On an August night at Bethel Worship Center in Wetumpka, about three dozen people filled the pews to watch Eric Metaxas’ documentary “Letter to the American Church.”

The demonstration was one of dozens held at churches across the state by the Alabama Eagle Forum, one of the far-right groups signed on as coalition partners for the Heritage Foundation’s controversial Project 2025 policy game plan.

Based on Metaxas’ book of the same name, the documentary attempts to draw connections between the Democrats and the Nazi party by making a clarion call for the churches to stand up and take action rather than maintaining the traditional American border between churches and state.

As part of this message, the documentary references Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor known for his involvement in the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

The film depicts the German church sitting idly by during the rise of the Nazi party to make the argument that the American church must take action to defeat the political left.

But Bonhoeffer’s descendants and scholars last week issued a statement embarrassing Christian nationalists who have embraced Bonhoeffer as the symbol of an agenda they say he will have no part in.

“From Project 2025 to violent political rhetoric, the legacy of German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer is invoked in the name of Christian nationalism this election season.” letter from academics starts. “This is a dangerous and gross misuse of his theology and life. “As an international group of Bonhoeffer scholars, we caution against this.”

A. separate letter 86 of the 100 adult descendants of the Bonhoeffer brothers were made public on Friday, October 18.

“We are horrified to see the legacy of Dietrich Bonhoeffer increasingly distorted and misused by right-wing extremists, xenophobes and religious agitators,” the letter begins. “As direct descendants of seven siblings of the theologian and resistance fighter executed by the Nazis, we can testify that he was a peace-loving, libertarian humanitarian, based on what we learned from our families. He would never see himself as associated with Christian nationalists and the violent far-right movements that seek to claim him today. On the contrary, he would strongly and loudly condemn these attitudes.”

The family specifically calls out Metaxas, who, in addition to referencing Bonhoeffer’s legacy in the documentary, also wrote a controversial biography of Bonhoeffer. This biopic has now been adapted into a feature film set to be released later this year.

“The book ignored historical context and misrepresented Bonhoeffer as a fundamentalist evangelical. Metaxas, now a right-wing Trump supporter, regularly likens U.S. President Biden to Hitler, speaks of ‘all-out war’ and posts photos of guns on top of the Bible,” Bonhoeffer’s grandchildren wrote.

Metaxas will be in Alabama on Nov. 15 for Albert Patterson’s inaugural gala to raise funds for 1819 news, a far-right media site created by the Alabama Institute of Politics, another coalition partner supporting the 2025 Project.

Bonhoeffer’s family writes that his quotes, including in the Project 2025 guide, have been misused and “reduced to set pieces.”

“Lately, it has become increasingly used by many people whose intentions are diametrically opposed to Bonhoeffer’s thoughts and actions; They range from Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s proposed program for Trump, to German far-right extremist Björn Höcke, the family wrote. “We, the grandchildren, can testify to the attitude passed down in the family. We grew up frequently hearing talk and debate about the resistance to National Socialism, its causes and consequences. At a time when intolerance, anti-Semitism and other forms of racism and xenophobia, nationalism and authoritarianism are on the rise around the world, we believe it is important to make it clear to the public that throughout his life Dietrich Bonhoeffer fought parochialism, oppression and exclusion.

“The exploitation of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s legacy by Christian nationalists and others is so cynical that we are unlikely to convince these demagogues. But we especially appeal to American voters: Do not be deceived. Look at history carefully. We can only solve our problems by working together in the spirit of freedom and caring for others. This is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer represented.”