Christian extremism: Taking 'holy war' literally
A self-proclaimed minister shot two lawmakers and kept a 'kill list' targeting Democratic officials and abortion providers

Our country faces a serious violent threat from evangelical Christian "zealots," said Mona Charen in The Bulwark. Vance Boelter, a Minnesota Trump supporter who was charged last week with shooting two Democratic state legislators and their spouses, allegedly had a "kill list" of nearly 70 Democratic politicians, abortion providers, and pro-choice activists. Boelter was a self-declared minister who preached in the Democratic Republic of Congo that "the devil" had infiltrated American churches that tolerated abortion and LGBTQ rights. After his shooting spree, prosecutors say, he texted to his family, "Dad went to war last night." His belief in "holy war" didn't come from nowhere, said Jeff Sharlet in Religion Dispatches. Boelter attended the Christ for the Nations Institute, a Dallas-based evangelical Bible college that also produced preacher Dutch Sheets, a Christian nationalist who exhorted his 300,000 YouTube followers to march on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The college teaches its students that they are engaged in a "spiritual war" with secular culture. Boelter might have taken this message "all too literally," becoming a Christian jihadist.
Boelter had "fixations that drove him to extremes," said Andy Mannix in The Minnesota Star Tribune, but not all of them were religious. Court records describe him as a doomsday prepper who stashed "dozens of weapons at his rural home" to prepare for an imminent catastrophe. He was reportedly a devotee of the right-wing conspiracy website Infowars and first-person-shooter video games. After multiple failed business ventures, Boelter was also in "rising mental-health distress," said John Brummett in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. His religious activities alone shouldn't be used to implicate "other abortion zealots, Trump voters, or evangelical preachers."
Most of my fellow evangelicals are not violent, said David French in The New York Times, but Christian extremism in America has taken "a dark turn." Boelter was influenced by a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, which has a "grandiose and even militant spiritualism" that's "leaking into other evangelical traditions." In many evangelical churches, "belonging to the Democratic Party is proof positive that you're under the influence of the devil, and when the Democrats win, that means Satan wins." When faith leaders irresponsibly "pour gasoline on the fires" of political division with talk of demonic infiltration and holy war, "it should surprise no one that some Christians will put down their Bibles, pick up their guns, and choose to kill."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
October 19 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's editorial cartoons include Pete Hegseth and the press, an absence of government, and George Washington crossing the Delaware
-
A little-visited Indian Ocean archipelago
The Week Recommends The paradise of the Union of the Comoros features beautiful beaches, colourful coral reefs and lush forests
-
AI: is the bubble about to burst?
In the Spotlight Stock market ever-more reliant on tech stocks whose value relies on assumptions of continued growth and easy financing
-
‘An exercise of the Republicans justifying their racist positions’
instant opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Bad Bunny: Why MAGA is incensed
Feature The NFL announced Latino artist Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl halftime headliner, sparking MAGA outrage
-
Supreme Court: Judging 20 years of Roberts
Feature Two decades after promising to “call balls and strikes,” Chief Justice John Roberts faces scrutiny for reshaping American democracy
-
Venezuela: Does Trump want war?
Feature Donald Trump has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading a drug cartel and waging a narco-terrorism campaign against the United States
-
Shutdown: Are Democrats fighting the right battle?
Feature Democrats are holding firm on health insurance subsidies as Trump ramps up the pain by freezing funding and vowing to cut more jobs
-
Two years on, a Gaza truce may be in sight
Feature Israel and Hamas consider the U.S.’ 20-point peace plan exchanging hostages for prisoners
-
The GOP: Merging flag and cross
Feature Donald Trump has launched a task force to pursue “anti-Christian policies”
-
Taking aim at Venezuela’s autocrat
Feature The Trump administration is ramping up military pressure on Nicolás Maduro. Is he a threat to the U.S.?