(RNS) — Doug Wilson, a self-described Christian nationalist pastor with a talent for turning his controversial positions into literal hot takes — see his burning sofa videos and other flamethrower stunts — has built a media empire larger than might be expected for a bearded, 71-year-old Reformed Christian theologian based in remote Moscow, Idaho.
But his anti-LGTBQ+ rhetoric, his discussion of the Bible as condoning benevolent slavery and his traditionalist ideas about gender have attracted just the right kind of criticism to boost his audience among a certain set of conservative Christians. Wilson logs it all in a self-curated “Controversy Library” of dustups attributed to him over the last few decades.
But according to the creators of the new podcast “The Sons of Patriarchy,” it’s not just Wilson’s culture war provocations that are cause for concern, but what people take from his theology and politics. “Abuse in churches, in marriages, in families, under clergy, is part and parcel of this movement,” claimed the podcast’s host, Peter Bell. “It’s undergirded by the patriarchal submission, authority, obedience.”
In response to questions about the podcast, Wilson pointed RNS to a letter from his attorneys that the pastor said was “generated in an earlier inning of this same baseball game.”
Wilson said in a separate email to RNS, “Given the tone, the topic, and the familiar voices, I expect that “Sons of Patriarchy” will consist of recycled (and refuted) defamation and slander.”
Pastor Doug Wilson. (Video screen grab)
According to Bell, the podcast plans to feature roughly 50 stories involving abuse allegations, most of which he said will be made public for the first time. The podcast’s creators don’t accuse Wilson personally of any physical or sexual abuse but maintain that abuse is routinely …