If You Saw That Doug Wilson CNN Interview...

Maybe it made you feel unpleasant things. Like It did me. Here is what I want you to know.

If you’ve seen that clip, you may have felt a familiar knot in your stomach.

Pastor Doug Wilson says women should submit to men — even calling for the repeal of the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote. He has defended certain forms of slavery as “biblically permissible” under the right conditions. He wants same-sex marriage repealed and abortion banned nationwide. And he says all of this because, in his words, “the Bible is clear.”

If hearing that made you feel sick, small, or unsafe, you’re not imagining it.

(I thought about posting the interview here, but I won’t help promote his nonsense.)

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It’s one thing to hear a fringe preacher on the internet say these things. In some ways, that’s become normal. And Doug Wilson used to be fringe. But now, he and others like him have moved from the far-right edge of evangelical fundamentalism to the very center of American power.

Wilson recently opened a new church in Washington, D.C., openly stating that he wants to be at the center of influence. Among his earliest parishioners is United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who has publicly praised him in the past. That means Wilson’s voice, and his ideas, have the ear of people at the highest levels of government.

That’s why this hits differently than the Westboro Baptist protesters we’ve grown accustomed to — the ones shouting awful things just to get attention. This feels more calculated, more sinister, and, most frighteningly, more accepted by other Christians.

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If you’re a woman who’s been told your role is submission,
If you’re Black and have heard Scripture used to excuse slavery or segregation,
If you’re LGBTQ+ and have been told your love is an abomination,
If you’ve ever been pushed to the margins by people in power who claim to speak for God, I want you to hear this from me:

You are not overreacting.
Your fear is not weakness.
Your anger is not sin.

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Let me be transparent about something. I usually post my daily article between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. It’s now 10 p.m. on a Friday night, and I’m still finishing this.

Truth is, I’ve written five or six versions today and thrown them all out. My spirit kept telling me someone reading this needs something different from me tonight. And it’s not a well formulated intellectual take-down of Doug Wilson.

I have plenty of posts explaining why the views of Wilson and other Christian nationalists are flawed, simplistic, and self-serving. I even started writing one today about why slavery is wrong — and then it hit me: Why am I even having to say this?

We know slavery is wrong.
We know patriarchy and misogyny are not the path forward.
We know women can lead — often better than men.
We know gay people deserve to be loved and accepted without fearing their rights will be taken away.
We know every person deserves dignity.

So tonight isn’t about convincing you of anything. It’s just me saying: if you’re nervous, I am too.

If you’re frustrated at how far the acceptance of hate has gone in the name of power, me too.

If you’re exhausted from watching the Bible get weaponized, me too.

I don’t have all the answers. But I can stand with you, hold you up, and be one more voice saying you matter — and we will get through this.

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I can’t promise that voices like his will get quieter anytime soon.
But I can promise you this:

You are not alone.
Your humanity is not up for debate.
Your story matters more than their agenda.

If this is “normal” now, then let’s be the people who refuse to be normal.
Let’s stand with each other.
Let’s keep telling a better story together.

And if empathy, love, grace, forgiveness and inclusiveness are the new fringe, so be it.

I’ll be right here on the fringe with you.

Quick Community Update (If You Missed It Yesterday)

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If you missed the post, you can read it here.

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