These Are Not Illinois Nazis

by on June 17, 2026 | 18 Comments

At Synod Calgary, held June 8–11 by the United Reformed Churches in North America (URCNA),1 as delegates debated whether or how to adopt a statement that had been adopted by several other sister churches, one pastor rose to say that three families of his congregation were attending a conference in Ogden, Utah, being put on by Christian nationalists. One of the sponsors of the conference is Antelope Hill Publishing, and their display featured Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, The Essential Speeches of Adolf Hitler, and The Rise of the Third Reich; R. Walther Darré’s The Peasantry as the Lifeblood of the Nordic Race; the notorious volume The Turner Diaries; and other titles such as The White Man’s Bible and The Declaration of White Independence.2 This conference was reportedly attended by one thousand people or more. Further, in the last few months a member and former deacon in a NAPARC congregation was placed under discipline for impenitently advocating antisemitic, kinist, and even pro-Nazi sentiments.3 There are other indicators of trouble on this front.

At the January 2026 meeting of the Presbytery of the Southwest (OPC) Carl Miller and Phil Lovelady (minister and a ruling elder, respectively, of Heritage OPC in New Braunfels, TX) said on the floor of presbytery that they have kinism in their congregation. At that same meeting Presbytery voted to remove a statement against kinism from an overture to be sent to General Assembly. After that meeting of presbytery, the session of Covenant OPC in Ft. Worth, TX overtured presbytery to condemn the sin of kinism. That overture passed with a strong majority at the May 2026 meeting of presbytery.

Also, on January 23 of this year, the Presbytery of the Alleghenies (RPCNA) “excommunicated Samuel Ketcham for his advocacy of kinism, the belief that insurmountable differences between races exist and justify some type of discrimination.”4 Ketcham was convicted of violating the third, fifth, sixth, and ninth commandments of God’s holy law.5

The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church was also moved by ecclesiastical cases against kinists to produce a report on “Kinism and Race Realism.”6

On April 5, 2024, Michael Spangler, whom regular readers of this space might remember from the 2020 controversy surrounding the online forum, Geneva Commons,7 was divested of the office of minister by the Presbytery of the Southeast (OPC). With Samuel Ketcham, Spangler has formed the so-called Piedmont Presbytery (apparently consisting of two congregations).8 In the wake of the controversy surrounding the Ogden, UT conference, Spangler on June 14, 2026 declared, “We need a Protestant Hitler.” On June 15, he opined, “Sensible segregation in the midst of a race war is not heresy, it is prudence. Decades of free social mingling with non-Whites have brought much more harm than good. It is heartless for a White pastor not to care about this.”

So serious are these threats to the peace and purity of the Reformed churches that, in response to an overture, the Synod of the United Reformed Churches in North America, meeting in Calgary, AB, Canada, June 8–12, 2026, adopted the following statement:

That the 14th Synod of the United Reformed Churches in North America join with the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church in America, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and condemn without distinction any theological or political teaching which posits a superiority of race or ethnic identity born of immutable human characteristics and call to repentance any who would promote or associate themselves with such teaching, either by commission or omission.9

Any pastor or Christian teacher who has been in contact with young white men in the last thirty-six months will tell you that he is very concerned about the effect that books such as Douglas Wilson’s Mere Christendom, Stephen Wolfe’s The Case for Christian Nationalism, and, perhaps more widely, videos by Joel Webbon, Brian Sauvé, Eric Conn, and Andrew Isker are having on young men in their congregations. Wolfe, Sauvé, Conn, and Isker were among those who spoke at the June 11–13, 2026, conference in Ogden.10

These social media “influencers,” as they are called, are leading young men to think that it is normal to believe and say that Hitler was a hero, that the Holocaust never happened, that Jews secretly run the world, that white people are superior to people of other colors, and other noxious ideas that were, until recently, thought to be have been discredited and discarded.

