Stop Misusing Dietrich Bonhoeffer to Support Political Violence and Christian Nationalism

A Petition by Lori Brandt Hale, President, International Bonhoeffer Society and signed by so many others

From Project 2025 to violent political rhetoric, the legacy of German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer is being invoked this election season on behalf of Christian Nationalism. It is a dangerous and grievous misuse of his theology and life. As an international group of Bonhoeffer scholars, we warn against it.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a theologian and anti-Nazi dissident who was executed on orders from Hitler in April of 1945. Today his life and work are increasingly used to promote political violence and to make false and menacing equations between our present time and the totalitarian Nazi regime. These dangerous narratives are cause for our deep concern. We, the undersigned, are scholars and church leaders from the United States and Germany who want to bring this misappropriation of Bonhoeffer to your attention for the sake of the common good. We represent many colleagues who share our concerns.

In the United States, this dangerous rhetoric and the weaponization of Dietrich Bonhoeffer are most prevalent among those who also espouse Christian Nationalism. Christian Nationalism uses the symbols and language of Christian faith to gain power and control over others. While it is not unique to the United States, the virulence of American-style Christian Nationalism was on full display in 2021, during the January 6th attack on the US Capitol. That day showed that American Christian Nationalists do not shy away from violence in their contempt for their political opponents and our democratic institutions. 

In fact, January 6th illustrated American Christian Nationalists’ disdain for the very idea of a democratic system marked by a peaceful transfer of power. Today, they continue to use hyperbolic rhetoric to equate political opponents with Nazi perpetrators and to portray their own militant actions as on par with resistance to the National Socialist reign of terror. They misuse Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s resistance against that regime to serve their own political agendas and appeals to violence, but they should not.  

Dietrich Bonhoeffer promoted justice and care for the neighbor, especially those who are suffering. He recognized the dangers of Christian Nationalism and spoke against it as early as 1930. In a sermon in New York, he warned that Christians should never forget that they have brothers and sisters not only in their own people, but in every people. If the people of God were united, he proclaimed, “no nationalism, no hate of races or classes could execute its designs, and then the world would have peace forever and ever.”

Even Bonhoeffer’s own words have not stopped a public distortion of his life and witness. We write with three striking examples.

First, since the publication of his Bonhoeffer biography in 2010 until now, Eric Metaxas has manipulated the Bonhoeffer story to support Christian Nationalism. He has developed and inserted his distorted use of Bonhoeffer into public discourse, for example, at the National Prayer Breakfast in 2012, in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in 2016, on his radio show, at the “Jericho March” preceding the attack on the US Capitol, in his comparison of violent offenders who stormed the US Capitol to Bonhoeffer, Martin Niemoeller, and other Nazi resisters, as well as in his latest book, Religionless Christianity: God’s Answer to Evil (2024) and his incessant social media posts - including one that features a gun atop a Bible. This portrayal glorifies violence and draws inappropriate analogies between our political system and that of Nazi Germany. It is a dangerous misuse of Bonhoeffer’s life and lessons, particularly in this election season in the United States. 

Second, The Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Project, also known as “Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project,” produced by The Heritage Foundation, is nothing short of a blueprint for transforming the United States into an authoritarian state. Remarkably, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s name is invoked and his theological idea of “cheap grace” is used prominently in the Foreword of the document to discredit protection of refugees and care for the environment. This perfidious appropriation of Bonhoeffer is a cheap trick and should be recognized as such.

Third, in November, a movie titled, Bonhoeffer: Pastor. Spy. Assassin, distributed by Angel Studios, will be released. It promises to be the “true, untold story” of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “a man who preached love while plotting the assassination of an evil tyrant.” Angel Studios makes the connection to the present explicit in its advertising, saying the film “begs the question, how far will you go to stand up for what's right?” In the current, highly polarized political climate of the United States, these are dangerous words underscored by the equally dangerous and patently false poster images of Bonhoeffer carrying a gun. The outcome of the election could be met with an unprecedented wave of violence. Any attempt to invoke Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his resistance against Hitler as a reason to engage in political violence in our contemporary context must be strongly opposed. Moreover, while Bonhoeffer supported the coup, he refused to offer a Christian or theological justification for it. He understood the dangers of such a rationale.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer himself provides the best defense against these misuses of his life and work. He did not ask, “how far will you go?” He did not ask, “is this a Bonhoeffer moment?” Bonhoeffer’s life was defined by the question, “Who is Christ for us today?” With this question, Bonhoeffer teaches us that Christ is to be found in the presence and suffering of the neighbor, whether across the street or across the border. With this question, he has inspired Christians and non-Christians around the world to work for a society based on solidarity and humanity.

Famously, Bonhoeffer insisted that we adopt a “view from below” that calls us “to see the great events of world history from below, from the perspective of the outcasts, the suspects, the maltreated, the powerless, the oppressed and reviled, in short from the perspective of the suffering.” This perspective is another reason it is so important to refrain from false and trivializing equations of present difficulties with the atrocities associated with Nazi terrorism and the horrors of the Holocaust. This insight is imperative for understanding Bonhoeffer’s relevance in the current context.

