Are All Cats Gray?
Barth, Barmen, and Trump
About the author: Martin de Boer is Emeritus Professor of New Testament, Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. He lives in the Netherlands and is also a (naturalized) citizen of the USA. He taught at Princeton Theological Seminary from 1982–1990. He is the author of a commentary on Galatians (Westminster John Knox, 2011), a collection of essays on Paul as an apocalyptic theologian (Cascade, 2021), and a commentary on John 1–6 for the ICC Series (T&T Clark 2025).
“[T]here is clearly no cause for the Church to act as though it lived, in relation to the State, in a night in which all cats are gray. It is much more a question of continual decisions, and therefore of distinctions between one State and another.”
— Karl Barth, “Church and State,” (published in 1938 as “Rechtfertigung und Recht”) in Community, State, and Church: Three Essays (Peter Smith, 1968), 119–20.
“His [Trump’s] ultimate aim is to turn a constitutional republic centered on limited government and the rule of law into a personalist autocracy centered on the rule of one man, Donald J. Trump, and his unlimited authority.”
— Jamelle Bouie, The New York Times, April 30, 2025.
“We seem to be facing the destruction of the United States, … and it’s an emergency.”
— Jason Stanley, a Yale professor and an expert on fascism, quoted in The New York Times, May 1, 2025.
In 1934, a year after Hitler’s elevation to Reich Chancellor in 1933, Barth was the main author of the famous Theological Declaration of Barmen, adopted by the Confessing Synod of the German Evangelical Church. In the Barmen Declaration, the Confessional Church rejected “the false doctrine, as though the State, over and beyond its special commission [alluding to Romans 13:1–7], should and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life” (8.23). The Declaration was directed primarily at “German Christians” for their embrace of Hitler and the Nazi regime, which were not explicitly mentioned.
Four years later, on the eve of World War II, Barth wrote that “it is not true that a Christian can endorse, desire, or seek a mobocracy or a dictatorship as readily as a democracy.”1 On exegetical grounds, he came to regard “the ‘democratic conception of the state’ as a justifiable expansion of the thought of the New Testament.”2 Not all cats are gray, he concluded,3 certainly not in the light of Christ.
As Barth saw it, a major problem for the Church arises when a state, as in the case of Nazi Germany, turns “from being the defender of the law, established by God’s will and ordinance [according to Rom. 13:1–7],” into “‘the beast out of the abyss’ of Revelation 13, dominated by the Dragon, demanding the worship of Caesar, making war on the Saints, blaspheming God, conquering the entire world.”4 A state can become “demonic” by “a renunciation of its true substance, dignity, function, and purpose, a renunciation which works out in Caesar worship, the myth of the State, and the like.”5 According to Barth, “the Church prefers to suffer persecution at the hands of the State which has become a ‘beast out of the pit of the abyss,’ rather than take part in the deification of Caesar.”6 Barth even entertained “the possibility of revolution” in such circumstances.7
In contemporary America we are seeing the dangerous and rapid development away from a constitutional democracy to an authoritarian state, perhaps even a totalitarian one, under the leadership of Donald Trump who is behaving like a modern Caesar by demanding unquestioning loyalty to his person and his agenda. An irony is that he would never have been elected in 2016 or re-elected in 2024 without the overwhelming support of Protestant voters.8 Presumably some of these Christians have begun to have reservations and regrets about their vote for Trump, but it is evident from news reports that many have not. Indeed, many of them continue to regard him with the kind of reverence and loyalty due to Christ alone.9 But not all expressions of the Christian faith are “gray” either (1 John 4:1–3). The rise of a diabolical state like that found in Revelation 13 needs to be resisted and undermined, not supported by Christians.10
The current situation requires that the churches of America who remain true to the testimony of scripture and the historical confessions of the Church formulate a Barmen Declaration of their own, before it is too late to do so. In this declaration they must not only denounce the Trump administration but also sharply distance themselves from those Christians who have succumbed to the blasphemous arrogance of Trump and his coterie of acolytes, many of them self-identified, devout Christians. No administration has, to use Barth’s words, “any right to strengthen its authority by making any kind of inward claim upon its subjects and citizens … [H]ere we are very near the menace of ‘the Beast out of the abyss’” of Revelation 13.11 A line has been crossed.