There have been voices sounding the alarm about the growing popularity of ideas, the history of which is covered in blood. In his review of Wolfe’s book, Samuel Sey quoted a now deleted post by Wolfe in which he wrote, “While intermarriage is not itself wrong (as an individual matter), groups have a collective duty to be separate and marry among themselves. . . .There is a difference between something being sinful absolutely and something being sinful relatively. Interethnic marriage can be sinful relatively and absolutely.”11 As Sey observes, these words are “consistent with” what Wolfe says in The Case for Christian Nationalism:

People of different ethnic groups can exercise respect for difference, conduct some routine business with each other, join in inter-ethnic alliances for mutual good, and exercise common humanity (e.g., the good Samaritan), but they cannot have a life together that goes beyond mutual alliance. . . . What I am saying is that in-group solidarity and right of difference along ethnic lines are necessary for the complete good for each and all.12

It is striking to see Wolfe quoting approvingly Samuel Francis (1947–2005), whom Jared Taylor calls “the premier philosopher of white racial consciousness of our time.”13 In his review of Wolfe’s book, Kevin DeYoung observed,

The message—that ethnicities shouldn’t mix, that heretics can be killed, that violent revolution is already justified, and that what our nation needs is a charismatic Caesar-like leader to raise our consciousness and galvanize the will of the people—may bear resemblance to certain blood-and-soil nationalisms of the 19th and 20th centuries, but it’s not a nationalism that honors and represents the name of Christ.14

Equally troubling has been the revelation from Jake Meador on X of close connections between some Christian nationalists and National Socialists (Nazis) and “blood and soil” (Blut und Boden) nationalists.15 Remarkably, it seems necessary to explain why Christians should not be associating with Nazis.

What is “blood and soil nationalism”? The phrase “blood and soil” has roots in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century German history. Yoni Anijar writes, “The phrase first came into popular use in Germany in the late 19th century by German nationalists as a populist slogan meant to emphasize the racial purity of the German people (blood) and their connection to a German homeland (soil).”16

In 1937 Samuel Rosenberg explained that the “slogan, ‘Blut und Boden,’ fundamental in National Socialism, came to give concrete expression to the idea of Volk.”17 He explained how the Jews came to be used as a foil by the National Socialists (remember, this was in 1937), which “serves to unify the race by dramatically confronting it with a foe.” Further, blood “as the ultimate refinement of race, became a cornerstone for the theoretical exegesis of Nazi politics, not in any metaphorical sense but literally as blood.” He quotes Otto Koereutter, “The German leader-state is no fascist state, but a German state which rests especially on a folk and hence on a racial basis. It is built on the racial ties of blood and soil.” He quotes Hans Gerber, who wrote, “The Nazi state is not only organic but biological, since it rests on ties of blood.”18

In 1933, at the Nuremberg convention of the Nazi party, Hitler declared, “A racial comrade . . . is the politically valuable man who is capable of following the inner voice of his blood, and thereby becomes conscious of his race and acts upon this consciousness politically.”19 According to Rosenberg, at that moment Hitler redefined “blood and soil” subjectively.20 If one identifies with blood and soil nationalism (Nazism), one is a Nazi.

Consider Rosenberg’s account of the aspirations of the Nazi totalitarians:

Authority is based on the inner kinship of the people, and the justification of authority lies in the confidence the people have in the leader. The leader himself is the physical embodiment of the inarticulate will of the people. This will can never be formulated or exercised by the people, whose function is simply to manifest the emotional basis of political power.21

The parallels between the language Rosenberg recorded and the rhetoric among some of today’s Christian nationalists are easy to see. This is particularly true on social media (e.g., X), where self-identified Christian nationalists openly use “blood and soil” imagery as Meador has cataloged and as was on display at the recent conference in Ogden.

