Republicans seem to love peddling false claims that the federal government has cracked down on conservatives’ freedom of religious expression. Reality has shown otherwise, but the accusations are ever more galling as we watch right-wingers wage their own religious persecution.
To be clear, this hypocrisy has long been apparent to many non-Christians — for example, Muslim Americans who’ve been surveilled and scapegoated as terrorist sympathizers. But MAGA enthusiasts’ ire toward Christians has been a remarkable development for a movement filled with so many self-identifying Christians.
As my MSNBC colleague Steve Benen wrote, right-wing rage has been directed toward Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who faced a Trump tantrum and death threats after giving a sermon in which she directly called on the new president to show mercy to immigrants and LGBTQ people. And Vice President JD Vance, who is a Catholic, recently called out Catholic Church leaders, saying on CBS News’ “Face the Nation”:
I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns? Or are they actually worried about their bottom line?
And now it seems that Republicans are coming after Lutheran groups.
Early Sunday, Elon Musk vowed that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency is cutting off aid to Lutheran organizations after conspiracy theorist Michael Flynn baselessly accused the groups of using religion “as a money laundering operation.”
“The @DOGE team is rapidly shutting down these illegal payments,” Musk wrote on X.
The @DOGE team is rapidly shutting down these illegal payments https://t.co/GabhBL7gxf
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2025
DOGE isn’t a real government agency, and there’s no indication thus far that the people being deputized by Musk to withhold funding — who appear to have commandeered the federal payment system — have the authorization to do so. But it seems Musk’s minions are going to try to impose their will regardless.
And it certainly seems as though Musk, Flynn and the broader MAGA movement are bearing down on people based on their religious expressions of care to marginalized people. As Religion News Service notes, the groups targeted by Flynn included Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, an organization now called Global Refuge that provides aid to resettled immigrants.
A trend has emerged in MAGA world: Christian leaders who dare to show love or respect to immigrants are opening themselves up to attack.
On Sunday, Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, who presides over the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, denounced the alleged defunding and shared her concerns about the MAGA movement’s attacks.
“Despite misinformation and baseless doubt cast today on funding that supports Lutheran organizations across our country, the ELCA remains steadfast in our commitment and work with our many Lutheran partners and expressions of our church,” Eaton said in a video statement. “The ELCA is also concerned for other faith-based communities and organizations who have similarly come under attack.”
Watch the bishop’s statement here:
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.