EMET NEWS PRESS

Situation Classification

The subject is Christian-coded extremist communication in Germany. The phenomenon sits at the interface of right-wing extremism, state delegitimisation, conspiracy ideology, group-focused hostility, antisemitically compatible codes and anti-LGBTQIA+ mobilisation.

The operating space is Germany. The open-source focal point is Baden-Württemberg. Digital operating spaces include Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Telegram, Discord and X. The political resonance space consists of AfD-adjacent milieus, right-wing media spaces and parliamentary contact surfaces.

The actor profile is heterogeneous. It includes preachers, small groups, social-media actors, religious-political influencers, fringe free-church structures and party-political contact actors. Religious practice is not the security issue. The security issue is the instrumental use of Christian codes to legitimise extremist narratives, group-focused hostility and state-delegitimising enemy construction.

German Security-Service Status

The German federal government confirms that the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz has actors and groups in view that spread extremist ideology under a Christian-religious appearance. The relevant core is the use of “pseudo-Christian motifs and discourses” to ideologically support agitation against social groups and extremist conspiracy narratives.

The 2024 federal Verfassungsschutz report does not list “Christfluencers” as a separate category. The phenomenon is captured across existing categories: right-wing extremism, state delegitimisation, antisemitic offences, digital radicalisation and conspiracy-based mobilisation.

Baden-Württemberg provides the hard open-source case base. The Evangelische Freikirche Riedlingen has been under observation by the Baden-Württemberg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution since 2022. The Baptistenkirche Zuverlässiges Wort Pforzheim has been under observation since May 2023 and later appeared under the name Deutschlands Seelen Gewinnen.

Persons and Functions

Jakob Tscharntke is the preacher of the Evangelische Freikirche Riedlingen. The congregation has been under observation by the Baden-Württemberg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution since 2022. Tscharntke is the central personal marker of the Riedlingen complex. Reporting describes a link between Christian-fundamentalist positions and rejection of the state and democratically legitimised decisions. His relevance lies in the preaching structure, congregational environment, state-delegitimising framing and digital amplification. The structural and functional attribution is robust. An individual security-service extremism designation should not be claimed without a direct official source.

The preacher of the Baptistenkirche Zuverlässiges Wort Pforzheim / Deutschlands Seelen Gewinnen is the hardest open-source case marker. The group has been under observation by the Baden-Württemberg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution since May 2023. A preacher was convicted of incitement to hatred in 2024 and 2025. An appeal was filed against the more recent ruling. The case tests the boundary between freedom of religion, freedom of expression, human dignity and criminal incitement. The complex links security-service observation, criminal-law consolidation, religious legitimation, attacks on human dignity and digital reach. Its relevance does not depend on organisational size. Digital reach partly replaces physical mass.

Leonard Jäger / “Ketzer der Neuzeit” is a digital religious-political actor with right-wing connectivity in the parliamentary documented context. A firm organisational affiliation is not the main marker. Relevance derives from reach, public visibility, political connectivity and mention in Bundestag document 21/6166. The July 2025 case involving a prohibited or prevented AfD event in the Baden-Württemberg state parliament makes Jäger a connector marker between Christian-coded communication, right-wing mobilisation and an AfD-adjacent political stage. This does not amount to an individual extremism designation.

Tobias Riemenschneider is a pastor, Christian actor and political-religious speaker. Bundestag document 21/6166 names him in the context of Christian actors said to promote AfD positions. His relevance lies in the possible translation of religious interpretive authority into party-politically compatible narratives. He is usable as a religious authority actor with a political amplification function. An individual official extremism designation is not robust without a direct security-service source.

Jasmin Friesen / “Liebe zur Bibel” and Jana Hochhalter / “Jana Highholder” are mentioned in Bundestag document 21/6166 in the wider context of public debates on Christian online actors. They are milieu and reach markers, not case anchors. Without security-service, judicial or event markers, they should not be positioned centrally.

