from Trump.
Flynn spent the last few years as the headliner for the ReAwaken America Tour (or RAT for short), a traveling carnival of MAGA politics, Trumpian “prophecies,” anti-vax rhetoric, and COVID-19 conspiracies. In addition to Trump family members, Flynn brought together various preachers and politicians to plot a second coming of Trump with a Christian Nationalistic message of revenge against those who have opposed the candidate they believe is God’s chosen. A regular on the tour with Flynn was Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee to lead the FBI. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, also spoke at a RAT event (and Flynn suggested over the weekend that Kennedy will help go after the Lutheran charities). At various RAT stops, Flynn offered a vision of authoritarian control over religion as he called for there to be “one nation under God and one religion under God,” urged pastors to preach more about the U.S. Constitution than the Bible, and claimed that those who disagree with him “don’t believe in God” and “have no soul.” Flynn’s also led QAnon-themed conferences at churches across the country.
Musk’s influence in our government is deeply alarming. That he finds inspiration from Flynn adds to the crisis. Flynn’s radical vision for America is one where he decides who is Christian or not. Now, he’s decided the ELCA doesn’t make the cut. Because Christian Nationalism is never about all of Christianity; it’s only about empowering one narrow slice to rule.
Michael Flynn speaks at a ReAwaken America Tour event on Nov. 5, 2022, in Branson, Missouri. (Brian Kaylor/Word&Way)
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Lutherans Push Back
ELCA leaders didn’t waste time in challenging the attacks leveled by Flynn and Musk (and amplified by thousands of other rightwing accounts on X). One of the groups named by Flynn in his attack, Global Refuge (formerly known as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service), issued a statement Sunday condemning “in the strongest possible terms, the false accusations lodged against our humanitarian work.”
“As a faith-based nonprofit, we have faithfully walked alongside legally admitted refugees and immigrants for more than 85 years,” Global Refuge explained. “This includes Afghan Allies who risked their lives to protect U.S. troops, as well as persecuted Christians, all of whom have been extensively vetted and approved by multiple U.S. government agencies before traveling to our country.”
“We also remain committed to caring for unaccompanied children forced to flee unimaginable circumstances in their home countries to seek safety in the United States,” the group added. “Across Democratic and Republican administrations, we have partnered with the U.S. government to protect vulnerable children, safeguard them against human trafficking, and safely reunify them with their parent(s) or guardian.”
Similarly, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton released a video Sunday evening responding to “false allegations.” She accused those pushing “misinformation and baseless doubt” of violating the commandment against “bearing false witness.”
“The ELCA remains steadfast in our commitment and work with our many Lutheran partners and expression of our church. The ELCA is also concerned for other faith-based communities and organizations who have similarly come under attack. We strongly urge political leaders at all levels of government to use their offices and platforms responsibly,” she added. “Our call to love our neighbors as ourselves remains steadfast.”
In the video, Eaton recounted the story of Lawrence, a third-century Christian martyr. When the Roman Empire demanded the Church turn over its treasures, Lawrence sold everything and distributed it to those in need. He then pointed to the poor and declared, “These are the treasures of the Church.” He was then executed. After recounting Lawrence’s martyrdom, Eaton concluded, “Be of good courage, Church, and let us persevere.”
The attacks on Lutherans for helping refugees, immigrants, poor people, and others add to the denouncements of an Episcopal bishop for speaking out for LGBTQ children and migrant workers and the attacks on the Catholic Church for assisting immigrants and refugees. In response, Rev. Paul Raushenbush of Interfaith Alliance argued, “Fair to say that this administration is one of the most hostile to religion and religious freedom that we have seen in recent memory.” Considering that the broadsides against Episcopalians, Catholics, and Lutherans have occurred in just two weeks, Raushenbush has a point.
The attacks on Christian groups as not Christian because they care about marginalized people shows part of the danger of the Christian Nationalistic-fueled administration. But the attacks are also awakening a response. May the words and witness of those like Bishops Budde and Eaton inspire more resistance.
As a public witness,
Brian Kaylor
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