(RNS) \u2014 In a manifesto reportedly sent to family members moments before he attempted to storm past security at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association Dinner Saturday evening (April 25), Cole Tomas Allen wrote, \u201cThank you to my family, both personal and church, for your love over these last 31 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Allen, who was charged Monday<\/a> with attempting to assassinate the president, didn\u2019t specify which church he was thanking, context about his parents\u2019 church, publicly available information about his involvement in a Christian student ministry and the religious language in his manifesto provide a glimpse into the religious background of the would-be assassin. Despite Allen\u2019s mention of his church, he has been described by President Donald Trump as anti-Christian.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you read his manifesto, he hates Christians. That\u2019s one thing for sure,\u201d Trump said in a phone interview<\/a> with Fox News.<\/p>\n The 31-year-old from Torrance, California, was an amateur video game developer and part-time teacher with a Master of Science degree from California State University, per his LinkedIn profile<\/a>. From 2013-2017, his profile indicates, Allen was a mechanical engineering student at Caltech in Pasadena, where he was involved with Caltech Christian Fellowship<\/a>, which describes itself as non-denominational. The group emphasizes confessing Jesus as \u201cpersonal Lord and Savior\u201d and salvation by grace through faith, and links to both evangelical and mainline Protestant churches on their website.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was definitely a strong believer in evangelical Christianity at the time that I knew him,\u201d Elizabeth Terlinden, who was also a member of Caltech Christian Fellowship, told The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n Law enforcement personnel detain Cole Tomas Allen, a suspect in the shooting incident at the White House Correspondents\u2019 Association dinner, in Washington, April 25, 2026. (Photo posted by Donald J. Trump\/Truth Social)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The suspect\u2019s father, Thomas Allen, until recently, was listed online as an elder at Grace United Reformed Church in Torrance, a church in the same neighborhood as the home Allen shared with his parents<\/a>. The church is affiliated with the United Reformed Churches in North America<\/a>, a small, theologically conservative group of Reformed Protestant churches that, in 1996, split from the Christian Reformed Church over concerns about \u201cpure doctrine,\u201d according to their website.<\/p>\n \u201cIt had to do with women\u2019s ordination to church offices,\u201d explained James Bratt, a historian and professor emeritus at Calvin University. A historic Dutch Reformed denomination, The Christian Reformed Church began to allow local churches the option<\/a> of ordaining women in the early 1990s. \u201cThe people who went into the United Reformed Churches just thought this a terrible break with biblical authority,\u201d said Bratt.<\/p>\n A federation rather than a denomination, the United Reformed Churches in North America is made of independent churches that emphasize the authority of local elders. \u2018The United Reformed Churches in North America does not have a spokesman able to speak regarding the members or officers of any of our congregations,\u201d the URCNA Stated Clerk told RNS. At Grace United Reformed Church, formal church leadership is held by men, and visitors are required to obtain elder approval before participating in Communion.<\/p>\n While these elements could hint at a theologically conservative faith background, Allen was described as politically progressive in recent years. According to the White House<\/a>, Allen had a propensity for making radical statements, especially after becoming involved in left-wing activism in Los Angeles. On Saturday, he came to the Correspondents\u2019 dinner armed with a 12-gauge shotgun and .38-caliber semi-automatic pistol. His alleged manifesto, published by The New York Post<\/a> Sunday morning, indicates that Allen\u2019s targets included administration officials and potentially Secret Service, security and police.<\/p>\n \u201cI would still go through most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary,\u201d the manifesto says.<\/p>\n Pedestrians pass in front of Grace United Reformed Church in Torrance, California. (Image via Google Maps)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Allen framed his actions as a response to the actions taken by the Trump administration, though he did not name the president directly.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat my representatives do reflects on me,\u201d Allen wrote. \u201cAnd I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n He wrote that he does not \u201cexpect forgiveness,\u201d but also justified his actions, arguing he is not required to follow the Christian principle of \u201cturning the other cheek,\u201d an instruction given by Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount that many interpret as a call for forgiveness over vengeance.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also,\u201d Jesus says in Matthew 5:39.<\/p>\n Allen argued that this direction only applies when someone wrongs you personally, arguing that \u201cturning the other cheek\u201d when others are oppressed is complicity.<\/p>\n \u201cTurning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I\u2019m not the person raped in a detention camp. I\u2019m not the fisherman executed without trial. I\u2019m not a schoolkid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration,\u201d Allen wrote.<\/p>\n He also quoted Jesus a second time, addressing the objection that Christians ought to \u201cYield unto Caesar what is Caesar\u2019s.\u201d Allen argued that Jesus\u2019 instruction in Matthew 22:21, which is sometimes interpreted as a call to submit to government authority, is not relevant in this case.<\/p>\n \u201cIn so far as representatives and judges do not follow the law, no one is required to yield them anything so unlawfully ordered,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n Christian leaders from across the theological spectrum have spoken out to condemn Allen\u2019s actions. On X, evangelical pastor Greg Laurie echoed<\/a> President Trump\u2019s description of Allen as \u201canti-Christian,\u201d claiming Allen \u201ccarried significant anti-Trump and anti-Christian rhetoric on his social media accounts.\u201d The New York Post reported<\/a> that Allen, under the moniker \u201cColdforce\u201d on the social media platform Bluesky, condemned what he perceived as the Christian hypocrisy of the Trump administration. Allen\u2019s Bluesky account now appears to be deactivated.<\/p>\n Shane Claiborne, a longtime Christian activist and a vocal critic of Trump\u2019s policies, posted on X<\/a> that he was glad the president wasn\u2019t killed, and called for protecting people over gun rights.<\/p>\n \u201cAs always, we must insist that violence is the problem not the solution. It is wrong to kill whether it\u2019s done by Trump or by a vigilante,\u201d wrote Claiborne. \u201cTwo wrongs don\u2019t make a right.\u201d<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/webRNS-Cole-Tomas-Allen1.jpg\")
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