Tucker Carlson has ignited a wave of outrage across the conservative and Christian worlds after claiming that Dietrich Bonhoeffer — the anti-Nazi theologian executed by Adolf Hitler’s regime in 1945 — had “decided … Christianity is not enough, we have to kill the guy [Hitler],” suggesting the German pastor ultimately advocated murder.
The remark came during Carlson’s latest episode, which focused heavily on attacking commentators Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro and claiming they routinely label political opponents as “Nazis.”
“Once you start calling people Nazis, we really have no choice but to start shooting them,” Carlson said.
“To be Dietrich Bonhoeffer and sort of reach the end of reason, or even Christianity … Bonhoeffer decided Christianity’s not even — he was a Lutheran pastor — Christianity is not enough, we have to kill the guy,” he said.
Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and founding member of the Christian resistance movement known as the Confessing Church, was imprisoned for helping Jewish Germans escape to Switzerland.
He was later linked to the resistance circle involved in the failed July 20, 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler.
His hanging in April 1945 at the Flossenburg concentration camp in Bavaria by the Third Reich made him one of Christianity’s most revered martyrs of the 20th century.
Carlson’s framing of Bonhoeffer as someone who “advocated murder” stunned Christian leaders, theologians, and historians — and reignited a separate firestorm engulfing the Heritage Foundation.
The conservative think tank, led by president Kevin Roberts, has been under fire — both internally and externally — after sponsoring Carlson’s podcast, which recently featured the Hitler-admiring, white nationalist Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. It’s triggered multiple resignations from members of Heritage’s National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism.
Author Eric Metaxas, whose best-selling biography “Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy” helped introduce the theologian to millions of American Christians, blasted Carlson’s comments as historically and theologically illiterate.
“Tucker’s statements about Bonhoeffer are WRONG,” Metaxas wrote on X.
“It’s seriously shocking he would say these things. Bonhoeffer did not advocate MURDER, which would have been sinful, but he did understand that within a just war people are KILLED. Will Tucker now condemn David for killing Goliath?”
Metaxas elaborated that Bonhoeffer’s involvement with anti-Hitler resistance was deeply rooted in Christian ethics rather than a rejection of them.
“In my BONHOEFFER book I detail the ethical struggle he had in participating in the plot to kill Hitler,” he said. “But let’s be clear. Not all killing is MURDER. David did not MURDER Goliath. MURDER is always wrong.”
Metaxas then urged Carlson to engage the subject sincerely rather than framing it for rhetorical effect.
“I wish @TuckerCarlson would have me on for an honest conversation about Bonhoeffer,” he wrote. “He is TOTALLY off base in saying what he says and I’m just shocked he would say it. Like WOW…”
He added, “I am seriously SHOCKED Tucker would say such wildly uninformed things about BONHOEFFER.”
Sen. Ted Cruz also rebuked Carlson’s interpretation of Bonhoeffer.
“Wow. Stunning,” he wrote on X.
“Who in their right mind would side with Adolph Hitler over Bonhoeffer?” Cruz added rhetorically. “Specifically, Tucker on Wednesday condemned Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer….”
Actress Patricia Heaton reacted with incredulity and ridicule, writing: “Hahahahahahahaha… now Bonhoeffer is the bad guy… hahahahahahaha… now do Jesus, Tucker… hahahahah.” Her response captured a broader sense among many conservatives that Carlson’s commentary had veered into absurd territory.
Heather Johnson, founder of the Alabama-based U.S. Israel Education Center, warned that rhetoric diminishing Hitler’s evil “must be rejected without hesitation.”
Writing on X, she said any “attempt to sanitize the darkest evil of the 20th century is a moral failure,” adding that “we must ensure this never happens again.”
Conservative leader Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated on Sept. 10 during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University, had long praised Bonhoeffer as a moral model for Christians resisting tyranny, contrasted sharply with Carlson’s portrayal.
“We want a thousand Dietrich Bonhoeffers,” Kirk once said, praising the pastor’s courage and willingness to sacrifice everything for God’s purposes.
“We’re not going to say we’re going to create them — I want to find them and encourage them. That’s it.”
He added, “Bonhoeffer’s the example of, ‘hey, I’m willing to sacrifice everything I have for God’s purpose on earth.'”
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