Baden-Württemberg Case Base

The Baptistenkirche Zuverlässiges Wort Pforzheim / Deutschlands Seelen Gewinnen has been an observation object of the Baden-Württemberg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution since May 2023. Its profile: fundamental-religious small group, limited physical organisational mass, increased digital reach. The complex stands for violence-legitimising, homophobic and queer-hostile content. Reporting included death-penalty rhetoric against homosexuals. The judicial marker is the incitement-to-hatred case against a preacher. From a security-assessment perspective, the case is relevant because religious codes operate as a legitimation system for enemy communication that attacks human dignity.

The Evangelische Freikirche Riedlingen has been an observation object of the Baden-Württemberg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution since 2022. Its profile: real-world preaching and congregational structure with digital amplification. The key feature is the connection between Christian-fundamentalist positions and rejection of the state and democratically legitimised decisions. In security terms, Riedlingen marks the structural case: religious authority, local binding and state-delegitimising interpretation converge.

AfD Interface

The central event marker is the AfD event in the Baden-Württemberg state parliament in July 2025 that was prohibited or prevented. The case documents a parliamentary docking attempt. It does not automatically document an official extremism designation of all intended participants.

The function lies in the transition from digital pre-field communication into parliamentary resonance. AfD-adjacent spaces increase reach, symbolic capital and political connectivity. Christian-coded actors gain access to a party-political audience. AfD-adjacent milieus receive religious-moral legitimation resources for anti-gender, anti-liberal, anti-migration and anti-elite narratives.

Christian Codes: Function and Risk

The code system below is OSINT analysis based on security-service described patterns: pseudo-Christian motifs, group-focused agitation, conspiracy narratives, state hostility, antisemitism and homophobia. The operative sequence is stable: religious code, moral authority, political enemy marking, digital amplification, milieu access, radicalisation risk.

“Christian Occident” is an identity and demarcation code. Europe or Germany are constructed as a culturally and religiously homogeneous space. Migration, Islam, secularisation, liberalism and pluralism appear as attacks on an allegedly original order. The risk is the shift of political debate into civilisational conflict. The threat lies in compatibility with right-wing extremism, Islamophobia, ethnopluralism, identitarian rhetoric and AfD-adjacent culture-war language.

“Creation order” is an anti-gender and anti-LGBTQIA+ code. Gender, family and sexuality are framed as divinely fixed orders. Equality, trans rights, queer visibility and sexual education appear as rebellion against God. The risk is the removal of social questions from democratic negotiation. The threat lies in dehumanisation of queer people, delegitimation of state equality policy and radicalisation against schools, youth-welfare offices, church leaderships, media and parliaments. The Pforzheim complex is the hard escalation form.

“True family” is a mobilisation code against feminism, queer rights and liberal family models. Father-mother-child is set as the only legitimate social order. Other forms of life are marked as decay, ideology or threat to children. The risk lies in moral superiority communication and political exclusion logic. The threat lies in campaigns against rainbow families, sexual education, adoption law, equality and anti-discrimination. Internationally, the code is compatible with “family values” rhetoric.

“Child protection” is an emotionalisation and activation code. Queer visibility, drag, sexual education, trans rights or progressive education are coded as danger to children. Political dispute is transformed into defence against alleged child endangerment. The risk lies in aggressive mobilisation against teachers, authorities, organisers, libraries, churches and politicians. The threat lies in compatibility with “groomer” narratives, anti-LGBTQIA+ campaigns, digital harassment swarms, doxing, local intimidation and violence fantasies.

“Godless state” is a state-delegitimising code. State institutions are marked not as democratically legitimate but as godless, morally corrupt or hostile to Christians. The risk lies in the delegitimation of rule-of-law decisions. Courts, schools, parliaments, police, media and science appear as part of a hostile order. The threat lies in compatibility with constitutionally relevant state delegitimisation, sovereignist milieus, Reichsbürger proximity, Corona-protest milieus and anti-institutional conspiracy narratives.

“Persecution of Christians” is a victimhood and immunisation code. Criticism of extremist statements, legal limits against incitement to hatred or opposition to anti-LGBTQIA+ agitation are interpreted as persecution of faith. The risk lies in immunity against correction. Criminal law, security-service scrutiny, media research and church distancing appear as attacks on religion. The threat lies in siege mentality and escalation readiness.

