[HiTech RedNeck]

As the Lutheran (LCMS) of closest affiliation I know to Ms. Bachmann’s synod (WELS) can you shed light on whether this brouhaha about calling Roman Popes “the Antichrist” has any basis in contemporary devout Lutheran congregations? AFAIK, this was a position popular among many evangelical congregations of past centuries (not just Lutherans), but with the contemporary trend of the Roman church backing out of the role of playing the machine in secular governments and becoming less strident towards Christian congregations of other denominations, few evangelicals take this literal view seriously.

[newzjunkey]

It's no secret.

WELS has it on their website: Statement on the Antichrist.

They go through the history with Luther, various Synods views and then affirm as a current doctrinal view that the Roman Catholic Papacy is the antichrist.

That few evangelicals take it seriously shows where her church exists on the continuum.

Membership in a divisive church would only add to the Bachmann-candidate Obama parallels of holding a law degree, having no executive experience and no effective legislative record.

Considering the Pope is not just a religious leader but head of state, her beliefs in this regard could make diplomatic relations difficult. She may also support efforts to marginalize the Holy See at the UN.

[Charles Henrickson]

Yes, the Lutheran Confessions do teach that the pope is the antichrist. He has claimed a position of supreme leadership in the church by divine right; he has deceived millions with his false teaching on justification, the central article of the Christian faith; he has anathematized the true teaching of the gospel; and historically he has claimed power in both civil and ecclesiastical realms. (See, in the Lutheran Confessions, the Smalcald Articles and the Treatise on the Power and the Primacy of the Pope for further explanation.) To the extent that the current popes still do the things described in the 1500s, they continue to fit the bill.

However, that Lutherans regard the pope as the antichrist is a *doctrinal* view, not a political position, and it does not have anything to do with disqualifying a Lutheran from holding public office in the state.