Mark Steyn blasts bishop Mariann Budde as ‘tool of Satan’

Conservative political commentator Mark Steyn recently blasted Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde as “a tool of Satan” for pushing the idea of “transgender children” from the pulpit of the National Cathedral during her recent rebuke of President Donald Trump.

Responding to a listener’s question about Budde’s remarks during his weekly “Clubland Q&A” podcast on his website last week, Steyn opined on the seriousness of what she asserted.

“In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” Budde said as she directly addressed Trump during the National Cathedral’s Service of Prayer for the Nation on Jan. 21. “There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families. Some who fear for their lives.”

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Steyn suggested Budde was exhibiting a demonic doctrine.

“It isn’t actually really funny, because there’s no such thing as a transgender kid,” Steyn said. “Some may think there is, and a confused 8-year-old boy or 11-year-old girl may think there is. But what it boils down to is you, the bishop, supporting slicing off the breasts of middle school girls. That makes you, the bishop, a tool of Satan. So you should be on a roasting spit in Hell for promoting that.”

Steyn acknowledged that cross-dressing and transgenderism have long had a place in the seedier fringes of show business, but characterized the attempt to mainstream such behavior as “evil.” He also suggested that the Episcopal Church is both apostate and pathetic in its attempt to placate the latest left-wing fixation.

“The Episcopal Church is a post-Christian church now, and it’s not even good,” he said. “It’s not as if they’re even on the cutting edge of insanity. They’re just playing catch-up insanity for whatever they think will work.”

Steyn emphasized what he characterized as the ultimate wickedness of transgenderism, namely that one can become one’s own god.

“You know, climate change. ‘Maybe if we start worshiping Gaia instead of God, maybe we’ll get some of the climate crowd.’ Oh, well, that didn’t work for us, so let’s go with the old ‘slice the breasts off middle school girls,’ because now you are your own god,” he said, mocking the mainline Episcopalian mindset.

“There’s no big God in the sky anymore. You, right here, down on Earth, starting from the age of 11, 10, 9, 8 — you are the god. God may think He’s created you male or female, but that’s just what you’re assigned at birth, as they now say.”

“This woman is evil,” Steyn added of Budde. “And I certainly wouldn’t want to sit through anything in that bloody awful National Cathedral. I would be in favor if Trump, as an ex-McDonald’s employee, decided he needed to turn that into the world’s biggest McDonald’s.”

Steyn, who was baptized Catholic before becoming Anglican and ultimately a Baptist, served as a regular guest host for the late Rush Limbaugh and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

Steyn appeared frequently on Fox News, though he has said he eventually tired of the network when he was being invited on the channel to opine on insignificant topics like the pregnant man emoji and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s dog while the U.S. was being humiliated during the Afghanistan withdrawal in 2021.

Budde’s sermon has received mixed reactions, with some arguing that she politicized a religious service while others believe that she courageously spoke truth to power.

Rob Pacienza, senior pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, attended the service and was among Budde’s critics, saying in a recent interview with The Christian Post that he believed it “wasn’t really a sermon” but rather “a lecture that really came across as mean and divisive.”

“I think the irony was she attempted to preach on unity, but her rhetoric and her very unwelcoming spirit — from the beginning to the end of her message — actually created more division in the end,” he said.

“She was advocating for transgenderism. She was advocating for open borders. She was advocating for lawlessness in America. She was advocating for an administration to embrace sexuality that is against God’s design.”