In 11th grade, my teacher quipped that the Episcopal Church was “the Republican Party at prayer.” That clever observation captured the church’s alignment with tradition and conservatism—an alignment that has since faded into history. Today, the Episcopal Church is almost unrecognizable—and nowhere is this more evident than in the public actions of Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde.
For years, Bishop Budde has leveraged her position not to shepherd her flock, but to wage ideological battles, often targeting former President Donald Trump. Her most recent comments on The View—where she claimed to be “trying to speak a truth that needed to be said”—follow a familiar pattern. In 2020, she seized headlines by condemning Trump for holding a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church. While progressive commentators applauded her, others saw her rebuke as a glaring example of the church’s growing politicization. Budde seemed more interested in scolding the president than grappling with the pressing challenges facing her city and her nation.
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