B“Now everyone knows that Taylor Swift is a government psychological operation. » wrote right-wing influencer Benny Johnson last week, summarizing the hot new conspiracy theory that the pop star’s relationship with Kansas City Chiefs player Travis Kelce is a secret plot orchestrated by Democratic mega-donor George Soros will help President Joe Biden win re-election.
The theory has been touted in numbers including former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Fox News host Jesse Wattersand this caused a rash of comment explore the growing strangeness of the right. American conservatism, in the words ofNew York Times Columnist Ross Douthat suffers from a self-sabotaging “inability to just be normal.”
The emerging consensus, even among some conservatives like Douthat, is that the right in general, and the Christian right in particular, is home to a cultish bunch of losers and monsters. And a movement that focuses on happy, traditional romance and starts hyperventilating psychological operations is not appealing. It pushes into the arms of the left educated, high-ranking moderates with generally conservative dispositions.
There is some truth here. In electoral terms, the Republicans have indeed lost their support among the educated And tributary, and the idolization of politicians like former President Donald Trump is both morally wrong and politically reckless. The right’s victim culture and baseless conspiracy theories have gone way too far. This is undeniably destructive and requires serious self-examination and reform.
But for Christians, recognizing this kind of strangeness shouldn’t blind us from seeing that our culture’s most serious problems tend to come from elsewhere. We can reject the bad and stupid quirks while be resolutely “weird” for the sake of justice.
This discourse on strangeness has largely overlooked a key point of context: many on the secular left believe in the absurdities and, much more than the Christian right, will not hesitate to shove them down people’s throats. Most obvious at present is the claim that men can become women and vice versa, an idea that would have been considered a farce for most of human history. But within a decade, proponents of gender ideology managed to control many institutions that shape culture have consequences and thus can easily normalize what is not normal. In fact, they are able to quickly dismiss any opposition as weirdness or bigotry.
Issues such as the reality of God-given sex of course have importance far beyond politics, and other lies now widely accepted in our culture, such as the morality of abortion, are more difficult to understand and more deeply rooted. It is vital that Christians are strong and vigilant in their resistance to these lies, that they are willing to be “weird” in defense of the truth.
This will require listening to conscience, even when the world threatens to crush us, as it has done for many Christians. pharmacists, bakersAnd others. It also means that we must not prioritize elite approval over our principles. Like Paul, we must seek the approval of God and not of men (Galatians 1:10), for “no man can serve two masters.” Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will devote yourselves to the one and despise the other” (Matthew 6:24).
Furthermore, elite approval is unlikely without complete capitulation…just ask actor Chris Pratt, who has faced scrutiny due to his church’s views on sexuality. Pratt finds himself in the difficult position of being a Christian in Hollywood, and he’s clearly struggling with how to stay in the good graces of God and the Screen Actors Guild.
But we must also avoid a state of mind that has become too common in certain Christian circles: the habit of assuming that each criticism is unfair or even “proof” that we are effective champions of the truth. Jesus said the world would oppose us no matter what (John 15:18-25), but we should avoid becoming easy targets for allegations of hypocrisy, gullibility, or worse. We must remember that no politician can restore the world; only the return of Christ can do this (Revelation 21:5). And not all opposition is part of an elaborate conspiracy: in fact, although our situation may be worse than at other times in American history, compared to that of Christians in the Roman Empire or many regions of the world today, we remain free and blessed.
We also need to be aware of how we are perceived by the world, not to conform to its lies but to better spread the truth. Taylor Swift is not our allybut she neither It’s even close to the biggest problem in our culture, and tackling it is unlikely to yield any good results.
We can also be more creative in crafting stories. Instead of picking on Swift, for example, point out the conservative values that people of all stripes can find inspiring in his relationship with Kelce and his family. Instead of making us victims of an imaginary conspiracy, point out that Swift seems happy in a traditional relationship with a successful masculine man.
These strategies won’t do much, and many in the world will view us as strangers and monsters, whether we withdraw like John the Baptist or commit like Jesus (Matt. 11:18-19). As Christians, we know that this is inevitable and that our ways must be different. We know we will face scorn and ridicule if we challenge dangerous lies from “credible” institutional funders. But we also know that we have the truth, and that the truth does not change, no matter what is fashionable among the elite of our culture.
Matthew Malec is a research assistant at the Center for Ethics and Public Policy.