In the weeks and months ahead, especially in the United States, division and disunity promise to be the currency of public engagement. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s words and witness will be used to pit one side against the other, to fight “evil,” to put “America First,” and to justify violence. The misalignment between these views and actions and Bonhoeffer’s own cannot be overstated. When you hear these grievous misuses, and you will, do not be fooled. 

Signed, 

Lori Brandt Hale, President, International Bonhoeffer Society, English Language Section 

Florian Höhne, President, International Bonhoeffer Society, German Language Section

Victoria J. Barnett, General Editor of the English Edition of Bonhoeffer's Works

Wolfgang Huber, General Editor of the German Edition of Bonhoeffer’s Works

Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, Founder, Dietrich Bonhoeffer Research Center for Public Theology at the University of Bamberg

Marcia J. Bunge, Bernhardson Distinguished Chair of Lutheran Studies at Gustavus Adolphus College

Stephen R. Haynes, Professor of Religious Studies at Rhodes College

Arnd Henze, Journalist, Publicist, and Theologian

*** PLEASE JOIN US BY ADDING YOUR SIGNATURE TO THIS PETITION. ***

Additional Supporters of this Statement:

Prof. Dr. Walter Altmann, former Moderator of the World Council of Churches and former President of the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB)

Dietmar Arends, President of the Protestant Church of Lippe

Doris L. Bergen, Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies, University of Toronto

Rev. Matthias Bonhoeffer, Cologne

Prof. Dr. Tobias Bonhoeffer, Director at Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Intelligence, Martinsried

​​Dr. Greg Carey, Professor of New Testament, Lancaster Theological Seminary.

Dr. Shaun Casey, Theologian and Diplomat

Peter Dabrock, Professor for Systematic Theology (Ethics), former Chair of the German Ethics Council

Professor Katie Day, Charles A. Scheiren Professor Emerita of Church and Society, United Lutheran Seminary

Prof. John de Gruchy, Emeritus Professor at the University of Cape Town and Extraordinary Professor of Stellenbosch University

Dr. Markus Dröge, Bishop em. of the Protestant Church of Berlin-Brandenburg- schlesische Oberlausitz

Professor Nancy J. Duff, Associate Professor of Christian Ethics Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

The Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Bishop Kirsten Fehrs, acting Chair of the Council of EKD (Protestant Church in Germany)

Dr. Tripp Fuller, Founder and Host of Homebrewed Christianity

Ernst-Wilhelm Gohl, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Württemberg

Prof. Albrecht Grözinger, University of Basel em.

Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop emeritus, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Former President, the Lutheran World Federation

Dagmar Herzog, Distinguished Professor of History, Graduate Center, City University of New York 

Professor Susannah Heschel, Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College

Beate Hofmann, Bishop of the Protestant Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck

Tilman Jeremias, Bishop of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the Northern Protestant Church in Germany

The Rev. Susan C. Johnson, national bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

Dr. Volker Jung, President of the Protestant Church of Hessen-Nassau

Dr. Margot Käßmann, Bishop em. and former Chairwoman of the Council of Protestant Churches in Germany (EKD)

Christian Kopp, Bishop of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Bavaria

Tobias Korenke, Bonhoeffer House Berlin (Grand Nephew of Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Christian Krieger, President of the French Protestant churches and President of the Conference of European churches

Kristina Kühnbaum-Schmidt, Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany

Bernd Kuschnerus, President of the Protestant Church of Bremen

Dr. Thorsten Latzel, Praeses of the Protestant Church in Rheinland

Prof. Volker Leppin, Yale Divinity School

Peter W. Marty, Editor and Publisher, Christian Century

Professor Thomas G. Long,  Bandy Professor Emeritus of Preaching at Candler School of Theology at Emory University 

Rev. Jennifer M. McBride, Ph.D., Past President of the International Bonhoeffer Society, English Language Section and Associate Rector of All Saints' Episcopal Church, Atlanta.

Prof. Dr. Torsten Meireis, Director of Berlin Institute of Public Theology at Humboldt University

Rev. Dr. Peter A. Pettit, Teaching Pastor, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport, Iowa, and Emeritus Director, Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding, Muhlenberg College

Dr. Elisabeth Raiser, former president of Ecumenical Kirchentag

Dr. Konrad Raiser, General Secretary emeritus of the World Council of Churches

Anne Schneider, publicist

Nikolaus Schneider, em. Chair of the Protestant Church in Germany (EKD)

Prof. Dr. Rudolf von Sinner, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil

Dr. Heike Springhart, Bishop of the Protestant Church of Baden

Prof. Miroslav Volf, Yale Divinity School

Prof. Dr. Dr. Dres. h.c. Michael Welker, Seniorprofessor for Systematic Theology, Universität Heidelberg

The Rt. Rev. and Rt. Hon. Lord Williams of Oystermouth, Dr. Rowan Williams, Former Archbishop of Canterbury

Dorothee Wüst, President of the Protestant Church of Pfalz

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For information and resources about Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

International Bonhoeffer Society - English Language Section            

International Bonhoeffer Society - German Language Section