The US government has completely misunderstood the gospel

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What an irritating instruction: employees of the US State Department are to anonymously report "anti-Christian bias" by colleagues. It is only understandable that many American diplomats are reacting with shock, as this order sows mistrust.

US President Donald Trump and his ministers are used to making weird and unusual decrees, especially in recent weeks. Religious references that are alien to most Europeans are also not uncommon - such as the view of evangelical Christians that Trump is an instrument of God because he narrowly survived an assassination attempt in July 2024.

These ideas have little to do with basic Christian values such as solidarity, mercy and justice, if one thinks of the treatment of migrants or the snubbing of the Ukrainian president. The US State Department's directive fits in here and raises the unpleasant suspicion that the government in Washington wants to instrumentalise religious issues primarily for its own political purposes. We have seen this before from dictatorships, such as the Putin regime in Russia, which uses the head of the Russian Orthodox Church for its propaganda.

Whoever has issued this instruction in the USA has obviously thoroughly misunderstood the Gospel. After all, anonymously denouncing those who think differently has nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with the Christian message of the Sermon on the Mount and love of neighbour. Properly understood freedom of faith and religion, a sign of tolerance, also looks different. Whether someone is suitable for the US diplomatic service should not depend on their attitude to a denomination or religion. Other criteria must apply to qualifications.

There is no doubt that it makes sense to protect Christians who are persecuted worldwide because of their faith. But this requires other appropriate means. This instruction is obviously only a pretext, it pursues a different goal: control.