rod dreher

'Pro-Life' Theater, Open White Nationalism, and Virility Fear — Day 3 of NatCon

Annika Brockschmidt, Ben Lorber — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 05:41:35 EDT

The closing day of NatCon 2024 (day 3) opened with a benediction by Reverend Uriesou Brito: a Christian nationalist, staunch defender of Doug Wilson, and Senior Pastor of Providence Church in Pensacola, Florida. Humanity versus unhuman and the Hot Gulag…

The 'Dreher Affair' Highlights the Right's International Networks

Annika Brockschmidt — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 03:30:09 EST

Right-wing Christian blogger and media figure Rod Dreher has moved to Hungary, where he continues to admire Viktor Orbán , the country’s authoritarian prime minister whom he’s called “one of the most extraordinary world leaders of our time.” Dreher isn’t…

Who Could Possibly Take Issue With 'Human Dignity'? Beware of Trojan Horses

Peter Schwartz — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 02:48:58 EST

Upon the recent death of the conservative British historian Paul Johnson, the right-wing journal Public Discourse praised Johnson as the “historian of human dignity.” Another recent piece in the Washington Post by Justin Dyer—executive director of the conservative Civitas Institute…

The Quiet Part is Very Much Out Loud: Conservative Publication Calls For Embrace of Totalitarianism

Annika Brockschmidt — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 04:28:33 EST

White Christian nationalism has been shown by researchers to be strongly connected to authoritarianism and anti-democratic sentiment. “White Christian nationalism is not just in the people who stormed the Capitol but it’s powerfully associated and a leading predictor of whether…

Putin's Violent Holy War Rhetoric Made it to the Christian Right Fringe — And There's Reason to Believe it'll Go Mainstream

Thomas Lecaque — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 05:30:57 EDT

It starts with a tweet: https://twitter.com/realRickWiles/status/1585375961033605120?s=20&t=DZQ… And it is, of course, not simply that. Shortly before, in support of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin appointing a “chief exorcist” against Satanism, he said : “Can you think of anybody, in the…

White Nationalist Ideology Shines Through at Elite MAGA Conference: Inside NatCon Part II

Ben Lorber — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 05:23:09 EDT

Below is the second of a two-part report on the third National Conservatism Conference that took place in Miami, FL from September 11 - September 13, 2022. Read Part I here . “Exercise your dominion, O Lord, over this nation”…

The Elite Movement Laying the Foundation for a MAGA That Will Outlast Trump and Remake America: Inside NatCon Part I

Ben Lorber — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 02:51:03 EDT

“Most people can’t even articulate a political thought. Like, why do they get to vote? It’s stupid.” It’s the evening of September 11, and I’m sipping whiskey by the bar at a 4-star resort hotel in Miami, as a 29-year-old…

Inspired by the Anti-Abortion Movement and QAnon, Anti-Trans Rhetoric is a Blatant Call for Violence

Annika Brockschmidt, Thomas Lecaque — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 03:01:47 EDT

They care for trans children and teenagers—and they’re getting death threats. On August 30th, Boston Children’s Hospital was shut down due to a bomb threat , and shut down a second time on September 9th, the latest in a series…

Crossing the Rubicon? Mar-a-Lago Raid Enflames Right Wing Fantasies of Christian Caesarism

Annika Brockschmidt, Thomas Lecaque — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 05:48:29 EDT

A Roman, a Confederate, and a Nazi walk into a political discourse… Sorry, there’s no punchline. This is just how the online conservative pundit machine is dealing with the FBI raid on Trump’s Florida home, Mar-a-Lago —comparing it to the…

Orthodox Church's Authoritarian Anti-LGBTQ Statement Poses Serious Threat to Academic Freedom

Sarah Riccardi-Swartz — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 04:36:54 EDT

As discussed earlier this week on RD , the Orthodox Church in America recently released an encyclical that, on the surface at least, recapitulates the long-held doctrines of the OCA concerning same-sex marriage and gay rights, reinforcing heterosexual hegemony as…

The Right's ‘Grooming’ Rhetoric Didn't Begin with QAnon — You Have to Go Back a Bit Further to Get to the Source

Sophie Bjork-James — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 06:00:19 EDT

It seems that all the Right wants to talk about these days is “grooming.” These accusations became popular recently in Florida with Republicans pushing for a law equating books about LGBT families with pedophiles grooming children. Governor Ron DeSantis’s press…

