Alleged shooter reached a 'Bonhoeffer Moment'

The late Steve Hickey was a Sioux Falls pastor and Republican former South Dakota legislator. He and this interested party agreed on some things like executive clemency for Leonard Peltier and reconciliation with the tribal nations trapped in South Dakota through land repatriation. Hickey was also a scholar and Trump apologist who taught Dietrich Bonhoeffer at Alaska Christian College.

Thinking through Cole Allen’s manifesto and its Christian convictions, I find there can be the understanding that Cole had reached his own “Bonhoeffer Moment”, a moment evangelicals have lauded for a long time, and acted against tyranny and fascism. His evangelical and conservative credentials seem clear and are only now under scrutiny because of his actions. But his manifesto seeks to explain himself succinctly, even using formal “Objection”/‘Rebuttal” language. His church is part of the United Reformed Churches in North America, which is stalwartly and historically Calvinist. They’re up front and proud of their theological and covenantal foundations. You expect this from Reformed Christians. They explain themselves thoroughly. [Burke Gerstenschlager]