By Joanne M. Pierce
Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon on Jan. 21, 2025, in which she appealed to President Donald Trump to have mercy toward groups frightened by his position on immigrants and LGBTQ+ people – especially children – drew reactions from both sides of the aisle.
In a post on his social networking site, Truth Social, Trump called her comments “nasty in tone” and remarked that she “brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way.”
“She and her church owe the public an apology!,” he posted. Several conservatives criticized her sermon, while many progressives saw her as “speaking truth to power.”
As a specialist in medieval Christianity, I was not surprised by the bishop’s words, as I know that Christian history is full of examples of people who have spoken out, unafraid to risk official censure, or even death.
Early voices
Even in the early centuries of Christianity, followers of Jesus Christ’s teachings could be outspoken toward political leaders.
For example, in the first-century Gospels, John the Baptist, a contemporary of Jesus, confronts the ruler of Galilee, Herod Antipas, for marrying his brother’s wife – a practice forbidden in the Hebrew scriptures. For that, John the Baptist was ultimately beheaded.
In a prayer later called the Magnificat, Mary, the mother of Jesus, praises the glory and power of God who casts down the mighty and raises the lowly. In recent interpretations, these words have been understood as a call for those in authority to act more justly.
In the late fourth century – a time when Christianity had been made the official religion of the Roman Empire – a respected civil official named Ambrose became bishop of the imperial city of Milan in northern Italy. He became well known for his preaching and theological treatises.
However, after imperial troops massacred innocent civilians in the Greek city of Thessaloniki, Ambrose reproached Emperor Theodosius and refused to admit him to church for worship until he did public penance for their deaths.
Ambrose’s writings on scripture and heresy, as well as his hymns, had a profound influence on Western Christian theology; since his death, he has been venerated as a saint.
In the early sixth century, the Christian Roman senator and philosopher Boethius served as an official in the Roman court of the Germanic king of Italy, Theodoric. A respected figure for his learning and personal integrity, Boethius was imprisoned on false charges after defending others from accusations by corrupt court officials acting out of greed or ambition.
During his time in prison, he wrote a philosophical volume about the nature of what is true good – “On the Consolation of Philosophy” – that is studied even today. Boethius, who was executed in 524, is venerated as a saint and martyr in parts of Italy.
Thomas Becket and St. Catherine
One of the most famous examples of a medieval bishop speaking truth to power is that of Thomas Becket, former chancellor – that is, senior minister – of England in the 12th century. On becoming archbishop of Canterbury, Becket resigned his secular office and opposed the efforts of King Henry II to bring the church under royal control.
Dukas/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
After living in exile in France for a time, Becket returned to England and was assassinated by some of Henry’s knights. The king later did public penance for this at Becket’s tomb in Canterbury. Soon after, Becket was canonized a saint.
Another influential saint was the 14th-century Italian mystic and writer Catherine of Siena. Because of the increasing power of the kings of France, the popes had moved their residence and offices from Rome to Avignon, on the French border. They remained there for most of the century, even though this Avignon papacy increased tensions in western Europee.
Many Christian clerics and secular rulers in western Europe believed that the popes needed to return to Rome, to distance papal authority from French influence. Catherine herself even traveled to Avignon and stayed there for months, writing letters urging Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome and restore peace to Italy and the church – a goal the pope finally fulfilled in 1377.
Leaders speak up across denominations
The Reformation era of the 16th and early 17th centuries led to the splitting of Western Christianity into several different denominations. However, many Christian leaders across denominations continued to raise their voices for justice.
One important and ongoing voice is that of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers. Early leaders, like Margaret Fell and George Fox, wrote letters to King Charles II of England in the mid-17th century, defending their beliefs, including pacifism, in the face of persecution.
In the 18th century, based on their belief in the equality of all human beings, Quaker leaders spoke in favor of the abolition of slavery in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
In fact, it was Bayard Rustin, a Black Quaker, who coined the phrase “to speak truth to power” in the mid-20th century. He adhered to the Quaker commitment to nonviolence in social activism and was active for decades in the American Civil Rights Movement. During the Montgomery bus boycott in the mid-1950s, he met and began working with Martin Luther King Jr., who was an ordained Baptist minister.
In Germany, leaders from various Christian denominations have also united to speak truth to power. During the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s, several pastors and theologians joined forces to resist the influence of Nazi doctrine over German Protestant churches.