“Biblical truth” is an absolutist code. Selected Bible passages are used politically. Complex democratic questions are framed as obedience questions before God. The risk lies in blockage of compromise. Political opponents become opponents of truth. The threat lies in radicalisation through non-negotiability, especially on LGBTQIA+, abortion, gender roles, migration, Islam, schools, media and the state.

“End times,” “spiritual warfare” and “demonic powers” are escalation codes. Political conflicts are interpreted apocalyptically or demonologically. Opponents appear as tools of evil. The risk lies in dehumanisation. Compromise appears as betrayal of God. The threat lies in increased lone-actor risk among vulnerable or already conspiracy-radicalised individuals, especially with Telegram/Discord migration, violence fantasies, weapons affinity or concrete target marking.

“Global elites” is an antisemitically compatible conspiracy code. Abstract powers are imagined as control centres behind migration, gender, media, finance, war, pandemics or liberal democracy. The risk lies in activation of classic antisemitic motifs: secret control, financial power, subversion, cultural decay. The threat lies in compatibility with QAnon, Great Reset, cultural Marxism, anti-American and anti-globalist conspiracy spaces.

“Great Reset” is a global conspiracy code. Political, economic or health-policy transformations are interpreted as planned elite attacks on freedom, family, nation and faith. The risk lies in linking religious, right-wing, esoteric, anti-vaccine and state-delegitimising milieus. The threat lies in bridge function to AfD-adjacent narratives, Corona-protest milieus, QAnon, antisemitism, sovereignism and anti-EU rhetoric.

“Cultural Marxism” is a right-wing extremist and antisemitically compatible ideology code. Feminism, anti-racism, queer rights, media, universities and liberal churches are marked as the result of planned left-wing cultural subversion. The risk lies in compressing multiple enemy images into one single conspiracy. The threat lies in compatibility with the U.S. alt-right, European right-wing intellectuals, AfD-adjacent discourse, antisemitic subtexts and anti-woke campaigns.

“Anti-woke” is a catch-all code for counter-mobilisation. Equality, diversity, anti-racism, gender politics, queer rights and postcolonial debates are bundled into one enemy package. The risk lies in vague enemy construction. The threat lies in high transnational compatibility with MAGA, ARC, European right-wing parties, conservative media spaces and anti-gender NGOs.

“Religious freedom” is a legal and political defence code. Religious freedom is used not only as protection of faith but at times as a shield against anti-discrimination law, LGBTQIA+ equality, sexual education or criminal limits on group-focused hate. The risk lies in instrumentalised norm collision. Human dignity and equality rights appear as attacks on religion. The threat lies in compatibility with transnational legal-warfare structures. ADF International is relevant here as a legal-advocacy node, not as an extremism object.

“Sovereignty” is an anti-institutional and anti-international code. The EU, UN, WHO, international courts, human-rights regimes and global agreements are framed as illegitimate foreign rule. The risk lies in linking the religious right, national conservatives, anti-vaccine actors, sovereignists and right-populist parties. The threat lies in strengthening state-delegitimising narratives, especially when coupled with “godless state,” “global elites” and “resistance.”

“Resistance” is an activation and escalation code. Political rejection is formulated as a moral duty to resist an allegedly illegitimate order. The risk lies in the shift from opinion to action. The code can legitimise protest, intimidation, blockade, digital campaigns or violence fantasies. The threat increases with target marking, enemy lists, apocalyptic language, dehumanisation, weapons rhetoric or calls against concrete persons.

Code Clusters and Radicalisation Corridors

The anti-gender corridor links “creation order,” “true family” and “child protection.” Primary targets are LGBTQIA+ people, schools, sexual education and equality policy. The risk is mobilisation against concrete educational, cultural and equality actors. The threat lies in local intimidation, digital campaigns, doxing, violence fantasies and dehumanisation of queer people.

The identitarian corridor links “Christian Occident,” “sovereignty,” migration and Islam. Primary targets are Muslims, migrants, the EU and liberal parties. The risk is civilisational conflict instead of democratic debate. The threat lies in compatibility with right-wing extremism, ethnopluralism and AfD-adjacent migration rhetoric.