In his review of Wolfe’s book, Paul D. Miller observes that Wolfe advocates a “measured and theocratic Caesarism.” He is right to warn that Wolfe’s theory has “authoritarian tendencies.” He notes,

Wolfe argues that we have a natural affinity for similar people and that, since God is the author of nature, this natural affinity is good. He believes, therefore, that we should affirm our desire to be with similar people, working to preserve what makes us culturally distinct and using government power as part of that effort. Wolfe’s argument is refreshingly clear, honest, and forthright about the foundations and implications of nationalism.22

He argues that Wolfe has sacralized “tribalism.” That is to say, he has baptized a natural idea and then he downplays the effect of the fall on nature to get the outcome he wants. As Miller notes, is does not imply ought. Like Rousseau, Wolfe reads our fallen proclivities to tribalism back into the prelapsarian state. He also sees in Wolfe’s Christian nationalism a kind of identity politics, and more than that, he sees “blood and soil nationalism.”

In this regard, Miller points us to this passage in Wolfe’s Case for Christian Nationalism:

Blood relations remain relevant to nations, when referring to one’s ancestral connection to a people and place back to time immemorial. . . . Christian philosopher Johann Herder was correct in saying that the volk is a “family writ large.” This is an apt description because not everyone is a cousin by blood but because one’s kin lived here with the extended families of others for generations, leaving behind a trace of themselves and their cooperation and their great works and sacrifices. Blood relations matter for your ethnicity, because your kin have belonged to people on this land—to this nation in this place—and so they bind you to that people and place, creating a common volksgeist.23

Most reviewers do not seem to have grasped the significance of Wolfe’s language. His invocation of “blood relations” has a dark history. In 1937 Rosenberg warned about what was coming. “Blood, as an ultimate refinement of race, became a cornerstone for the theoretical exegesis of Nazi politics, not in any metaphorical sense, but literally as blood. Thus Karl Larenz, an academician writes, ‘Blood and spirit are the poles of human existence, for our spiritual heritage is carried down in the blood. . . . Blood and spirit must be one. . . . Since the spirit may wander, blood must check spirit.’”24

Rosenberg’s essay gives us some context for understanding Wolfe’s invocation of blood, Das Volk (the people), and Der Volksgeist (national spirit). For Larenz, as for Schmitt and apparently for Wolfe, these ideas are inextricably intertwined. Blood and soil referred to German racial purity from the late nineteenth century, decades before Hitler’s rise to power. Hence, we understand Miller’s exasperation when he exclaims, “This is literally, blood and soil nationalism.”

Can anything good come out of X? Well, Jake Meador posted his thread almost three years ago, and here we are now, post-Ogden.

On November 8–9, 1923, Adolf Hitler was a pretentious, if bold, bumbler. The so-called Beer Hall Putsch in Munich was a failure. When it came time to fight, Hitler and Hermann Göring fled. Hitler would be arrested on November 11 and imprisoned for not quite a year.25 As we used to know, that was not the end of the story. In prison he dictated Mein Kampf (My Struggle) to Emil Maurice and Rudolf Hess. The latter was later convicted of war crimes at Nuremberg.

The point is that these things can get out of hand. What seemed like a rag-tag band of terminally online ne’er-do-wells attracted one thousand people to a conference in Utah. Hitler had a vision of the future, and he became, as we say on the Plains, a good talker. In 1920 when he began his political career with the German Workers Party, he was not impressive. “When Hitler himself spoke for the first time in the Hofbräuhaus in October, a hundred and eleven people were present. The result was to confirm the chairman, Karl Harrer, in his belief that Hitler had no talent for public speaking. But Hitler persisted and the numbers rose.”26 He became, as Alan Bullock had it, “the greatest demagogue in history.”27 Hitler developed the ability, as he himself said, “to move masses.”28

This essay will not impress or persuade those who are defending the Ogden conference, its organizers, and its sponsors, but it should awaken pastors and elders, church assemblies, and parents. We are not facing a single demagogue in a beer hall but an army of demagogues on podcasts, Discord, and YouTube. Boys, young men, and even families are apparently frightened enough by the culture to seek comfort and assurance in improbable and even Nazi-sympathizing prophets instead of the gospel of the King of the Jews (Mark 15:26).

