'An Outspoken Christian Nationalist Pastor Expands His Sway In Trump's DC' [View all]

"Idaho pastor Doug Wilson is bringing his church to DC, and says he met with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in recent weeks."

"Idaho pastor Douglas Wilson can be provocative. He once wrote that 'slavery produced in the South a genuine affection between the races.' He’s said that 'sodomy' is worse than 'slavery'; abortion, he’s written, is 'as great an evil as slavery' due to what he sees as its ability to spark a civil war. He told me last year that he regards the American state as the 'biggest blasphemer' of them all."

"But beneath the provocations is a vision of a remade — and Christianized — America: One in which the government aggressively promotes and enact the preferences of the evangelical right."

"Wilson believes that he has key allies atop and throughout the American government, and, like many before him, is trying to secure access and influence to advance his ideas. To do that, Wilson is seeking to expand his religious empire — already capacious — into the capital. He’s launching a new church in Washington this summer."

"At the same time, the Trump administration has begun to take actions that appear to benefit Wilson and his movement. On Tuesday, the DOJ civil rights division sued an Idaho town for denying a land use permit to Wilson’s church. Hegseth held a prayer service in the Pentagon on Wednesday where he praised President Trump as an instrument of God while standing alongside his own, Nashville-based pastor, who is himself a longtime member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), the movement that Wilson founded."

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/an-outspoken-christian-nationalist-pastor-expands-his-sway-in-trumps-dc