Noem and Bondi Attend Antisemitic Bible Study

The attorney general and Homeland Security secretary allegedly participate in White House Bible study that teaches the Jews killed Jesus

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Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, seen here pointing a rifle at someone, has participated in a Bible study that teaches that Jews killed Jesus and that child-separation is a God-approved immigration policy. (Screengrab / Noem video.)

Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi are part of the White House Bible study that teaches that Jews crucified Jesus, a claim that has driven centuries of antisemitism.

The group’s study guides also counsel against compassion for undocumented immigrants and have attacked the leadership of California as “socialist,” just as Noem has.

Last year, as governor of South Dakota, Noem signed a law adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which includes “claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel.”

The IHRA also includes blaming Jews for Israel’s actions as an example of antisemitism.

As I reported last month, two Bible-study guides prepared and distributed to White House and congressional Bible-study groups include both types of antisemitism.

Both the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) under Noem and the Justice Department run by Bondi have been involved in capturing, detaining, and attempting to deport lawful U.S. residents for criticism of Israel deemed antisemitic, despite the IHRA explicitly excluding political speech from its definition of antisemitism.

Neither agency immediately responded to my request for information about Noem and Bondi participating in the Bible studies, but both were identified as attendees by the man who teaches them, Ralph Drollinger, in a German magazine interview.

The Pentagon previously confirmed to me that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is a participant, and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) in January confirmed my reporting about her involvement.

In a video last month, Drollinger appears on camera saying:

“…the Jews … rejected the messiah. They’ve been sidetracked. … Israel has stumbled. They’re on the side track of God’s plan as He grafts in the gentiles into His kingdom. And they’ve been sidetracked because they crucified their messiah.”

The June 13 study guide for the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives, refers to “Israel, having executed the Messiah.” (Drollinger’s congressional study guides are endorsed by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD).)

Some of Drollinger’s congressional students have been tied to legislative efforts to ensure that blaming Jews for the death of Jesus is not labeled antisemitic by federal legislation.

According to Drollinger, Noem and Bondi began attending his White House Bible study with its very first meeting of Pres. Donald Trump’s second term. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, a Christian nationalist; and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins invited cabinet members to Drollinger’s first in-person Bible study of this term, on February 26, just hours before the full cabinet’s first official meeting.

Here’s how Drollinger described that Bible lesson in his April interview with the German outlet Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung:

Q: Who are the participants?

Drollinger: At the first meeting of the new Trump administration, I felt like I was giving a Bible study for beauty queens. Attorney General Pam Bondi was there, as were Kelly Loeffler, head of the Small Business Administration, and Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security—all very pretty and feminine, but of course also real wrecking balls. I call them my wrecking ball class. We've already discussed Russ and Brooke. Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense , was also there, as was Scott Turner, Trump's new Secretary of Construction. About ten other governors joined via Zoom.

Even before my reporting about Drollinger’s antisemitic lessons, secular groups spoke out against official participation in them. Organizations opposed to the Bible studies — which are taught in government offices — included the Secular Coalition for America, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the American Humanist Association.

Drollinger also has a history of dehumanizing undocumented immigrants, arguing that the Bible treats them as a separate class, exempt from Biblical exhortations for mercy and compassion.

His lessons reportedly were used to help justify the child separation policies of Trump’s first term. Drollinger said at the time, about Trump’s then-attorney general, “Jeff Sessions, he’ll go out the same day I teach him something and he’ll do it on camera.”

As for Sessions’s controversial policy, Drollinger wrote, “when someone breaks the law of the land … they should anticipate that one of the consequences of their illegal behavior will be separation from their children.”

It would not be surprising if Noem has picked up on Drollinger’s animus toward both immigrants and California. The stated purpose of his Bible studies is to influence the policy positions of his political students.

Political Exegesis

Drollinger and his wife, Danielle, founded Capitol Ministries explicitly to keep a leash on Christian politicians and push their politics toward Drollinger’s world views.

And it was California that inspired them. Danielle had a political action committee to send Christian candidates to serve in Sacramento. But those Christian candidates, once in office, would serve their constituents.

Drollinger wanted them serving the Lord. His Lord.

So Capitol Ministries was born, to teach Bible lessons every week in Sacramento.

The Capitol Ministries board is dominated by right-wing Californians who’ve somehow managed to maintain successful companies despite state policies and regulations. Some of Drollinger’s board members have made their displeasure known with campaign donations.

Today, Capitol Ministries operates in most U.S. state capitols. In 40 national capitals around the world. In the House of Representatives. In the U.S. Senate. And now, under Trump, in the executive offices of the White House.

Every Sunday, Capitol Ministries emails its political participants the study guide for that week’s Bible lesson. They’re all online and accessible to the public.

Apparently, it’s working. Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) is quoted as saying about Capitol Ministries, “I enjoy the accountability of a weekly study that keeps us in the Word.”

For that first White House Bible study of Trump’s second term, Drollinger revived a lesson he taught last year: “God’s Institutions and Their Role on Earth.” (It actually dates back at least to 2020; Drollinger recycles.)

The lesson laid the groundwork for a police state, making the case for Drollinger’s belief in five separate domains: Church, government, family, marriage, and commerce.

Drollinger opposes theocracy, holding that church and government are distinct institutions. But he wants each institution run according to Biblical principles.

The study guide Drollinger revived for the first session of Trump’s second term reads:

“Scripture teaches that parents are to discipline their children at a young age in order to curb their sin nature. If government curtails that institutional responsibility and inalienable right, then government and society will inherit citizens who lack discipline, most likely necessitating a police state in the next generation.”

