{"id":31733,"date":"2026-04-30T10:16:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=31733"},"modified":"2026-04-30T10:16:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:16:33","slug":"what-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting-reveals-about-faith-identity-and-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2026\/04\/what-the-white-house-correspondents-dinner-shooting-reveals-about-faith-identity-and-violence","title":{"rendered":"What the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Shooting Reveals About Faith, Identity, and Violence"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Left: Google Maps | Right: @realDonaldJTrump \/ Truth Social<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last week, a man attempted to assassinate President Trump and members of his administration at the White House Correspondents’ dinner. The immediate aftermath brought calls for unity and to “turn down the temperature” on political discourse. Unfortunately, those calls didn’t last long, as both the president and his opponents sought to score political points in the ensuing debate.<\/p>\n

One aspect of these events brings a new wrinkle to the discussion. President Trump was quick to label the alleged assassin as “anti-Christian,” a characterization joined by many of his allies. But a review of the attacker’s “manifesto,” distributed to family members just before the attempted attack, reveals numerous biblical references and an attempt to justify the attack by reference to scripture and theological arguments. So what exactly does it mean to be “anti-Christian”?<\/p>\n

The first level of this question is very basic: was President Trump attacked because he is perceived to be a Christian? The facts demonstrate that this is highly doubtful. The attacker claimed that the president is “a pedophile, rapist, and traitor,” not that he is a Christian. At this most basic level, the attack was clearly not “anti-Christian.”<\/p>\n

However, this merely scratches the surface of the question. The attacker had a history of involvement in the church and in a Christian student fellowship during his college years. His comments to his family reflect a familiarity with scripture. While more recent social media posts allegedly reflect more “progressive” political positions, it would be a mistake to automatically assume that progressive political views equate to being “anti-Christian.” It seems reasonable, though, to suspect that his spiritual and biblical views may have shifted in recent years. Some posts suggest frustration with churches and leaders who support the president, but does that make the attack anti-Christian<\/p>\n

The attacker’s comments before the attack contained a discussion of biblical teachings and his interpretation of them in relation to his actions. For example, he referenced Jesus’ call to “turn the other cheek” while clearly suggesting that Jesus’ command did not apply to what he intended to do. He claimed that Jesus was calling His disciples to turn the other cheek only when they were wronged, not when others were: “Turning the other cheek is for when you are oppressed.” He went on to state that “turning the other cheek” when others are oppressed is “complicity, not forgiveness.”<\/p>\n

He also claimed that “rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” does not require (or even permit) Christians to obey unlawful authority: “In so far as representatives and judges do not follow the law, no one is required to yield them anything so unlawfully ordered.” Interestingly, conservative Christians have often made this same argument in other contexts (for example, challenges to government mandates for private employers to provide health insurance covering abortions or birth control in contravention of their religious beliefs). Of course, Christians’ ultimate allegiance is to God, not to any earthly government, so this argument does carry some weight.<\/p>\n

However, saying that our ultimate allegiance is to God does not give Christians the right to decide which government authority is “illegitimate.” For instance, most people don’t like paying taxes, but that doesn’t make those taxes illegitimate (as Jesus’ own teaching on the subject makes clear). Furthermore, it is problematic to claim authority to violate some of God’s commands to “enforce” others. Jesus’ call for His followers to be peacemakers likely means we should reject violent means of pursuing what we believe are His purposes. The example of the early Church is very telling; the Church did not violently oppose the Roman government, even when that government was violently persecuting Christians.<\/p>\n

In this instance, Christian leaders across the theological spectrum have spoken out against political violence in the aftermath of this attempted assassination. While it might be expected that conservative Christians would condemn this attack, even those who normally criticize the president’s policies spoke out. For example, Shane Claiborne stated: “As always, we must insist that violence is the problem, not the solution. It is wrong to kill, whether it is done by Trump or by a vigilante. Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Claiborne has been openly critical of several of President Trump’s actions and statements, but he opposes violence as a means of expressing political disagreement<\/p>\n

This leads back to the ultimate question: what does it mean to be “anti-Christian”? If” anti-Christian” refers to those who fail to comply with the teachings of scripture, then almost anyone could be deemed “anti-Christian” at one point or another. At the other end of the spectrum is “the spirit of antichrist” described in 1 John 2:22<\/a>: “Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist \u2013 denying the Father and the Son.”<\/p>\n

Such wide extremes do not help to narrow down the issue. Probably, the best guidance is that which Jesus Himself gave: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21<\/a>). Those who call themselves “Christian” but who do not do God’s will actually deny the Lordship of Christ by their actions.<\/p>\n

The gray area in this discussion is that many people claim to be following God’s will as they understand it. The attempted assassin might even claim that he was doing God’s will; why else would he try to justify his actions through scripture? But following God’s will requires that we understand and embrace the full teaching of scripture, not just pick and choose verses that support what we want to do.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, people across the Christian spectrum tend to pick and choose scripture to support what they have decided, rather than allowing scripture to guide them. For example, some people minimize what scripture teaches about “social justice,” while others ignore the Bible’s call for God’s people to be holy.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most helpful approach for Christians to take in these matters is to stop labeling those who disagree with us as “anti-Christian.” Jesus told us that we will know His followers by their fruit (Matthew 7:16<\/a>). However, He also taught in Matthew 13:30<\/a> that it’s not for the workers to sort the wheat from the weeds: “Let both grow together until the harvest.”<\/p>\n

Above all, Jesus prayed in John 17:11<\/a> that His followers would be one, as He and the Father are one. It’s important to recognize people by their fruit; it’s less important to label them as “anti-Christian.” When we insist on separating “the wheat from the weeds,” we risk damaging the unity Jesus prayed for. Instead, we should fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:1-2<\/a>) and allow Him to lead us in His way. After all, Jesus said that the world will know His disciples by their love, not by their labels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, a man attempted to assassinate President Trump and members of his administration at the White House Correspondents’ dinner. The immediate aftermath brought calls for unity and to “turn down the temperature” on political discourse. Unfortunately, those calls didn’t last long, as both the president and his opponents sought to score political points in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":31736,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat the White House Correspondents' Dinner Shooting Reveals About Faith, Identity, and Violence<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After the Trump assassination attempt, what does \u201canti-Christian\u201d really mean? 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