The delegitimation corridor links “godless state,” “persecution of Christians” and “resistance.” Primary targets are the state, courts, media, the Verfassungsschutz and parliaments. The risk is the marking of democratic institutions as illegitimate enemy structures. The threat lies in radicalisation into state-hostile milieus, sovereignism, Reichsbürger proximity and violence-related resistance rhetoric.

The conspiracy corridor links “global elites,” “Great Reset” and “cultural Marxism.” Primary targets are liberal democracy, media, science, international organisations, financial actors and political actors. The risk lies in antisemitic compatibility, QAnon compatibility and fusion of right-wing, esoteric and religious milieus. The threat lies in accelerated radicalisation in closed platform spaces.

The escalation corridor links “end times,” “demonic powers” and “biblical truth.” Primary targets are political opponents, queer people, liberal churches and state institutions. The risk lies in dehumanisation, non-negotiability and religiously legitimised enemy construction. The threat lies in lone-actor radicalisation, violence legitimation and concrete target marking.

Digital Operating Logic

Primary platforms are Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Telegram, Discord and X. Formats include short video, sermon clip, Bible commentary, livestream, podcast, personal faith testimony, reaction video and community chat.

Access themes are family, sexual morality, dating, masculinity, femininity, child protection, gender politics, migration, Islam, media criticism, state scepticism and “woke” criticism. The radicalisation mechanics consist of religious absolutisation, moral crisis rhetoric, victimhood staging, enemy-image consolidation, digital amplification and platform migration into more closed spaces.

Target groups include young users, religious seekers, conservative milieus, anti-woke publics, AfD-adjacent online spaces and conspiracy-prone groups. The core effect is low-threshold access to extremist interpretation through faith, identity, family, fear and belonging.

Foreign Situation and Transnational Connectivity

France provides the strongest European comparison case with Civitas. Civitas was a Catholic-traditionalist organisation or party and was dissolved by the French government in 2023. Public and official grounds concerned antisemitic, Islamophobic and homophobic content. In security terms, Civitas is a reference case for religiously coded right-wing extremism with a state countermeasure.

The United States provides the central origin, amplification and export model through Christian Nationalism. The actor field includes MAGA milieus, evangelical advocacy structures, religious-political influencers, Heritage-adjacent spaces and ADF/ADF International. Relevance lies in religious nationalism, apocalyptic interpretation, enemy-image production, party politics, legal advocacy and digital influencer logic. PRRI data show that Christian Nationalism adherents in the United States are more likely than other groups to support political violence under certain circumstances. Germany is not identical, but narratively compatible.

Hungary is a reference space for state-amplified anti-gender and anti-LGBTQIA+ politics. The Fidesz government uses family, child protection, sovereignty and anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric as instruments of rule and mobilisation. The relevance lies in anti-gender politics as a government instrument.

Poland is a reference space for national-Catholic identity politics, PiS-adjacent milieus and ultraconservative movements. Relevance lies in Catholic-conservative identity, anti-LGBTQIA+ politics, abortion politics and national conservatism. The case is more political than digital-influencer driven.

ADF International is transnational legal advocacy. Its issue fields are religious freedom, abortion, LGBTQIA+ rights, anti-discrimination law and gender politics. In security terms, the actor is relevant as a legal-warfare node for legal infrastructure, narrative transfer and strategic litigation. No extremism designation.

CitizenGO is a digital campaign platform. Its issue fields are abortion, LGBTQIA+, gender, religious freedom and family policy. Relevance derives from petition logic, international issue transfer and activation of conservative publics. No extremism designation.

The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship is a conference and networking space for conservative, anti-woke and right-compatible actors. Its issue fields are family, civilisation, national identity, anti-woke, anti-gender and perceived Western order crisis. Relevance derives from contact surfaces, symbolic capital and transnational standardisation of conservative culture-war rhetoric. No extremism designation.

Threat Profile

The primary risk is pre-field radicalisation. The codes create entry points for individuals who would not be reachable through overtly right-wing extremist language. The secondary risk is enemy-image normalisation. Group-focused hostility appears as faithfulness, family protection or child protection. The tertiary risk is political connectivity. AfD-adjacent spaces can translate these codes into parliamentary and media resonance.