A police state, in Drollinger’s view, is necessary if government prevents families from disciplining the sin of children. (The study guide doesn’t mention that youth crime rates are lower than previous decades.)

It’s not known whether Noem participated in Drollinger’s remote Bible studies for governors prior to Trump’s second term. But The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) warned in January against making Noem Homeland Security secretary. The FFRF cited her lack of interest in the Constitution¹ and her statement that “the values I hold according to biblical principles impact my decisions.”

Almost immediately after taking office, Noem froze funding for nonprofit organizations that weren’t proselytizing for Christianity, the FFRF noted.

Examples of Noem’s religious extremism are abundant well before she took over DHS. In 2020, she changed her gubernatorial biography from saying in July 2020 that she has “three children who love the Lord, love their family” to read that they had “a deep love for their family” but “an even deeper love for the Lord.”

Last year, Noem posted about sharing — at right-wing Christian Ralph Reed, Jr.’s, Faith and Freedom Forum — that Republicans need to advance “Freedom” and “stay true to our faith.”

The key, she described telling her religous audience, was that “we need to win the hearts & minds of the American people by LOVING them, reminding them that hope is more powerful than fear.”

Noem has spread fears of “socialism” for years. While still governor of South Dakota, she posted on Jan. 4, 2021:

“It's remarkable how quickly Democrats have embraced socialism. When I served in Congress, I knew that some members believed in socialism, but they'd never say it publicly. Today, they openly call themselves socialists.

“We need to educate our kids on how socialism destroys lives and how it is contrary to American values.”

At this term’s very first cabinet Bible study, Drollinger used a study guide warning that government interference in commerce leads to “socialism.”

He’s gone after California socialism, specifically. In a February 25, 2020, study guide, Drollinger wrote that California was enforcing “economic equality” by redistributing wealth from the successful to the shiftless. This, he argued, violates 1 Peter 2:14, which he twists into a divine directive against punishing people who do well financially and rewarding evildoers who don’t work hard enough.

“This is exactly the phenomena that is occurring in socialist California, where thousands of successful businesses have left and are leaving the state.”

In her now-infamous televised remarks in Los Angeles last month, Noem said federal forces are there to “liberate” the city from “socialist” government. The administration then announced an additional 2,000 headed there for no discernible reason.

And Drollinger has had beef with California for decades.

California Reaming

Not long after Drollinger began teaching his Bible lessons in Sacramento, he caught hell for his biblical interpretations.

In 2004, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) kicked Drollinger out of gubernatorial offices for calling Catholicism one of the “primary false religions.” Women, Drollinger said, shouldn’t be lawmaking if they had kids at home.

In 2008, Drollinger wrote that he was “disgusted” with some legislators. “I have visited with a Jewish legislator, a Catholic legislator and a liberal Protestant legislator — all of whom reject the Jesus of Scripture.”

At the beginning of this year, Drollinger blamed the Los Angeles wildfires on “woke” leadership:

“These fires should not have come as a surprise to government officials, nor should they have been unprepared to deal with them, as they were…

“All this incompetence and willful neglect is illustrative of woke ideology disregarding science.”

Drollinger also quoted Proverbs 29:2, “[W]hen a wicked person rules, people groan.” He added, “join us in praying that our Lord would … convict leadership that is opposed to scriptural truth.”

Drollinger’s current California ministry leader, Jonathan Zachariou, says of the state:

“We have created a vacuum that has nearly destroyed California and now we are trying to figure out how this happened. Well, we ran away that’s what happened, so what is going to fill the void we created? Christian voices need to be in the Capitol, and ministry to unbelieving public servants needs to become a part of the church. … Christ is the ultimate solution.”

Drollinger’s Capitol Ministries board includes multiple Republicans who donate to right-wing causes with money they’re somehow able to make from their California businesses. Some of the current board members are:

• Chair Rob Hilarides, Hilarides Dairies. He has funded Capitol Ministries and reportedly has made his wealth thanks in part to worker swho toiled for 60 hours per week. He has donated to Republicans including Rep. David Valadao (R-CA).

• Ron Kolar, L'Abri Management. He has donated to Republican causes in California, including the 2021 attempt to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), supporting talk-show host Larry Elder’s failed campaign.

• Former Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), Liberty Petroleum Corporation. A Republican who called Barack Obama an “enemy of humanity,” Franks’s donations include giving to the political action committee for then-Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA).

• Former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.

• Former California state Sen. William Morrow (R-Oceanside). Morrow joined an anti-immigrant vigilante group called the Minutemen.

• Tom Moiola, Moiola Brothers Cattle Feeders. Also donated to Newsom opponents; Elder and John Cox.

• Warren Thomas, ExchangeRight. Another donor to Newsom-recall efforts and backer of Elder and Cox.

It was Noem’s attack on California leaders, of course, that prompted Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) to interrupt her. Federal agents then physically assaulted Padilla and handcuffed him.

After the incident, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who once served in Congress with Noem, said, “Madam Secretary, I do not recognize you anymore.”

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I’m a veteran journalist and TV news producer who’s worked at MSNBC — as co-creator of Up w/ Chris Hayes and senior producer for Countdown with Keith Olbermann — CNN, ABCNews, The Daily Show, Air America Radio, and TYT. My original reporting on Substack is made possible by a handful of paid subscribers. Thank you.

1. In a subsequent hearing, Noem’s definition of habeas corpus was the opposite of its actual meaning.