Theo Bros

The last link in yesterday’s post was to a YouTube video by Michael Burns. He made the video prior to the November 2024 election to explore the philosophies followed by some right-wing politicians and leaders including JD Vance who could (and as we know did) become Vice President.

He divides the radical philosophers and theologians influencing right-wing politicians into two camps: 

·        Neoreactionary philosophers of Silicon Valley, led by Curtiss Yarvin

·        Theo Bros of the new Christian nationalism

Burns then explores several of the leaders of both camps.

In keeping with my tradition of a religious theme on Sundays (did you notice?) I will share some of the second camp. Hartman did a good job of covering the first camp in yesterday’s post.

Pastor Doug Wilson made this provocative statement:

“It used to be that the sexually troubled had to keep their kinks hidden away in the closet. Now it is the conservative Christian who needs to keep his virtues hidden in the recesses of the closet”.

Well, it depends on what those “virtues” are that Wilson feels must be kept hidden. Burns responded by listing a few of the virtues mentioned in the Bible like “helping the poor, caring for vulnerable people, and turning the other cheek”. And said “I don’t think you need to hide that stuff. Let those virtues out of the closet”.

I suspect, though, that Wilson was thinking of virtues like persecuting gender minorities (gays and trans), persecuting followers of other religions (especially Islam), and opposing abortion. Agreed, those are not popular positions in modern society, and rightly so.

Burns quoted Jesus in Mathew 5 “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”

He then observed that Wilson and followers seem more interested in defeating their persecutors than praying for them; fighting against liberal culture to take back cultural and political power.

Aaron Renn is the author of “Life in the Negative World: Confronting Challenges in an Anti-Christian Culture”. He described the current American culture where Christians are persecuted for their beliefs.

Jeremy Carl has a book called “It’s OK to be White” about the persecution of white people. He speculates that “the war on white people” might be synonymous with the war on Christianity.

William Wolfe, a self-proclaimed “expert on Christian nationalism”, said that his ideal version of America would be led by a “Caesar figure”, that gay marriage would be prohibited, and men would vote for their households. He drew the line at executing heretics, admitting that the Founding Fathers had encouraged religious liberty. Very generous of him!

There is a strong thread of white supremacy mixed in all these philosophies but I won’t go into that today.

Burns concludes that “after careful philosophical analysis, this is some of the dumbest sh*t I’ve ever read". 

It’s worth the half hour to listen to Burns discuss these leaders of the philosophy and theology that are followed by Vance and others who are busy replacing America’s democratic government into something else entirely.

Source:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrrsnFT-LNo

PS there is a video clip at 32:50 where Donald Trump is asked for his favorite bible verse. Watch him waffle his way out of that tricky question.