Their statement, the Barmen Declaration, emphasized that Christians were answerable to God, not the state. These leaders – the Confessing Church – continued to resist Nazi attempts to create a German Church.
Desmond Tutu and other leaders
AP Photo/Jim Abrams
Christians on other continents, too, continued this vocal tradition. Óscar Romero, the Roman Catholic archbishop of San Salvador, preached radio sermons criticizing the government and army for violence and oppression of the poor in El Salvador during a national civil war. As a result, he was assassinated while celebrating Mass in 1980. Romero was canonized a saint by Pope Francis in 2018.
In South Africa, the Anglican bishop Desmond Tutu, archbishop of Cape Town, spent much of his active ministry condemning the violence of apartheid in his native country. After the end of the apartheid regime, Tutu also served as chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was established to investigate acts of violence committed both by government forces and violent activists. Before his death in 2021, Tutu continued to speak out against other international acts of oppression. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.
For some, Bishop Budde’s words might seem radical, rude, inappropriate or offensive. But she did not speak in isolation; she is surrounded by a cloud of witnesses in the Christian tradition of speaking truth to power.
Joanne M. Pierce is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at the College of the Holy Cross.
Pogo says
@Joanne M. Pierce
Amen.
Jackson says
Why is it Conservatives always attack the weakest, most helpless among us? It’s almost like they’re modeling, bullying, heartless behavior as acceptable. And here I thought these people were supposed to be supporting the idea of a Christian Nation. Being a Christian is sure a lot different than when I was growing up.
jake says
This was nothng more than an ambush, and a lecture.
Charles says
Wish the Maga Republican party had the courage to speak the truth and stand up to their oath of office instead of worshipping a human. They have no courage and are a bunch of weak insecure boys.
Laurel says
I watched Bishop Budde, and there was nothing “nasty” in her tone. Baby didn’t get his way, and cried.
I’m not a Christian, and can look from the outside. What she did, and said, is what I would expect. I back her.
Trump, I believe, was married in the Episcopal Church in Palm Beach. It’s a beautiful church, with an elaborate carillon. I wonder what the partitioners think now. My husband is an Episcopalian, and finds Trump’s comments about the Bishop offensive. Trump supporters will now bend over backwards to defend his tantrum.
Trump supercedes government, law and God.
Fools for money says
They didn’t like being quoted Jesus
R.S. says
While the Confessing Church of Germany resistend the NAZIs and while Dietrich Bonhoeffer criticized Hitler in a public document, we should also not forget that the core members of both the Roman Catholic and the Protestant Lutheran churches went along with the NAZI war effort. The churches had been soundly criticized for their resistance to the war effort of World War I; they were not about to repeat that error in Word War II and, thus, were generally staunch supporters of the regime. And pastors who identified with the goals of the Confessing Church had great difficulties being appointed to pastoral positions by the clerical hierarchy. It’s the courageous outsider that’ll make waves, not the run-of-the-mill believer.
Matt says
We are a nation of laws, Illegal aliens have broken the law coming here illegally, they must be removed.
it’s that simple, all the virtue signaling, hand wringing & whining will not change that fact. Either come legally & lawfully or stay out, take your pick. BTW, if you come legally you won’t be removed.
Of course there is always the option of changing the place where you are at to be somewhere that you want to stay in.
Skibum says
“We are a nation of laws” and those who break the law must be held accountable… right, Matt? So 1,500 insurrectionist rioters who were pardoned for their crimes by the very same person now so intent on mass deportations, pardons that included 400 violent felons who attacked and beat police officers causing more than 100 law enforcement officers to be injured, some very seriously, where is their accountability? “We are a nation of laws”, yet the person who is ordering these deportations of those who have committed the civil, NOT criminal federal violation of illegally crossing over the border is himself a convicted felon… who is not facing any accountability for his 34 count felony convictions after being found guilty of all counts by a jury of his peers. Where is his accountability? If we are a nation of laws, then those same laws have to be fairly administered and everyone who has been found guilty of crimes (felonies in particular since they are the most serious crimes) MUST be held accountable under our system of justice. Yet the felon in chief who once again occupies the White House is not being held accountable, and worse yet, he had unilaterally issued pardons to those who were convicted and/or pleaded guilty to violent assaults on police officers. And a number of those who assaulted police on Jan. 6 stood in front of a judge and admitted their guilt and expressed remorse for their actions, asking the court for lenience at sentencing. None of those attackers deserved pardons if “we are a nation of laws”. For Trump to be so hell bent on ordering nationwide mass deportations to include women and children simply for crossing the border to seek better lives, when he is giving out presidential pardons to violent felons for the one and only reason that they were his supporters does not bode well for anyone to say with a straight face that “we are a nation of laws” an law breakers need to be held accountable under the law when referring to what Trump has orchestrated and is carrying out in the last few short weeks!
