MN-6: Republican Candidate’s Church Says Catholics Follow the Antichrist

Released 10/23, 11:19am, by FaithfulDemocrats.com

Can a congressional candidate whose faith says Catholics follow Satan win
in a district that's 30 percent Catholic?

That's the question in Minnesota's 6^th congressional
district, where Republican Michele Bachmann belongs to a religious denomination
that says "the
papacy is the very Antichrist."

Can a congressional candidate whose faith says Catholics follow Satan win
in a district that's 30 percent Catholic?

That's the question in Minnesota's
6^th congressional district, where Republican Michele Bachmann
belongs to a religious denomination that says "the
papacy is the very Antichrist."

The race between Bachmann and Democrat Patty Wetterling is one of the most competitive
in the country.  Bachmann is one of the
most extreme right-wingers running for Congress this year, and she has suffered
criticism for saying that global warming is not real, that Terry Schiavo was "healthy,"
and that God has specifically sanctioned her candidacy over
others.

According to her website, Bachmann attends
Salem Lutheran Church in Stillwater,
Minnesota.  This congregation belongs to the Wisconsin Evangelical
Lutheran Synod (WELS), one of the most right-wing Lutheran denominations.  Not to be confused with the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of America or the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, WELS broke with its
denominational brethren because it felt they were abandoning core biblical
principles and doctrine.

For WELS, anti-Catholic
belief is no anachronism left over from the European Reformation.  In 1958, WELS wrote a doctrinal
statement reaffirming the scriptural foundation and historical accuracy of
the understanding that the papacy is the Antichrist.  That statement was unanimously adopted by WELS in 1959 without any
dissent.  It reads: 

Therefore on the basis of a renewed study of the
pertinent Scriptures we reaffirm the statement of the Lutheran Confessions,
that "the Pope is the very Antichrist"
(cf. Section II), especially since he anathematizes the doctrine of the
justification by faith alone and sets himself up as the infallible head of the
Church…We thereby affirm that we
identify this "Antichrist" with the Papacy as it is known to us today…We
reject the idea that the teaching that the Papacy is the Antichrist rests on a
merely human interpretation of history or is an open question. We hold rather
that this teaching rests on the revelation of God in Scripture which finds its
fulfillment in history. The Holy Spirit reveals this fulfillment to the eyes of
faith.

This statement is one of only nine core doctrines listed on
WELS's website, suggesting it is particularly important to the denomination.

Might Bachmann disagree with this rabid anti-Catholicism?  Perhaps, but WELS insists that members and congregations agree
on the fundamental doctrines of the church in order to remain in communion with
it.  This We Believe, a booklet created by the WELS to summarize its main
teachings, states:

We believe that God directs believers to acknowledge
oneness in faith with Christians whose confession of faith submits to all the
teachings of Scripture (John 8:31;
1 Thessalonians 5:21,22). We believe, furthermore, that individuals
through their membership in a church body commit themselves to the doctrine and
practice of that church. To assert that unity exists where there is no
agreement in confession is to presume to look into people's hearts. Only God can
look into people's hearts.

Therefore, Bachmann is either anti-Catholic or rejects a fundamental
teaching of her own denomination – a denomination that requires obedience.

According to the latest religious census (American Religion
Data Archive, 2000), the largest denomination in Minnesota's 6^th congressional district
is Catholicism.  The census shows 247,642 Catholics in the district, accounting
for about 30 percent of the total population. 
Word of Bachmann's commitment to an anti-Catholic religious faction
hasn't yet gotten out in this campaign season. 
One wonders how Bachmann, who is running on her Christian
credentials, would, if elected, handle her commitment to represent the
interests of a group that she appears to believe is following Satan.