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In 2006, Michele Bachmann was in a debate carried on WCCO and had this to say:
Pat Kessler, WCCO (debate moderator): We'll start with Senator Bachmann. . . . the church you belong to is affiliated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, which, it says, regards the Roman Catholic pope as the Anti-Christ. Is this true, do you share the views of your church, and why should any Catholic in the Sixth District vote for you if it is true?

Bachmann: Well that's a false statement that was made, and I spoke with my pastor earlier today about that as well, and he was absolutely appalled that someone would put that out. It's abhorrent, it's religious bigotry. I love Catholics, I'm a Christian, and my church does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that's absolutely false.

First of all, the question starts with a faulty premise, namely, that because Lutherans teach that the pope is the antichrist, therefore Roman Catholics should not vote for a Lutheran. This is a non sequitur. The belief that the pope is a false teacher who claims authority over Christendom by divine right is a *religious* belief. It is not a political position, and it does not affect how a person holding that belief would govern.

I vote for people all the time I do not agree with doctrinally--Roman Catholics, Jews, the Reformed, Baptists, etc. I vote based on their political views, not their religious views. I would even vote for a Mormon if I agreed with him politically.

Secondly, when Bachmann was a Lutheran (she is not now), she did not know the teachings of her church. The Lutheran church *does* teach that the pope is the antichrist. This does not mean that Lutherans do not love Roman Catholics. It does not mean that we think that no Roman Catholics will be saved. I'm sure there will be, in spite of the errors taught in their church. And it does not mean that we would let our beliefs about the pope as a false teacher affect how we govern in political office.

The Lutheran church *does* teach that the pope is the antichrist.

Does the Lutheran church teach that the pope is the antichrist (i.e., the individual occupying the chair) or that the papacy (i.e., the office) is the antichrist?

Again, doctrinally...not politically...

I vote for people all the time I do not agree with doctrinally--Roman Catholics, Jews, the Reformed, Baptists, etc. I vote based on their political views, not their religious views.

Exactly. Unless the political position in question involved something where religious beliefs would come into play. Bachmann as ambassador to the Vatican, for instance.