I have been so bold (or so foolish) as to draft a possible version (no more than that) of such a declaration, one that I hope will find some level of support among most members of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States (NCC), particularly those rooted in the witness of the Protestant Reformation.
A Declaration of Protest by Churches in America Against Collaboration with President Trump and his Administration
The Protestant churches which are signatories to this declaration together announce that they and their faithful members are in statu confessionis, in a state of protest against unacceptable expressions of the Christian faith. They hereby declare their opposition to false doctrines and practices that have come to infest Protestant church life and worship in America. These undermine and pervert the historic confessions of the universal church that only Jesus Christ is God’s revelation and the embodiment of God’s will and purpose for the world. Christians are called to be faithful to the truth of this gospel and to reject its counterfeit. In our time that counterfeit is represented and embodied by President Donald J. Trump and his administration.
We declare with one voice that Christian supporters of President Trump and his administration threaten and undermine the confessional integrity of Christianity in America. The Christian supporters of President Trump have put him in Christ’s place as the object of their praise and ultimate loyalty. These “MAGA Christians” (Make America Great Again) have succumbed to the temptation that confronted Jesus when the devil took him to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and then said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus’ answer must be our answer: “Begone Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve’” (Matthew 4:8–10).
We declare with one voice that we repudiate President Trump and his supporters, including those who self-identify as Christians, because they are diabolically turning the United States into a police state which forms a danger to the freedom of all churches to worship God and to proclaim the gospel, without fear or constraint. The emerging American police state is blatantly undermining fundamental constitutional rights as well as the rule of law, with individuals subject to arrest, incarceration, and deportation without due process or the right to habeas corpus. A police state is by definition an anti-Christian state. Due process and the rule of the law are in the interest of the churches and what they stand for, a more humane and just world in which the dignity and rights of each human being are acknowledged and respected, and in which justice is served by an independent and impartial judiciary.
We declare with one voice that we repudiate President Trump and his allies, self-identified devout Christians among them, who are also turning the United States into a mafia state, which seeks to punish and bully those who do not conform to the whims and wishes of its ruler. Such a state increasingly uses extortion, unlawful coercion, and violence to achieve its ends. In the emerging mafia state under President Trump the levers of power are being used not only to persecute perceived enemies of the president but also to enrich him, his family, and his cronies, even as the pursuit of knowledge and truth is subordinated to the president’s self-serving and demonstrably false versions of reality. We cannot countenance this development and at the same time remain faithful to Jesus Christ whom we confess to be the way, the truth, and the life for the world (John 14:6).
We therefore reject as false doctrine the premise that Christians must acknowledge, in addition to or instead of Jesus Christ, another figure, or other powers and worldviews, as God’s revelation to whom unquestioning loyalty is to be given. We repudiate Donald Trump and his administration as anti-Christ and anti-Christian. And we call upon all churches and all believers in America, whether they be conservative or liberal or something in between, to stand up and declare in word and in deed that they acknowledge Jesus Christ as their one and only Lord and that they spurn his current counterfeit in the White House as inimical and contrary to the gospel.
Barth, “Church and State,” 144 n. 34.
Barth, “Church and State,” 119.
Barth, “Church and State,” 119.
Barth, “Church and State,” 115.
Barth, “Church and State,” 118.
Barth, “Church and State,” 107.
Barth, “Church and State,” 145.
72% of white Protestants voted for Trump in 2024 (81% of white evangelicals voted for Trump but even 56% of white mainline Protestants did so). Support for Trump among Black Protestants was much less but also not insignificant (17%). Source: The Presbyterian Outlook (January 30, 2025), available online.
