The video of people arrested in rural Idaho for singing hymns in a public square without masks was a wake up call for many. The pastor of that church in Moscow, Idaho — Doug Wilson — joined the show to talk about that and the trailer he did for something he calls “No Quarter November”.
Knight: That was a great video you did with the car on fire. You get out of the burning car while talking about being a thought criminal, I think it’s a great metaphor for society. What is the ultimate cause of what’s wrong with our society?
Wilson: The ultimate cause is that we’ve forgotten God. We have assumed in our arrogance and pride that it is possible for us to govern ourselves, with a measure of sanity, without reference to the transcendental reality that is God. Men and women were not designed by him to function on our own like we’re just so many mole rats without any overarching purpose or meaning. We are important because we’re made in the image of God, and for no other reason. Apart from that, we’re just protoplasm.
Knight: I agree. You have a blog post, ‘The Revival To Come’, I think we need repentance and revival in this country more than we need a recount.
Wilson: That’s absolutely true. Politics will be saved at some point, but politics is not our savior. And if you look at the state of our political discourse right now, it’s a good thing it’s not our savior. If politics is our savior we’re in a world of hurt.
Knight: Now we’re shifting toward B. F. Skinner’s ‘Beyond Freedom and Dignity’ where they’re going to manipulate and control us.
An idea I hear from many Christians is, if it freaks someone out that I’m not wearing a mask, I should wear one just for their feelings. I think that takes us down the same road where we have to start using the pronouns they prefer or pretend that gender doesn’t matter. If we put ourselves in that position we lose objectivity and the idea that we should even debate what the real truth and facts are.
Wilson: And why does it always go one way? Suppose it creeps me out that they’re wearing masks. Whatever happened to debate and discussion? Instead, when you make an argument, now Twitter and Facebook just censor it. They don’t want people to be able to interact with arguments. It’s all about sheer control.
Knight: We went from modernism, where everyone debates what the facts are, to postmodernism, where everyone has their own set of facts. Then there’s the point where we are now, if you try to present your facts and they don’t like them then they basically get physically violent with you.
Wilson: Right, in other words, it went from ‘everyone has their own point of view’ to ‘everyone has their own point of view, except for you.
Knight: That’s exactly what’s going to happen if we bow down to this. I have a lot of reasons not to wear a mask. I have scientific, medical, and political reasons but it ultimately goes back to the persecution of our religious beliefs. It’s the same tactic that we’ve seen used for gender issues and everything else in our lives. Bow to them because you don’t want to hurt their feelings.
Wilson: We’ve moved to a place where feelings are paramount. Instead of the truth or facts being paramount, or the way the world objectively is. We’ve gotten to the point where the victim’s feelings are the most important, and the victims get to designate themselves as victims. Except for the Christians, Christians never get to be the victims.
In speaking about his viral trailer for “No Quarter November”, Wilson explains, “this is the third year we’ve been doing it. Normally, I say outrageous things and people misconstrue them. So usually, early on in my posts, I’ll say something like ‘please don’t take me as saying this or that’, where I anticipate objections or misunderstandings. We decided a few years ago that every November I would just blog for a month straight without giving any qualifications at all. If they’ve been reading the blog long enough, they can fill in the qualifications. I’m just going to give it out, unvarnished, without trying to tip-toe through it. We became convinced that we need a lot less tip-toeing.”
Doug Wilson can be found at
Blog: dougwils.com
Twitter: @DouglasWils
Church: ChristKirk.com
Publishing: Canon Press, canonpress.com