The quaternary risk is antisemitic recoding. “Elites,” “cultural Marxism,” “Great Reset” and “satanic world order” can activate classic antisemitic patterns without open naming. Acute indicators include concrete target persons, calls for “resistance,” death-penalty rhetoric, enemy lists, doxing, platform migration to Telegram or Discord, violence fantasies, weapons references and apocalyptic escalation.

OSINT Risk Levels

Level 1 is coded milieu communication. Terms such as “creation order,” “true family” or “anti-woke” normalise political enemy codes.

Level 2 is enemy-image communication. Groups are marked as threats to children, family, nation or faith. The mobilisation risk increases.

Level 3 is delegitimation. The state, courts, media or church leaderships are marked as godless, hostile or illegitimate. The radicalisation risk increases.

Level 4 is conspiracy integration. “Great Reset,” “global elites,” “cultural Marxism” and “satanic order” generate antisemitic compatibility and milieu fusion.

Level 5 is escalation language. Resistance, punishment, annihilation, death penalty or spiritual warfare against concrete groups increase the risk of violence legitimation and lone-actor radicalisation.

Situation Assessment

Christian-coded extremist communication is verifiable in Germany as an interface phenomenon. The hard open-source case base is located in Baden-Württemberg: Evangelische Freikirche Riedlingen and Baptistenkirche Zuverlässiges Wort Pforzheim / Deutschlands Seelen Gewinnen.

The federal finding derives from the government response to Bundestag document 21/6166, not from a separate category in the 2024 federal Verfassungsschutz report. The Baden-Württemberg AfD state-parliament event marks political connectivity, not an automatic official extremism designation of all participants.

Internationally, France/Civitas and U.S. Christian Nationalism are the main comparison spaces. Hungary and Poland show state- or party-amplified anti-gender politics. ADF International, CitizenGO and ARC are transnational legal, campaign and networking actors.

The security-relevant situation emerges where religious authority, digital reach, state-delegitimising content, enemy images attacking human dignity, antisemitically compatible codes and AfD-adjacent political spaces converge.

Operational Indicators

Relevant indicators include increased religiously coded anti-gender communication, linking Bible quotations with group-focused hostility, appearances in AfD-adjacent event formats, attempts to access parliamentary spaces, platform migration from Instagram, TikTok or YouTube to Telegram and Discord, international connectivity to MAGA, ARC, ADF or family-values formats, use of antisemitically compatible codes, violence-legitimising language against queer people, delegitimation of state institutions as “godless,” “demonic” or “satanic,” elevation of authoritarian order models through religious rhetoric, linking child-protection rhetoric to target marking against concrete persons, schools, events or authorities, and apocalyptic or demonological language against political opponents.

Core Finding

Christian codes become security-relevant when they religiously authorise political enemy images. The threat emerges from the coupling of absolutist claims, group-focused hostility, conspiracy narratives, digital reach and political connectivity.

Baden-Württemberg provides the currently strongest German case base. France and the United States provide the strongest comparison spaces. Hungary and Poland show compatible political anti-gender developments. Transnational actors do not provide necessary proof of central steering, but they provide contact, issue and legitimation spaces.

Glossary

ADF International

Transnational legal-advocacy organisation focused on religious freedom, pro-life litigation, gender and anti-discrimination issues.

AfD Interface

Political contact and amplification space between religiously coded actors and Alternative für Deutschland.

Christian-Coded Extremist Communication

Use of Christian terms, symbols or biblical references to legitimise extremist, state-delegitimising or group-hostile content.

Christian Nationalism

U.S. concept of politicised Christian identity that fuses nation, religion and state order ideologically.

State Delegitimation

Verfassungsschutz category for efforts that fundamentally reject or undermine democratic institutions, the rule of law and state legitimacy.

Enemy-Image Consolidation

Process in which political or social groups are no longer framed as opponents but as existential threats.

Group-Focused Hostility

Devaluation of people because of their belonging to a social, religious, ethnic, sexual or political group.

Legal Warfare

Strategic use of legal proceedings, expert opinions and litigation to enforce political or ideological goals.

