Disinformation Regarding Cole Allen

https://religionnews.com/2026/04/27/the-christian-dna-of-suspected-white-house-correspondents-shooter/

Following recent statements issued by Donald Trump (a notorious and serial prevaricator), Christian media continues to insist that Allen (the would-be assassin at the Washington Hilton) was motivated by Anti-Christian beliefs.

While few Christians would support Allen, this reporting is certainly inaccurate. His writings quote Scripture and seem to suggest that he had wrestled with the Christian ethics involved. It also seems that he put his commitments to fighting tyranny and the like above Scripture and believed that violence in certain situations is justified.

I couldn't disagree more and yet I was struck while reading the various accounts how the arguments Allen makes are exactly the same as those made by so-called 'Conservative' Christians who justify killing and war - as well as (in some cases) the defense of the January 6 rebellion and the violence associated with it.

By all accounts Allen professes to be a Christian and a serious one at that - his father is even an elder in the Confessional URCNA. Now, I will grant that he needs to face church discipline but I would say the same about people like Pete Hegseth and so many others who glorify and promote war and violence at the expense of Christian ethics.

Now it could be that Allen had left all that behind and certainly it would seem he became involved in Democratic-oriented politics. That said, it's clear he's still wrestling with Biblical authority and ethics.

It would probably be more accurate to say that he expressed hostility toward a certain type of Christianity and while I would agree that MAGA Christianity is not Christianity at all and while we are in the midst of a large-scale apostasy - one cannot justify his taking up of arms and his attempts to assassinate members of the Trump regime - as disgusting as they all are.

For the record, Washington DC has a very strange air right now. I'm surprised it's not being talked about more. A huge section around the White House is blocked off - from 15th to 17th street and Constitution up to H street are all cordoned off. While you can stand in front of St. John's Episcopal Church on H Street (the site of Trump's Bible stunt), Lafayette Park is all closed off - it's conveniently being renovated. The only way to see the White House is to look through a fence on the edge of Lafayette Square or to stand down on Constitution - you can't even access Pennsylvania Avenue at the present. You certainly cannot see where the East Wing has been torn down. It's all obscured.

Trump has his picture everywhere - large banners hanging off the Justice Department and other buildings. And every place there's a construction project there are pictures of Trump (sometimes in a hard hat) boasting about how he's making the city great or something to that effect. The National Guard are everywhere - mostly twenty-somethings looking rather bored. Then of course there are the other things like turning on to Highway 66 you see the 'Trump' Kennedy Center signage and the like. The overall feeling is of a city that has experienced a coup and is on some kind of lockdown with political banners everywhere. It's strange.

Allen obviously succumbed to Enlightenment ideals about Democracy and responsibility and I will grant that if you vote or hold office or are involved in some kind of law enforcement then you are part of it all and bear at least some responsibility.

Allen argues that 'turning the other cheek' is only a personal command and one that must be dispensed with when there is grave injustice or others are being harmed - the exact argument many Evangelicals employ when explaining away Christ's ethical teachings in the Sermon on the Mount in order to justify police, military, or personal violence - which often masquerades as self defense. One thinks of the murderer Kyle Rittenhouse for example.

In this case, they just don't like how Allen applied his post-Constantinian/Enlightenment thinking - the same overall paradigm they also embrace.

He basically said that when figures like Trump or judges break the law - they don't have to be followed. I've heard many Christians argue that the Constitution is the 'king' and thus when disobeyed then such rulers are illegitimate and should be resisted and that their claims to take taxes and the like are also to be rejected as illegitimate.

This of course is not what the New Testament teaches. History shows us that while states will use words and forms to justify and frame their narratives and claims - power is still power and while the US may have a president and not a king, it doesn't matter. The US president is far more powerful than most kings throughout history have ever been. At the end of the day the powers that be are ordained by God and even if it's the CCP - you're still obligated to pay taxes and the like. Christians paid taxes to Rome knowing the money would be used for all manner of evil - pagan temples, wars of conquest, the financing of games, and all manner of idolatry. The misuse and immorality of spending is on the rulers - not on us. We're called to pay in faith knowing the rulers are there by means of Providence. Sometimes it's judgment but often it's simply the fact that even a wicked and corrupt government is better than the kind of anarchy that emerged in Libya after NATO overthrew Gaddafi in 2011.

The article cites Greg Laurie - a court Evangelical and pseudo-Evangelist. What else would he say? He's a Trumpite crony, a fraud. Did Allen cite 'Christian Hypocrisy' at work in the Trump administration? I suppose. I haven't seen all the posts but I can say this - I've been far more outraged over the manipulation and exploitation of Christianity by the Trump people than ever I was under someone like Biden, Obama, Bush I, Carter, or most of the presidents that preceded them. They're all murderers and liars. None of them are Christians but there has been something particularly demonic about Trump and his cult.

Does that statement and condemnation of Trump and the GOP mean I'm anti-Christian? I'm sure some would think so. They're the ones who are anti-Christian.
It's interesting though that as Trump orders assassinations, these so-called Christian leaders speak out in support of him and justify his actions in terms of Christian ethics. It would seem they haven't really thought this through.

This story is interesting and I look forward to further revelations, and yet I weep for Allen's family and the anguish they must be facing knowing that their son will probably spend the rest of his life in a cage. What went wrong?

I can explain it but sadly most in the Reformed and Evangelical world cannot because it sounds to me like he applied the very principles they champion. He read the Bible but did so through the distorted lens of Enlightenment Liberalism - the same set of ideals and ethics that led the Founders to believe they could discard Scripture and take up arms - because of 'tyranny' and the fact that they didn't like how they were being taxed. For generations Christians have justified this sin and more often than not celebrated it. These false notions have deeply infected and shaped the Church and whether one falls into Left or Right wing political extremism, the problem is effectively the same.