Now, as it was in Wilhelmine, Weimar, and Nazi Germany, the problem is not ultimately cultural. It is spiritual. The people are turning to ear-tickling prophets (Jer 23:16) and golden calves (Exod 32; 1 Kings 12:28–30). “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Pet 4:17).

Notes

  1. Resources On Kinism, Racism, And Nazism
  2. See Christopher Smith, “URCNA Synod Calgary 2026: A Retrospective,” Heidelblog, June 15, 2026.
  3. As shown on X.
  4. For more on Kinism, see R. Scott Clark, “The CRC Is Right About Kinism (part 1),” Heidelblog, April 3, 2023. On Ethan Holden, e.g., this post.
  5. Elizabeth Black, “RPCNA Denomination Excludes Pastor for Racist Statements,” World Magazine (January 26, 2026).
  6. Black, “RPCNA Denomination.”
  7. Benjamin Glaser, “Your Moderator’s Study Committee On Kinism and Race Realism,” The ARP (July/August, 2025), 14. A portion of that report is still available on the Heidelblog. At the time of publication the full report was no longer readily available online. See also Andrew Webb, “When the ARP Debates—A Report on the Proceedings of the 222nd ARP Synod,” Heidelblog, June 14, 2026.
  8. “An Open Letter From Concerned Ministers and Elders in the OPC,” (June 22, 2020).
  9. Leonardo Blair, “Conservative Denomination Excommunicates Pastor for Supporting Kinism, White Supremacy,” The Christian Post, (January 30, 2026).
  10. United Reformed Churches in North America, Synod Calgary 2026, Press Release #4, Thursday, June 11, 2026.
  11. As I was writing this essay, a friend texted to say that in discussion, someone revealed that antisemitic tropes have been invoked by those in their early twenties and even by those as young as fifteen.
  12. Samuel Sey, “Why Some Evangelicals are Embracing Racism,” Slow to Write, August 19, 2023.
  13. Stephen Wolfe, The Case for Christian Nationalism (Canon Press, 2022), 148.
  14. Wolfe, Case for Christian Nationalism, 39, 80. Jared Taylor, “Personal Recollections of Sam Francis,” The Occidental Quarterly 5, no. 2 (1995): 55. Note that this citation was found via Wikipedia. I was unable to access the website of The Occidental Quarterly.
  15. Kevin DeYoung, “The Rise of Right-Wing Wokeism,” review of The Case for Christian Nationalism, by Stephen Wolfe, The Gospel Coalition, November 28, 2022.
  16. Jake Meador on X, August 18, 2023.
  17. Yoni Anijar, “Why Did the Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville Chant ‘Blood and Soil’?,” History News Network, September 14, 2017. Note that since Anijar published this article, the US Department of Justice has indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center for funding and facilitating members of the Ku Klux Klan and other organizations. Fox News reports that “the SPLC was paying roughly $270,000 to a member of the leadership group that planned the Unite the Right protests in Charlottesville, Virginia.” “DOJ Says Southern Poverty Law Center Funneled $3M+ to White Supremacist and Extremist Groups Like the KKK,” April 21, 2026.
  18. Samuel Rosenberg, “Three Concepts in Nazi Political Theory,” Science & Society 1, no. 2 (1937): 222.
  19. Rosenberg, “Three Concepts,” 222.
  20. Rosenberg, “Three Concepts,” 223.
  21. This was also a turning point for the Nazi theorist Carl Schmitt, who, Rosenberg said, was emboldened by Hitler’s rhetoric.
  22. Rosenberg, “Three Concepts,” 226.
  23. Paul D. Miller, “A Tale of Two Books, One Podcast, and the Contest Over Christian Nationalism: Answering Stephen Wolfe’s Arguments for Blood, Soil, and Sedition,” Christianity Today, December 20, 2022.
  24. Wolfe, Case for Christian Nationalism, 138–39.
  25. Karl Larenz, “Volksgeist und Recht,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Kulturphilosophie 1 (1934–35): 42, as quoted in Rosenberg, “Three Concepts,” 222.
  26. Alan Bullock, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (Konecky and Konecky, 1962), 100–121.
  27. Bullock, Hitler, 65.
  28. Bullock, Hitler, 68.
  29. Bullock, Hitler, 69.

