Radical reverend disrespectfully turns pulpit into a political soapbox during post-inaugural service

Op-ed by Summer Lane

On Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife Usha attended a traditional church service at the Washington National Cathedral, marking a special post-inaugural moment of worship for the Trump and Vance families.

President Donald Trump continued the longstanding religious tradition on Tuesday, still soaring high from the incredible inaugural celebration of the past day and the elegant balls the night before.

The worship service proceeded routinely until a female reverend, reportedly Rt. Rev. Mariann Budde, took the podium and delivered what can only be described as a political hit job aimed directly at the President of the United States – a shockingly disrespectful display in what should have been a traditionally non-partisan sermon.

She openly lectured President Trump from the pulpit and begged him to “have mercy” on LGBTQ children and illegal immigrants who are about to be deported. “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children…some who fear for their lives!” she claimed.

“The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals,” she further claimed, touching on the upcoming deportation operation.

It is unclear how Budde has come to the conclusion that LGBTQ are under threat from the Trump administration. She may have been responding to President Trump’s executive order, signed yesterday, recognizing only two genders: male and female.

President Trump has also vowed to deport illegal alien criminals in the largest deportation operation in history.

Here’s how Budde’s arguments are not only factually incorrect – but scripturally inaccurate.

Many illegal aliens are criminals

Unfortunately, many illegals who have crossed over the border into the United States during the Biden administration are violent criminals and gang members – the data doesn’t lie. According to a horrifying report from ICE in late 2024, more than 600,000 illegals are walking around non-detained in the United States with convicted or pending criminal charges, per Fox News.

More than 60,000 of those have been convicted of assault and over 15,000 have been convicted of sexual assault, according to the data. And these are just the criminals that ICE knows about. This data does not cover the thousands – or potentially millions – of unidentified gang members, drug dealers, and foreign assets who have slipped across the border and infiltrated American cities and towns.

And with the murders of young women like 22-year-old Laken Riley and 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray still fresh in the minds of Americans everywhere, it’s certainly not an exaggeration to say that illegal-related crime is taking American lives.

This sobering reality has driven President Trump to declare a national emergency at the southern border of the United States as he has vowed to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which will give federal law enforcement the power to coordinate to remove aliens on American soil.

Justice matters – especially in the Bible

As a reverend, Budde should know that the Scripture is very clear on the need for even-keeled justice and protection for the weak and vulnerable in society – such as children or women. Most obviously, the Ten Commandments handed down by Moses to the Israelites in Exodus 20 command followers of the Lord God to refrain from murder and theft, for example. Is Budde suggesting that illegal aliens who have committed documented crimes of rape and murder should not be deported or face justice for their crimes?

Proverbs 24:24 pointedly warns, “Whoever says to the guilty, ‘You are innocent,’ will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.”

In yet another verse, the Biblical reminder to care for the fatherless and the widow is made clear: “Learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, and plead the widow’s cause.” (Isaiah 1:17)

Horrifically, 75 percent of women and 25 percent of children crossing the border illegally have been exploited or trafficked after crossing the border, according to a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General. As equally horrifying is the reality that, according to that same report, 320,000 migrant children are completely missing.

Where are they? Where is the justice for these unaccompanied children who were likely being trafficked across the border? Where is the justice for the women who are being abused?

“Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked,” Psalm 82:3-4 states.

Trump’s common sense position on gender is also biblical

Budde’s politically-charged belief that the Trump administration somehow poses a danger to LGBTQ children is confusing, but it echoes the sentiments of many radical leftists who have made transgenderism the cornerstone for their political belief system.

While the argument regarding the constitutionality of same-sex marriage is another matter entirely, the difference between human gender is very clear to most people, and it is also defined simply in the Bible. In Genesis 2, the Bible says God created two genders – male and female. Even more specifically, in Genesis 2:18, Scripture says God created the woman to be a complement and a helpmate to her male counterpart.

This is not a complex concept. Stating an objective biological fact does not pose a threat to anyone – it only challenges the status quo of subjective truths of mainstream leftist ideologues who wish to use gender identity as a narrative to make a radical political point to further their own ends.

Related posts

LIVE: Covering the Latest News from the Trump White House – 2/10/25

Trump meets with New Orleans terror attack first responders, family members ahead of Super Bowl

Trump says he’s ‘serious’ about Canada becoming 51st state