Operational Indicator

Observable marker indicating relevant development, escalation or connectivity.

Religious Authority Resource

Use of religious language or function to give political statements higher legitimacy.

Pre-Field Radicalisation

Radicalisation phase before formal organisational affiliation or willingness to use violence, often through milieus, codes, platforms and enemy images.

References

German Bundestag — Document 21/6166
Parliamentary inquiry on possible links between Christian fundamentalism and right-wing extremism in Germany. Primary source for federal framing, actor references, AfD links and distinction from mainstream churches.
dserver.bundestag.de/btd/21/061/2106166.pdf

Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution — 2024 Report
Federal reporting on right-wing extremism, digital radicalisation, antisemitic offences and constitutionally relevant state delegitimation. No separate “Christfluencer” category.
verfassungsschutz.de/SharedDocs/publikationen/DE/verfassungsschutzberichte/2025-06-10-verfassungsschutzbericht-2024.pdf

Baden-Württemberg State Office for the Protection of the Constitution — Structures and Groups
Official classification of the Evangelische Freikirche Riedlingen and the Baptistenkirche Zuverlässiges Wort Pforzheim / Deutschlands Seelen Gewinnen.
verfassungsschutz-bw.de/,Lde/Startseite/Arbeitsfelder/Strukturen+und+Gruppierungen

Evangelische Zeitung / epd — Two Christian Congregations Remain in the View of the Verfassungsschutz
Reporting on the observation of the Evangelische Freikirche Riedlingen and the Baptistenkirche Zuverlässiges Wort Pforzheim by the Baden-Württemberg security service.
evangelische-zeitung.de/zwei-christliche-gemeinden-bleiben-im-visier-des-verfassungsschutzes

SWR — How Extreme Free Churches Agitate Against Politicians and Homosexuals
Reporting on the two Baden-Württemberg congregations under observation, their statements and their relation to state, democracy and LGBTQIA+ enemy images.
swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/wie-extreme-freikirchen-gegen-politiker-und-homosexuelle-hetzen-100.html

WELT — Preacher Challenges Incitement-to-Hatred Ruling Again
Reporting on the incitement-to-hatred case against a preacher of the Baptistenkirche Zuverlässiges Wort Pforzheim and the group’s observation by the Baden-Württemberg security service.
welt.de/regionales/baden-wuerttemberg/article68e9bac2310b2a8e3e972f72/prediger-wehrt-sich-erneut-gegen-volksverhetzung-urteil.html

Stuttgarter Nachrichten — Aras Bars Right-Wing Influencers from State Parliament
Reporting on the prohibited or prevented AfD event in the Baden-Württemberg state parliament in July 2025.
stuttgarter-nachrichten.de/inhalt.praesidentin-gegen-afd-fraktion-aras-verbannt-rechte-influencer-aus-landtag.f56a30fc-fb95-40bd-9461-3fa560c06cad.html

France — Dissolution of Civitas
Reporting on the dissolution of the Catholic-traditionalist organisation Civitas by the French government.
aa.com.tr/en/europe/french-government-dissolves-far-right-catholic-party-civitas/3008065

PRRI — Mapping Christian Nationalism Across the 50 States
Data basis on Christian-nationalist attitudes in the United States and support for political violence in relevant segments.
prri.org/research/mapping-christian-nationalism-across-the-50-states-insights-from-prris-2025-american-values-atlas

TIME — U.S. Christian Right in Europe
Reporting on activities of U.S. Christian-right organisations in Europe.
time.com/5903931/christian-right-conservative-agenda-europe-report

Reuters — Hungary Anti-Pride Law
Reporting on international criticism of Hungary’s anti-Pride law and restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression.
reuters.com/world/europe/over-20-envoys-budapest-express-concern-over-hungarys-anti-pride-law-2025-03-28

The Guardian — CitizenGO and International Abortion Policy Campaigning
Reporting on CitizenGO as a transnational campaign platform in the field of abortion and anti-gender politics.
theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/12/a-shadowy-overseas-group-is-trying-to-influence-australian-abortion-policy-who-are-they-and-what-do-they-want-ntwnfb