6 Questions for Christian Nationalists
Kevin DeYoung: ‘Political theology is not like the doctrine of the Trinity or the two natures of Christ. It has not been codified for almost two millennia, it does not sit at the heart of the gospel, and it does not demand the same application and expression in every century. To maintain that Calvin’s Geneva is neither doable nor desirable as a political model for our day does not make one a progressive. It makes one a realist—about our times and about human nature. Much of what is triumphantly bandied about under the banner of Christian Nationalism is the product of a digital echo-chamber that bears little resemblance to what regular churchgoers talk about, let alone what the rest of the non-Christian population in a democratic nation would ever countenance. Part of believing in God’s providence is dealing with the history and development of the nation God has given us, not wishing for a political order that existed somewhere else long ago (and wasn’t nearly as successful as some people would like to remember it).’
What Wicca’s Origins Teach Us About Christian Nationalism
On a similar note, Joe Carter looks at what the origins of Wicca can tell us about Christian Nationalism.
The New Lab Rats For Gender Drug Tests
‘So deeply has a decade and a half of gender ideology bitten into our Western culture, that children as young as ten are now set be the new lab rats, and all with government approval. And not a squeak from the noble types who were squeamish about animal testing. And what drugs will these children be testing? Well, they’re children, so puberty blockers of course. Children will now comprise a cohort to test drugs that we already know have huge physiological, development and psychological impacts on whoever is subjected to them.’
How to See Your Own Blind Spots
‘Those blind spot beeps from the car have saved my life. You’re taught in driver’s ed to turn your head all the way around—to look over your shoulder at the blind spot. But sometimes…you’re just lazy. You want to trust you’ve already seen enough for long enough and just change lanes already. Then the car beeps and reminds you that you’re dangerously unaware. It’s the same when it comes to evaluating our own character. We have blind spots in our identity and personal growth. They’re like dead patches of a plant that make it grow out in a disfigured way. We know they’re there, but we don’t know where. What can we do?’
Misunderstanding Porn
‘As deep and powerful as a person’s sexual desires are, no one will die if they are denied sexual release. A husband whose wife gets a terrible stomach virus on the night of their wedding anniversary will be disappointed, but he will not waste away from sexual starvation if he has to wait another week or two before the next time they come together. If watching porn was simply a matter of sexual release, it would not be the social catastrophe that it is. There are many ways in which people misunderstand porn, but perhaps the best way to summarize the corrections necessary is to say that porn is not the same as physical sex and porn addiction is not merely a matter of sexual temptation.’
My Favorite Reads of 2025
If you’re anything like me, with Christmas coming up, you’re likely to find a chunk of time in which reading seems easy and possible. To that end, I find rundowns of people’s best reads quite helpful. Here, Trevin Wax offers his best reads of 2025.
From the archive: Budgeting for the poor tends to mean living by bread alone
‘When you can’t afford good food for your children anyway, nor much else that requires significant outlay, is it really that difficult to understand why they might find a manageable way to get them something they might actually enjoy among the general misery of poverty? Even if you cannot see any credit in that point and maintain that such parents are merely feckless and irresponsible, are you really prepared to insist that the kids shouldn’t eat because their parents made a poor decision as you judge it?’