See Sarah Posner, Unholy: Why White Evangelicals Worship at the Altar of Trump (Random House, 2020). Posner highlights a comment by the Rev. Paula White, who now has an office in the West Wing of the White House, at a rally of Evangelicals for Trump on March 6, 2020: “We put God right at the center of the White House.” See also Thomas B. Edsall, “The Deification of Donald Trump Poses Some Interesting Questions,” New York Times, January 17, 2024. MAGA Christians will say that they worship God not Trump, but they do regard Trump as the embodiment of God’s will for our time, in short, as a messianic figure akin to Christ.
See my essay, “For this Reformed Christian, Trump is an Antichrist. Let me tell you why,” published online in Reformed Journal, September 9, 2024, https://reformedjournal.com
Barth, “Church and State,” 143 (emphasis original).
About time. I've been waiting for someone with the capability to write such a statement. Thank you.
Thank you for your bold declaration of faith and resistance. One of the strengths of Barmen is its refusal to name Hitler while making clear the evils of his leadership. For the purposes of starting a conversation, I have taken the liberty of revising your powerful confession.
A Declaration of Protest by Churches in America Against Collaboration with a False God
We, the signatory churches of this urgent declaration, declare ourselves to be in statu confessionis, in a state of protest against stone-hearted expressions of Christian faith and dangerous worship of the golden calf of our day. We hereby declare our opposition to the false doctrines and idolatrous practices that have come to infest church life and worship in America. These undermine and pervert the sovereignty of God and the power of the living Christ, who is the embodiment of God’s will and purpose for the world. Christians are called to follow in the gracious and loving ways of Jesus Christ, to be faithful to God alone, and to reject loyalty to and worship of counterfeit lords.
We declare with one voice that supposed Christian supporters of the golden calf of our day undermine the confessional integrity of Christianity in America. Idol worshipers have placed a false god on Christ’s throne as the object of their praise and ultimate fealty. They have succumbed to the temptation that confronted Jesus when the devil took him to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and then said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus’ answer must be our answer: “Begone Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve’” (Matthew 4:8–10).
We declare with one voice that we repudiate those who self-identify as Christians but worship the golden idol of our day and are diabolically turning the United States into a police state. Such a state is a clear danger to the freedom of all churches to worship God and to proclaim the gospel, without fear, constraint or favor. The emerging American police state blatantly undermines fundamental constitutional rights as well as the rule of law, with individuals subject to arrest, incarceration, and deportation without due process or the right to habeas corpus. A police state is, by definition, an anti-Christian state. Due process and the rule of the law are in the interest of the churches and what they stand for, a more humane and just world in which the dignity of each human being as a beloved child of God, is acknowledged and elevated, and in which justice is served by an independent and impartial judiciary.
We declare with one voice that, in the name and love of Jesus Christ, we oppose those who are turning the United States into a mafia state which seeks to punish and bully those who do not conform to the whims and wishes of its merciless ruler. Such a state increasingly uses extortion, unlawful coercion, and violence to achieve its ends. The levers of power in this mafia state are being used not only to persecute perceived enemies and subordinate the pursuit of knowledge and truth, but to enrich its self-serving potentate. We cannot countenance this development and, at the same time, remain faithful to Jesus Christ whom we confess to be the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6)
The church belongs to the living Christ alone. We therefore reject as idolatrous and false doctrine the premise that Christians must acknowledge, in addition to or instead of Jesus Christ, any other person or power as God’s revelation to whom unquestioning allegiance is to be given. We lift up the sweet fruit of God’s spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23), and we reject the bitter fruit of evil - hatefulness, suffering, chaos, vindictiveness, cruelty, selfishness, alienation, callousness, and self-indulgence. And we call upon all churches and all believers in America, to stand up and declare in word and in deed the dominion of Jesus Christ, and to spurn all counterfeit Christs as dangerous idols and enemies of the gospel.