Bachmann turns faith in overdrive

Presidential hopeful recently belonged to church that calls the Papacy the Antichrist

The Atlantic has reported that for many years U.S. presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann belonged to a conservative Lutheran Church that officially states the Pope is the Antichrist.

Bachmann, who is in the running for the Republican candidacy for the 2012 presidential election, belonged to the Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church in Stillwater, Minn.

The church is part of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), which the Atlantic calls "the most conservative of the major Lutheran church organizations." The group, which has 400,000 members, is known for it's strict adherence to the teachings of Martin Luther.

WELS' official philosophy on the papacy is featured on their website under nine page Doctrinal Statement on the Antichrist.

"We reject the idea that the teaching that the Papacy is the Antichrist rests on a merely human interpretation of history or is an open question," the statement says. "We hold rather that this teaching rests on the revelation of God in Scripture which finds its fulfillment in history."

Bachmann officially left the church last year, with some speculating her presidential race, and the U.S.'s roughly 70 million Catholics, had something to do with it.

In a 2006 Republican candidates debate, Bachmann was asked if she believed WEL's statement that the Pope is the Antichrist.

"Well that's a false statement that was made, and I spoke with my pastor earlier today about that as well, and he was absolutely appalled that someone would put that out," she said. "It's abhorrent, it's religious bigotry. I love Catholics, I'm a Christian, and my church does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that's absolutely false."

This may sound like bad news for Bachmann, but at least Tom Petty didn't file a cease-and-desist order for playing "American Girl" at a rally. Oh wait, he did.