©R. Scott Clark. All Rights Reserved.

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    R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He is professor emeritus of church history and historical theology at Westminster Seminary California, where he taught for 29 years. He also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007 and the Heidelcast since 2009.

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18 comments

  1. My criticisms are that you’re not addressing the underlying issues and that telling whites not to be tribalistic ignores that a lot of ethnicities do that. These young men are attracted to these ideologies because they feel like society hates them and that they are going to face a lack of opportunities and unemployment before they start their careers. Until those are addressed, they are going to continue to go this direction. If we are going to focus on telling whites not to be tribalistic, we also need all ethnicities to be welcoming. I understand what you’re saying, but we need to understand the reasons for these attitudes.

    Reply ↓

    • PT,

      Understood but whatever young men are facing it hardly justifies becoming a Nazi. That’s beyond the bounds. People are beginning to address some of the grievances of young white men. I think that have some. E.g., Chris, Dan, and I discussed some of these issues in the most recent episode of Abounding Grace Radio.

      The young men about which you and I are both concerned are, to a certain degree, the victims of a bad education so that they lack critical thinking skills, they don’t read well, they don’t know basic history, and as a consequence they are subjecting themselves to online propaganda which has warped their perception of themselves, the world around them, and their opportunities.

      What you’re asking is for another essay. I will work on that.

      Things are challenging but I don’t think things are as dire for young white men as they are being told by Tucker Carlson, Webbon, Hall, et al.

      People tend to listen to what reaffirms that they already believe and that’s what the Ogden Conference people are doing; they’re doing the very same thing to young white men that the BLM hucksters did to young black men (“the world’s against you, everybody hates you, follow us and send us some money”). They’re race hustling white people the way Al Sharpton race hustles black people.

      That’s the irony. It’s the same stupid scam.

      Reply ↓

  2. Fantastic piece. “The point is that these things can get out of hand. ” And they are getting out of hand.

    We experienced an elder who was into Christian Nationalism (CN) and saw the devastating effects if had on that church. Tore it apart. I’ve also seen the abuse given to my lovely, intelligent niece from a young man infatuated with CN. This amazing young woman is simply looking for a solid, godly and kind husband who loves the Lord and cares enough to learn solid theology — but so many young men in her generation are leaning towards Christian Nationalism. Thankfully, she can recognize it, but many women cannot. It really makes it hard for young ladies right now. Pray for them.

    Reply ↓

  3. “Can anything good come out of X?” What a line!

    As a member of the OPC PSW, I think some minor clarification may be useful here. What was removed from our overture to GA was not a condemnation of kinism, but kinism as a subject of the study committee on Christian Nationalism. At least some of the arguments in favor of narrowing the focus of the requested study committee were due to a desire to have a concise and focused report produced. As you correctly mentioned, an explicit condemnation (technically, a substitute wording of the original overture) passed at the next meeting. Happily, the OPC will now have two committees producing separate reports on Christian Nationalism and Race issues, not one trying to cover both topics.

    Reply ↓

  4. We live in a culture where our leaders have been discipled by the world, and don’t know the definitions or origins of labels they apply to others now. Nor do they know how poorly chosen their steps are, utilized against their own churchmen to bolster the grip of the enemy’s lies, religious and political on our nation of the USA.

    May all ministers and thought leaders do the reading and conduct earnest and full investigations into these worldviews and their rationales before blindly prescribing judgement on their own congregants and officers. I stand by many young men who are being driven away from their life-long churches due to poor management from indoctrinated leaders. Our accountability to our leaders is the only way I see fit to preserve our reformed denominations and federations.