Resume time says
I think Budde needs to polish up her resume and look for work elsewhere, perhaps cleaning toilets for all the crap she spewed. Who hired her? Obviously a DEI pick.
Joe D says
Reply for R.S.:
You are historically correct. As Hitler moved up in power, and started moving to take over Europe, the sitting POPE at the time (his name escapes me at the moment), decided to play it “POLITICALLY SAFE,” and not rock the boat by denouncing Hitler’s behavior (at the time, information about the growing Holocaust was largely hidden…and OFFICIALS at the time considered it …dare I say it…FAKE NEWS).
The difference is, in recent years one POPE, publicly Acknowledged and APOLOGIZED for the Catholic Church’s lack of OFFICIAL confrontation of the Nazi Regime, as it was SLAUGHTERING Jews, homosexuals, the handicapped , Blacks, and even local dissident Priests.
I wonder how the history books will portray recent and coming years in the USA, under the microscope of 50-100 years from now!?!
Pogo says
@Really?
“…growing Holocaust was largely hidden…”
Try, ignored, e.g.:
Malone : [stopping at a post office] Well, here we are.
Ness : What are we doing here?
Malone : Liquor raid.
Ness : [looking at the police station across the street] Here?
Malone : Mr. Ness, everybody knows where the booze is. The problem isn’t finding it, the problem is who wants to cross Capone.
— Sean Connery: Jim Malone, The Untouchables (1987)
Prominent, prosperous men and women become heroes and martyrs; ordinary, poor, people with everything else equal become only victims and statistics; the poor crazy, the wealthy eccentric.
Still, I’d rather die on my feet than live on my knees.
R.S. says
It was Pius XII, the pope who collaborated with the NAZIs. Remember that the Roman Catholics did not exonerate Jews from the murder of god until 1965.
R.S. says
There is the human right to be granted asylum. Dates back to 1948. Remember that the US sent the St. Louis back to Germany with 396 Jews and one non-Jew aboard to flee Germany. They weren’t legitimate until one week after arrival. Most died in the holocaust. The human right to asylum supersedes any national law for law-abiding nations.
Laurel says
Jake: Wow, the poor victim! He’s just picked on all the time.
Laurel says
“We are a nation of laws” with a lawless President, who frees the duly convicted.
Laurel says
Resume time: From my Episcopalian husband: God hires the Diverse, believes in Equity and Includes all. She is doing God’s work, not Trump’s.
DaleL says
A preachy lecture, you know, a sermon. Maybe if Trump went to church once in a while, he would be used to such a thing.
Sherry says
@R.S. Unfortunately and obviously. . . since we have a “Convicted Criminal and adjudicated sexual abuser” as President, the US is no longer a law abiding nation.
Mayy says
That is correct Trump is allowed by law to pardon the J-6ers your referring to, without even getting your permission to do so.
BTW, this group of 1500ish patriots bear the distinction of having their constitutional rights violated more than any other patriots since the 1716 era. Read the Declaration of Independence sometime.
Compared to the “dirtbags” that Biden gave pardon to Trump is a saint. Of course your TDS prevents you from thinking rationally.
Sherry says
mayy, jake and resume time. . . such negative words from angry hearts. Why are you like that? Please take care of yourselves and get some help soon.
laurel says
Generally, cults do not attract rational, critical thinkers. They seek out the harmed, the wounded, who are the most vulnerable and easy to bring into their circles. Charles Manson knew this, as did Jim Jones, Rev. Moon, Hitler, Mussolini, and now, Trump, the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. They do it with promises of greatness and retribution.
Sherry says
@ Laurel. . . Buenos Dias from wonderful Mexico! You have a really excellent point! I couldn’t have said it better myself. The Maga cult members that often comment here are obviously and tragically broken. . . some more than others.