John Eidsmoe, associated with Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, has history with public defenses of Confederacy
Jason Wilson at The Guardian:
A Presbyterian pastor linked to the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) via various aligned or affiliated organizations also has a history of associations with the neo-Confederate movement, including speaking dates for prominent neo-Confederate groups, and public defenses of the Confederacy and Confederate monuments. One group whose conference Colonel John Eidsmoe addressed, the Council for Concerned Citizens (CCC), was credited by racist mass murderer Dylann Roof for contributing to the radicalization of his views on race, which culminated in his deadly attack on Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 2015. The LCMS is the second-largest Lutheran body in the United States after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The Pew Research Center’s most recent religious landscape study estimates that about 1% of the US population, or about 2.6 million people identify with the Synod, putting the denomination at approximately half the size of the ELCA.
The revelations about Eidsmoe, whose links to neo-Confederate organizations have previously ignited scandal for high profile Republican politicians, are just the most recent in a series of connections between LCMS and far-right and white supremacist individuals which have roiled the congregation since 2023. In a telephone call, Eidsmoe confirmed that he was an ordained Lutheran minister currently serving a Presbyterian congregation in Alabama. Asked if he was a neo-Confederate, Eidsmoe said “no, I would not,” however: “I believe that there are some good values in southern culture, and I believe that the South had a constitutional right to secede.”
Eidsmoe also denied any direct links to LCMS, saying: “I wouldn’t say there’s really any relationship with the Missouri Synod. I did speak once for Lutheran Classical College but only as a guest speaker and I’m on the board of Lutherans for Life, which is not a Missouri Synod organization it’s pan-Lutheran.” When the Guardian pointed out that Lutherans for Life is a Registered Service Organization of LCMS, he said: “Well yes, but I mean a lot of organizations that are not Missouri Synod are nevertheless licensed in that way.”
In response to an email requesting comment, the Rev Roy S Askins, LCMS managing director of editorial and theological content, wrote: “Col. John Eidsmoe is not an LCMS pastor nor a member of any LCMS congregation.”
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Eidsmoe’s LCMS connections
Eidsmoe, a retired colonel of both the USAF and the Mississippi state guard according to his online biographies, is an ordained pastor who currently serves a Presbyterian church in Notasulga, Alabama. But Eidsmoe is or has been affiliated with several organizations which are directly affiliated with the LCMS, or who have sought affiliation from the organization. According to the website of anti-abortion group Lutherans for Life, which is a Recognized Service Organization (RSO) of LCMS, Eidsmoe is a board member. The earliest Internet Archive snapshot of his biography page is from 2020, indicating that he has been on the board for at least five years. According to the LCMS website, RSOs are “not-for-profit organizations that are independent” of LCMS, but “operate ministry programs that foster the mission and ministry of the church”. RSO affiliation is subject to LCMS approval. [...]
Neo-Confederate connections
Along with LCMS links, Eidsmoe also has long-standing links to the neo-Confederate movement, which describes a variety of organizations and activists who at best offer revisionist accounts of the south’s efforts to preserve slavery by seceding from the US, and at worst argue for the restoration or secession of a segregated, white supremacist Confederacy. These connections have drawn national coverage in the past due to Eidsmoe’s connections to high-profile Republican politicians including Roy Moore and Michele Bachmann. According to the organization’s website, Eidsmoe still serves as senior counsel at the Foundation for Moral Law, founded by failed senate candidate Roy Moore.
[...] Historically, the LCMS has maintained a doctrinally and scripturally more conservative position than the mainline ELCA, but in contrast to some other evangelical groups they have largely steered clear of involvement in partisan politics or religiously-inflected culture wars. In recent years, however, LCMS has been repeatedly roiled by controversies driven by members of the denomination with connections to far-right groups.
John Eidsmoe, a far-right pastor linked to LCMS-affiliated group Lutherans For Life, has neo-confederate ties.
