“Fritz Berggren, PhD” is one of those insane Christians whose blog posts usually come to light only after he does something truly awful, and everyone starts asking how this went undetected for so long.
For example, he said last October that “Jesus Christ came to save the whole world from the Jews — the founders of the original Anti-Christ religion, they who are the seed of the Serpent, that brood of vipers.” He added: “Jewish ideas poison people.”
It gets worse:
“The goal of the Left is to destroy blood and faith so that (Marxist) religion alone becomes master and enslaver of all,” Berggren writes. “Europeans must reclaim their blood and faith, just as Blacks are proud and hispanics have very strong blood identity organizations.”
Yikes. A Christian Nationalist and white supremacist to the core, full of all the racism and anti-Semitism you would expect. Maybe the scariest excerpt is this one calling for the creation of theocracies because “The revival of Christian nation-states is required for the advancement of Truth.” He also says “There is no substitute for the public acclamation of Jesus Christ as the King and Lord of a nation.”
Why is this all relevant now?
Because it turns out Berggren works as a Foreign Service officer in the U.S. State Department.
POLITICO‘s Nahal Toosi explains:
According to a directory viewed by POLITICO, Berggren is currently assigned to a State Department unit that handles special immigrant visas for Afghans. His previous positions have included serving as a financial management officer at the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain, according to an older directory.
Asked about Berggren, a spokesperson for the State Department declined to say whether his remarks had led to internal disciplinary measures of any kind. “We will not comment on internal personnel matters beyond saying that these are personal views and do not represent those of the State Department,” the spokesperson said. “As a department, we embrace and champion diversity, equity and inclusion as a source of strength.”
The article doesn’t even mention this YouTube video from just before the election in which he describes Beto O’Rourke as “the Irish guy who thinks he’s Mexican,” Pete Buttigieg as “the little gay guy from the midwest,” and Stacey Abrams as “the big fat Black gal from Atlanta.” After calling them all “freaky folks,” he says it makes you “wonder what happened.”
The article also doesn’t mention his video celebrating Christian Violence.
None of this means Berggren will be fired. He has a First Amendment right to say these things; the question is whether his views impacted his work or if he composed these posts while on the clock or with government computers.
Whatever the case, it all makes Mike Pompeo‘s open Christian Nationalism look downright quaint.
Last night, Berggren made a new post on his site welcoming his new fans. He didn’t say anything in the POLITICO article was wrong. He simply reiterated some of his past comments and said in a disclaimer, “ideas are my own and not a reflection of any employer.”
(Thanks to Brian for the link)
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