I’m glad to be sharing my first edition of The Daily Brief. This is kind of a doozy because it’s a personal story. At first glance, it might seem like a niche story, something of limited interest outside the ELCA, but as we get into it, I think you’ll see why this story has ramifications for how we understand what’s happening in America with the rise of Christian nationalism and the real stranglehold that race and racism continue to have on so much of the American church. Over the weekend before Father’s Day, a Lutheran bishop was elected in South Carolina who shares the same surname as the white supremacist who murdered nine Black church members at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston eleven years ago. Why does this matter? I want to begin by saying that this is a story I’m telling from the inside. In addition to being a journalist, I’m also a Lutheran pastor. I’m a pastor in the same church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, where this bishop was elected. It’s also the same church that was home to the mass shooter. As I think about this story, I think of the words from Luke 6:41-42: Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, “Friend, let me take the speck out of your eye,” when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye. When it comes to understanding racism, especially within Christianity, these words are essential. Many of us white Americans are so concerned with proving that we’re not racist that we want to distance ourselves from any history or connection to racism. In doing so, we fail to understand and truly listen to the hurt experienced by Black Americans and people of color in our midst. Before getting into the controversy, I want to remember and honor the Emanuel Nine, who were killed on June 17, 2015: the Reverend Clementa C. Pinckney, pastor and South Carolina state senator; Cynthia Graham Hurd; Susie Jackson; Ethel Lee Lance; the Reverend DePayne Middleton-Doctor; Tywanza Sanders; the Reverend Daniel Lee Simmons Sr.; the Reverend Sharonda Coleman-Singleton; and Myra Thompson. What happened in the ELCA over the past few weeks, and how does it connect to that horrific white supremacist massacre? The South Carolina Synod of the ELCA held its annual assembly from June 11 through June 13. Like many church bodies, the ELCA is divided into smaller units of governance called synods. As part of the assembly, delegates elected a new bishop. After a lengthy election process, they elected Wade Thomas Roof III. Remember that name. Now let’s go back to the man who murdered the Emanuel Nine. We don’t want to give undue attention to mass shooters, but in this case, avoiding the subject would only create more distance between ourselves and the truth. The shooter’s name was Dylann Roof. Notice the surname. Dylann Roof was a white supremacist who was radicalized online. He was twenty-one years old when he committed the shooting. Afterward, he admitted that he hoped to start a race war. He left behind writings documenting his white supremacist beliefs and his desire to incite racial violence. One of the most chilling details of the massacre is that Dylann Roof sat in Bible study with his victims for an hour before he killed them. He likely prayed with them before opening fire. Dylann Roof was also a baptized and confirmed member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He was a longtime member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Columbia, South Carolina. He attended Lutheran camps. His grandparents and extended family were deeply involved in the ELCA through his father’s side of the family. By the time of the shooting, Roof had reportedly become more distant from church life. But it is not true that he had no connection to the church. His family’s connection to the ELCA was real and deep. I take pains to point this out because when many people hear about a white supremacist mass shooting, they make assumptions. A lot of Christians, especially progressive Christians, assume these beliefs only exist in more conservative branches of Christianity. We look for ways to reassure ourselves that racism belongs somewhere else. But Dylann Roof was a member of the ELCA, a denomination generally considered progressive. That’s an uncomfortable reality. Four days after the South Carolina Synod elected Bishop Roof, the Reverend Nelson Rabell, a Black Latino ELCA pastor, raised a question in an online clergy forum. He wrote: Does anyone know anything about the newly elected bishop from South Carolina, the Reverend Wade Thomas Roof III, who is related to Dylann Roof, the white supremacist murderer who killed the Emanuel AME Church Nine? I hope and pray that he is able to bring racial healing to that synod. I’m just wondering if anyone knows about his views regarding racism and other justice issues. Almost immediately, there was a great deal of defensiveness from white church leaders and pastors in South Carolina. There seemed to be very little attention paid to the weight that the Roof name carries—not only for Black Christians in South Carolina but for Black Americans more broadly. Instead, many people focused on defending the bishop. Some accused Pastor Rabell of lying. They insisted there was no family connection. They argued that he was a good man and questioned why anyone would raise the issue at all. Some context matters here. Pastor Rabell had previously been accused of misconduct by a white bishop in Northern California. After a lengthy process, the church ultimately issued a public apology. Legal proceedings raised serious concerns about the conduct of the bishop who had made the accusations, and that bishop later resigned. Some context about the ELCA also matters. At the time of the most recent available data, it was the whitest denomination in America. Much of that has to do with the denomination’s roots in overwhelmingly white regions of the Upper Midwest—Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and elsewhere. But if you’re the whitest denomination in America, you probably have blind spots around race. You probably have unexamined assumptions about whiteness, about the church, and about how racism functions in American life. The ELCA is generally regarded as part of the liberal mainline. It is grouped with denominations like the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the United Methodist Church. The denomination voted in 2009 to allow LGBTQ pastors, although that decision also included provisions allowing individual congregations to maintain exclusionary practices. Historically, the ELCA has often tried to hold competing perspectives together. Sometimes that desire for unity can become a reluctance to engage difficult conversations directly. You can see some of that discomfort around race in this story. It’s also worth noting that despite the denomination’s liberal reputation, more than half of ELCA church members voted for Donald Trump in 2024. At the same time, the church elected its first Black presiding bishop, the Reverend Yehiel Curry, in 2025. So why was the question raised in the first place? Pastor Rabell later explained that he had been contacted by a number of church leaders who believed there was some family connection, however distant. Only about one percent of South Carolinians are ELCA Lutherans. When people share a surname and belong to a relatively small religious community, it’s not unreasonable to assume there may be some connection somewhere down the line. More importantly, Rabell said he wasn’t trying to judge the bishop. He wasn’t trying to accuse him of anything. He wanted clarification on behalf of Black leaders and leaders of color who wondered what this election meant and whether they would be safe and supported in South Carolina. He understood the depth of pain attached to that name. South Carolina Lutherans are also a relatively small community. Many white South Carolina pastors have personal connections to the victims of the massacre. Numerous AME pastors studied at the Lutheran seminary in South Carolina. The synod has previously lamented its connection to Dylann Roof. Many white Lutherans in South Carolina felt sensitive about being painted as racists or being judged by a denomination that is largely concentrated in the North. So what has the new bishop said? That’s one of the most troubling parts of this story. There was no public discussion of the issue during the election process, despite multiple opportunities for candidates to address questions. Since the election, I and others have reached out directly to Bishop Roof and to synod staff requesting comment and clarification. I have received no response. I was told by someone connected to synod leadership that the bishop was on vacation and should be granted that time. I’ve also heard from sources who say concerns have been raised privately and that people have encouraged him to address them publicly. But there has still been no public statement. One of my concerns is the way racism is increasingly addressed in churches, institutions, governments, and corporations as a public relations problem rather than a gospel issue, a justice issue, or a matter of compassion. The question becomes how to manage the controversy rather than how to address the harm. As this story continued to unfold, Pastor Rabell also began receiving private messages from people describing what they viewed as a hostile environment in parts of South Carolina Lutheranism for people of color and for women. The longer institutions remain silent, the more stories begin to surface. I also have a personal connection to this story. While researching my book Disciples of White Jesus, I traveled to South Carolina to investigate Dylann Roof’s connection
