As Christians and allies of our Jewish and Black communities, we have spent the past week in mourning, grieving the deaths of 11 members of the Tree of Life Synagogue and 2 Black Americans in Kentucky. Their killers were motivated by the violent ideology of white nationalism. We have spent the week at vigils and in prayer making commitments to one another to honor the memory of the dead by standing up to white nationalist hate.

On Thursday a constituent asked Rep. Steve King if he was a white supremacist. King should have had a simple answer: no. But King couldn’t deny it. Instead, King refused to answer and demanded that the questioner be removed. That’s because, for years, King has been the most prominent public figure explicitly promoting and trying to normalize the violent ideology of white nationalism.

When challenged about his views, King’s defends himself by saying he is acting on his Christian values. As a faith community, we are sick and tired of King cynically using our shared Christian faith as a justification for his racist, white nationalist, and anti-semitic words and actions.

We want to speak clearly to our fellow Christian Steve King, to those who remain standing with him, and to all Christians in Iowa and across the country:

White nationalism is not a Christian value.

Signed,

Rev. Jen Hibben Collegiate United Methodist Church and Wesley Foundation Ames, IA	Rev. Dr. Jill Sander Collegiate United Methodist Church and Wesley Foundation Ames, IA
Father John Herzog St. Thomas Aquinas Ames, IA	Father Eugene C. Kutsch Retired Catholic Priest Dubuque, IA
Rev. Anna Blaedel Wesley Center at the University of Iowa Iowa City, IA	Rev. Sam Massey First Presbyterian Church Iowa City, IA
Rev. David Halaas Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Sioux City, IA