'Russkii Mir,' the Russian Equivalent of 'Blood & Soil' Ideology at the Heart of Putin's War, Explained and Rejected by Theologians in New Statement

Daniel Schultz — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 04:52:10 EDT

A new statement by Orthodox Christian theologians—some of whom sign from Russia—dramatically illustrates what’s at stake in this war of (mostly) Christians against Christians, and what implications it has for the American scene. The statement sets its organizers in opposition…

Kirill's Sermon May Be Bad Preaching and Even Worse Theology — But it's a Top-Notch Rejection of Liberal Democracy

Daniel Schultz — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 04:45:53 EST

Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, gave a sermon on forgiveness this past Sunday at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. It was a doozy , to use the vernacular. Many will rightly zero in…

Turn On The News: This Isn't a Split, It's a Tiny Sliver of Conservatives Walking Out the Door — Introducing A New Media Criticism Column

Daniel Schultz — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 05:48:02 EST

It’s hard to imagine a news article less challenging to the cultural hegemony of conservative straight white Christian men than focusing on the plans of a bunch of conservative straight white Christian men to start a new and stricter denomination…

Satanic or Systemic? Promise Keepers Are Back and Looking to End Racism Via 'Trickle-Down Racial Reconciliation'

A. E. Brooks-Key — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 04:26:18 EDT

This past weekend at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, marked the official public return of the Promise Keepers, their first in-person gathering since the 1990s. Founded by former University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney in 1990, Promise Keepers was…

After Orthodox Priest Suspended for 'Stop the Steal' Activity, a Renewed Spotlight on the Orthodox Far-Right

Sarah Riccardi-Swartz — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 02:16:58 EST

When insurrectionists stormed the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, most news reports focused on those who were Pro-Trump evangelicals and their ties to white Christian nationalism . Yet, as the events of the day continue to be interrogated by…

America’s National Conversation about Christianity is 'Fundamentally Unserious' — But Not in the Way You Think

Chrissy Stroop — Thu, 10 Dec 2020 12:58:50 EST

As I’ve argued before, the United States, an ostensibly secular country, has a de facto Christian public sphere. When conservative, mostly white Christians make headlines for doing something illiberal, like raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the legal defense…

White Supremacy and Orthodox Christianity: A Dangerous Connection Rears Its Head in Charlottesville

Katherine Kelaidis — Fri, 18 Aug 2017 09:00:59 EDT

There are those who would co-opt American Orthodoxy, make it the voice of white nationalism. Churches need to confront the problem head on.

From Empire to Shire: Rod Dreher's Nostalgia for Middle-Earth

Gustavo Maya — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 09:00:27 EDT

The author of “The Benedict Option” offers a social vision that omits centuries of Christian intellectual and theological history.

Rejecting the Stranger: Why Rod Dreher's Vision of Communal Christian Life Is Not So Benedictine After All

Kaya Oakes — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 02:14:18 EDT

Neither an idealized Christian past nor a narrative that envisions a persecuted Christian future are going to create real and lasting communities.

From "Jane Roe" to "Roe No More": Norma McCorvey's Long Strange Trip Through the Politics of Abortion

Patricia Miller — Tue, 21 Feb 2017 03:46:54 EST

Roe v. Wade plaintiff Norma McCorvey’s death this past Saturday, February 18, closed a life that not only jumpstarted the abortion debate, but encompassed the political trajectory of the granddaddy of all wedge issues, as she went from feisty heroine…

"Make The Mass Latin Again": The Pope Francis Backlash Comes Home

Kaya Oakes — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 02:16:32 EST

There’s beauty in mythology, to be sure. But there is also grave danger in believing mythologies can save broken institutions.

When Being "Christian" Means Supporting Trump: An Argument For Hiding Your Faith

Jonathan Malesic — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 12:46:37 EDT

I am not arguing that Clinton is the obvious choice for Christian voters, just that Trump is obviously not.

Secede, For The Kingdom of Bernie Has Come Near

Daniel Schultz — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 10:23:54 EDT

On the one hand, this story from Charisma News is completely silly: Following a very heated primary, it’s not entirely uncommon for the vanquished’s supporters to threaten the political equivalent of taking the ball and going home. But are Bernie…

Out of Options: Christians’ Losing Battle Over Equality

Kaya Oakes — Wed, 11 Nov 2015 06:01:31 EST

In the months since the Supreme Court’s decision to make marriage equality the law, conservative Christian thinkers have followed two tracks. On the one hand, writers like Rod Dreher and Ross Douthat have used the language of war, battle, and…