Understanding accused Minnesota shooter Vance Boelter’s ties to Christian nationalism
Boelter, who is accused of shooting two politicians and their spouses, is a devout Christian
Vance Boelter, accused of shooting two politicians, and the car he arrived in being towed. Photo by Getty Images
By Mira Fox June 17, 2025
Details are still emerging about Vance Boelter, the 57-year-old man accused of killing a Minnesota state politician and her husband and grievously injuring another state senator and his wife. But the more we learn about Boelter, the more likely it seems that Christian nationalism may have played a role in motivating the attack.
The suspected shooter was apprehended Sunday night after a massive manhunt, and an attack in which he impersonated a police officer. When the real police arrived on the scene, the shooter took off, but in a car the attacker abandoned, the officers found a “hit list” of 70 potential targets , which included numerous Democratic politicians, many of whom were prominent pro-choice advocates, as well as abortion providers and healthcare professionals.
Not much is known about Boelter, 57, whose friends told the Associated Press that he was a devout Christian but they were unaware of any extremist beliefs. But the Religion News Service reported that the alleged shooter was ordained as a minister and attended Christ for the Nations, an unaccredited bible college in Texas connected to Christian nationalism.
Christ for the Nations is associated with the New Apostolic Reformation movement, a Christian nationalist ideology whose teachings say that Christians must take over the U.S. government. The Seven Mountains Mandate, a central part of Project 2025 that says that Christians must conquer the “seven mountains” of society — including government, media and entertainment — is also a belief associated with the NAR.
That said, it can be hard to point to specifically affiliated NAR symbols, beliefs or institutions, because it’s not an official sect within Christianity; unlike Catholics or Southern Baptists, there’s no elected or ordained head or governing body, nor is there even a website. The NAR doesn’t have a set of official stances or an annual conference where members congregate to discuss major topics of the day. Instead, the movement’s name was coined by an influential evangelical writer in the 1990s and, since then, has existed only in the form of a loosely affiliated web of pastors, churches and adherents.
So it’s hard to draw clear conclusions about why Boelter attended Christ for the Nations, or what his religious beliefs are; it requires inferences from his scant online footprint.
What we do know is that several prominent Christian nationalists also boast Christ for the Nations as their alma mater, including at least two involved with the Jan. 6 insurrection. The bible college’s statement of values strongly inveighs against homosexuality — grouping it alongside bestiality and incest, calling all of these behaviors “intolerable,” and “deplorable.” It also has a long section condemning abortion and equating it with infanticide. Christ for the Nations’ founder, Gordon Lindsay, preached that “Every Christian should pray at least one violent prayer a day.”
The school, confirming that Boelter had attended and graduated in 1990, said in a statement that this slogan referred to prayer that was “fervent and passionate” but not literal violence; in the same statement, the bible school said that it “unequivocally rejects, denounces, and condemns any and all forms of violence and extremism, be it politically, racially, religiously or otherwise motivated” and that its language about warfare against evil is a purely spiritual one.
“We therefore strongly disavow any attempt to align Mr. Boelter’s ungodly thoughts and actions with our biblical teachings,” the school said.
Boelter’s LinkedIn lists him as running two private security companies offering armed guards, including one based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And we know that, in several videos of Boelter preaching — not protecting — in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he uses strong language to condemn abortion and transgender people. In a video of one of those sermons, Boelter preached that God was going to “to correct his church” because of the fact that “they don’t know abortion is wrong.”
Still, Boelter’s sermons largely focused on general moral decay, without many specific policies. Of course, it’s impossible to say for sure whether Boelter’s education at Christ for the Nations played a role in the violence he is accused of. But the strong language used by the NAR movement frame one’s duty as a Christian in absolute terms. It might be about spiritual, not literal, warfare, but it’s easy to misinterpret.
