Patty Wetterling's Republican opponent in this open seat race is a known religious fundamentalist. But given their district is 30 percent Catholic, how will that community react when they find out that Michelle Bachmann's church teaches that
Catholics follow Satan?
According to her website, Bachmann attends Salem Lutheran Church in Stillwater, Minnesota. This congregation belongs to the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), one of the most right-wing Lutheran denominations. Not to be confused with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America or the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, WELS broke with its denominational brethren because it felt they were abandoning core biblical principles and doctrine.
For WELS, anti-Catholic belief is no anachronism left over from the European Reformation. In 1958, WELS wrote a doctrinal statement reaffirming the scriptural foundation and historical accuracy of the understanding that the papacy is the Antichrist. That statement was unanimously adopted by WELS in 1959 without any dissent. It reads:
Therefore on the basis of a renewed study of the pertinent Scriptures we reaffirm the statement of the Lutheran Confessions, that "the Pope is the very Antichrist" (cf. Section II), especially since he anathematizes the doctrine of the justification by faith alone and sets himself up as the infallible head of the Church...We thereby affirm that we identify this "Antichrist" with the Papacy as it is known to us today...We reject the idea that the teaching that the Papacy is the Antichrist rests on a merely human interpretation of history or is an open question. We hold rather that this teaching rests on the revelation of God in Scripture which finds its fulfillment in history. The Holy Spirit reveals this fulfillment to the eyes of faith.
This statement is one of only nine core doctrines listed on WELS's website, suggesting it is particularly important to the denomination.
Bachmann hasn't herself repeated this craziness, but her church requires strict adherence to its tenets lest they get cast out. Does she agree? I'm sure that the 247,642 Catholics in the district would like to know.
On the web: Patty Wetterling for Congress