    The culture war is real, and friendly fire helps the enemy.

    Reply ↓

      • While there are genuinely unbiblical views out there, the majority of good churchmen I know who are very targeted with this effort (and this article) have Biblically adhering discernment of the topic, which places them in hasty condemnation by their assemblies and synods.

        In other words, the online minority are being made such a spectacle that over correction and poor judgement is catching our allies (life-long congregants) in a crossfire. Should you do the reading and entreat your fellow thought leaders in charity, then you may come to a better understanding of the culture issue. But at the moment I am not left with strong confidence in our elders and ministers on this topic. I am a willing resource as needed.

        We distinguish,
        ~D Smith

        Reply ↓

        • Dear D. Smith,

          My essay is full of distinctions. I have read your reply twice and I still have no idea what you are saying.

          Reading between the lines, what I suspect you are saying is that you disagree with my critique, but that you don’t have any historical, biblical, or theological reason for it.

          Can you show me specifically where I have erred?

          The Reformed churches agree that Kinism is sin and to be repented of. Nazism is manifestly evil.

          What do you know that none of the rest of us know?

          Reply ↓

  5. Hopefully this galvanizes action across Reformed bodies. The mask is off. This should cause self reflection. Why are these sins, repudiated by mainstream culture, festering in Reformed spaces?

    Reply ↓

  6. Hi Dr. Clark. Long time (I was a student at WSC from 13-17.) I really appreciate your article and am thankful our denominations are taking this seriously. The PCA has a first draft paper from a study committee formed on the subject. I’m hopeful that what happened at Ogden further shows the gravity and scope of the situation. As you say, this isn’t just a fringe group, but an ideology that is finding its way in the minds and hearts of members in our churches, particularly our young men.

    Reply ↓

  7. Dr Clarke, thank you for this excellent and eye-opening article. The connections you make between Kinism and Christian Nationalism with Naziism are shocking and deeply troubling. As an OPC pastor I know of a number of congregations in and beyond the OPC that are dealing with this issue and pushing back against it. As a pastor in the Presbytery of the Southeast we dealt with a former minister as you discuss in this article, though long before his ideas became so pronounced and known. The OPC, just days before the URCNA decision, adopted the same statement against Race Realism and Kinism.

    I had the privilege to represent the OPC at the URCNA Synod and I am deeply thankful for the URCNA standing beside the ARP, RPCNA, PCA, and OPC denominations on this issue. As you so clearly state, the peace and purity, and I would add unity, of the church is at stake. May the NAPARC churches, members and officers, stand together against this great sin for God’s glory.

    What Satan means for evil, God is able to use for good. How we respond as churches creates opportunities for the spread of the gospel in North America. As we preach the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ to all in our communities, we will display how God is calling on people from all nations to unite as one in the family of God. The public stance against these sins by five of the NAPARC churches is a great beginning.

    Reply ↓

  9. I’ve seen some of the kinism/nationalism verbiage on X, but I wonder how we’re supposed to exercise public “calling out” without becoming an indiscriminate crank. As John Lennon put it, “If you carrying pictures of Chairman Mao, you ain’t gonna make it with anyone anyhow. ”

    Input appreciated.

    Reply ↓

    • Hi Brad,

      I’m more concerned that churches should pay attention to what their members are doing and saying. I think the Ft Worth OPC session did the right thing by sending an overture to presbytery. Those sessions and classes that have addressed the issue in their congregations are doing the right thing. The GAs and Synods that have spoken to these issues and that are working on them are doing the right thing. I don’t know that you, as an individual on social media have a responsibility to respond to Nazis and kinists. I block them on X and don’t engage them.

      Reply ↓

  10. Thank you for the thoughtful write-up. I recently became aware of how prevalent some of these ideas are and the draw it has to some young men. I appreciate the work you put into addressing this.

    Reply ↓

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