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When Virtue-Signaling Becomes a Disservice: Bishop Marian Budde’s Missed Opportunity to Lead with Truth

Writer's picture: The ElephantThe Elephant

Bishop Budde didn’t miss the mark; she rewrote the mark and handed herself a trophy for hitting it. Budde turned the pulpit into a podium, the Bible into a prop, and her prayer into an acceptance speech for "Woke Sermon of the Year"

Bishop Budde’s prayer wasn’t to God—it was to the Academy for Best Performance in a Self-Righteous Monologue
Bishop Budde’s prayer wasn’t to God—it was to the Academy for Best Performance in a Self-Righteous Monologue

In a moment that could have united a nation in prayer and humility, Bishop Marian Budde instead took center stage to deliver a sermon tailored not for the ears of God, but for the applause of those already seated in ideological echo chambers. Rather than praying for incoming President Trump, our country, or the millions of lives impacted by the policies she decried, she turned her time at the pulpit into a theatrical lecture that may as well have been titled, “How to Virtue-Signal Your Way to an Oscar Nomination.”


While some hailed her as “courageous” for speaking out on such an important matter, her performance was not without fault. It was laced with hypocrisy, built on shaky theological ground, and completely blind to the real-life suffering on the other side of the coin. To selectively address one set of tragedies while ignoring others equally deserving of compassion is not bold—it is negligent. Worse, it is an abuse of the moral authority granted to her by her role as a shepherd of faith.


Bishop Budde’s public prayer—or rather, her public chastisement—represents a troubling trend among certain religious leaders who build doctrines based on feelings rather than Scripture. They trade truth for applause, empathy for politics, and nuance for condemnation. But as the Bible reminds us, the job of a spiritual leader is not to pick and choose who deserves God’s grace, but to guide all people toward it.


A One-Sided Compassion


Bishop Budde spoke of family separations and the plight of immigrants, painting President Trump and his administration as cold-hearted oppressors. Certainly, compassion for those who suffer is Christlike—there is no disputing that. But what about the 340,000 children who are missing, many of whom were trafficked into this country illegally and are now victims of unspeakable horrors? What about the countless women and girls who are raped and killed during their perilous journeys to cross the border? What about the parents who have been forced to bury their daughters, victims of rapists and murderers entering the country? And what about the American families torn apart by the flood of fentanyl pouring across the border, claiming more lives than some wars?


In Luke 6:42, Jesus warns against hypocrisy: “How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye?” Bishop Budde lamented family separations at the border, but not a word was uttered about the parents in America who have had to bury their children due to policies that allow evil to run unchecked. She wielded Scripture as a weapon against those who support strong borders, conveniently forgetting verses like Romans 13:1-2, which calls believers to respect governing authorities as instruments of God’s order.


To love one’s neighbor is undoubtedly a commandment, but love without truth is sentimentality, not godliness. By focusing solely on the struggles of one group while ignoring the suffering of countless others, Bishop Budde’s version of “compassion” begins to look more like propaganda.


Misusing the Pulpit as a Weapon


The role of a bishop is to lead, to shepherd, and to illuminate God’s Word—not to rewrite it to fit a political agenda. Unfortunately, Bishop Budde’s actions mirror the Pharisees of Matthew 23:27, whom Jesus rebuked for appearing righteous outwardly while being full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.”


When Bishop Budde uses her position to label those who disagree with her as “unchristian,” she steps far beyond the bounds of Scripture. Wanting to protect one’s family from evil is not un-Christlike; it is prudent and biblical. Nehemiah 4:14 calls us to “fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” It is not unchristlike to desire secure borders when those borders are being exploited to traffic children, poison communities, and bring untold suffering to innocent people.


By mischaracterizing those who hold such views as unloving or unchristian, Bishop Budde creates a false dichotomy: one where compassion and security cannot coexist. In doing so, she alienates those she should be shepherding and sows division where there could be unity.


The Missing Prayers


What is most tragic about Bishop Budde’s performance is not what she said, but what she failed to say. She did not pray for the 340,000 children missing and at risk of trafficking. She did not pray for the countless women assaulted and murdered on their way to cross the border. She did not pray for the American parents mourning the loss of their children to fentanyl. She did not pray for wisdom for our leaders or healing for our divided nation. Instead, she chose to pray for the camera—choosing performance over purpose.


James 3:1 reminds us of the weight of spiritual leadership: “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” Bishop Budde missed an opportunity to glorify God by interceding for the voiceless and the vulnerable on all sides of the issue. She chose to preach at President Trump instead of praying for him, betraying her calling in favor of a fleeting moment of applause.


Final Thoughts


Bishop Marian Budde’s public prayer should have been a moment to unite a nation under God’s sovereignty, to intercede for the broken and the hurting, and to remind all of us of our shared need for grace and guidance. Instead, it became a performance worthy of an award for virtue-signaling, devoid of the courage to address the complexities of the issues she claimed to care about.


To love as Christ loved is to care for the immigrant and the citizen, the parent at the border and the parent burying their child. It is to call for justice and compassion in equal measure. Bishop Budde’s prayer fell short not because she spoke of compassion, but because she weaponized it, using her platform to shame rather than to shepherd.


As Christians, we must hold our leaders accountable to a higher standard of truth. Let us pray for the courage to do what Bishop Budde did not: to speak truth in love, to defend the vulnerable, and to seek God’s will above the fleeting applause of man.

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