Conservative entropy: Right-wing radio host Eric Erickson is one US conservative, and he is extremely conservative, who has spotted the difference between conservatism and Trumpian populism.
Wherever one is on the political spectrum (if there is still one), it is worth considering the gap between those two political stances.
In a piece titled “Entropy on the Right,” Erickson observes, “In 1993, at the Fraser Institute, Margaret Thatcher raised one of her favorite quotes: “There go my people. I must find out where they are going so that I can lead them.” She then said, “Well, we didn’t start that way. We knew where we were going, we knew the reason why, and we were prepared to persevere until the policies showed good results…
“…The [hugely influential thinktank and supplier of aparachiki to Trump’s new administration] the Heritage Foundation is openly advocating for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. Kennedy is both pro-abortion and pro-national health care. Kennedy is a supporter of aggressive government, not limited government. He is not a champion of individual freedom but has long favoured a robust nanny state. He is anathema to traditional American values. He is, after all, a Kennedy.
“But we are in a populist moment with a populist President, and the Heritage Foundation seems to want a seat at the table more than to guide conservative orthodoxy when it is out of favor. Its people have gone to populism, so it must find out where they are going so that it can lead.”
If Erickson is right, the Trump administration and conservatism (whether you like either of them or neither of them) would seem to be two quite different things.
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Budde buddy: A mass of commentary concerning the “truth to power” sermon (a link to a transcript) by the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Mariann Edgar Budde, does not really comment on what was said in the actual sermon but on progressive positions she had taken already. For example, Stephen McAlpine: “Bishop Budde rejects substitutionary atonement, she holds universalist views on salvation, and her view of Scripture is not Scripture’s view of Scripture. And therefore not Jesus’ view of Scripture. And that should be a matter of concern or indeed sorrow to those who claim to be orthodox. They should be sobered by that reality.” Obadiah regards that as a fair description of Bishop Budde’s theology.
Or Melbourne’s Murray Campbell: “The bishop communicates well and clearly (and quite differently from the viral videos of her deriding the President on other occasions). Yes, she uses Christian language and some Bible categories. But even within this sermon, there are giveaway signs of the troubling theology that underpins her views.”
Yes, “give away signs” of her progressive views. Obadiah thinks Campbell has that right. True. But it struck Obadiah that Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who, while in the progressive mainstream of The Episcopal Church, has shown more grace to conservatives than her more extreme colleagues, did NOT hammer home her progressive views. She did not ask people to become progressives. Instead, she simply called for mercy towards immigrants and LGBTQIA persons, especially children. That Obadiah thinks was smart.
Last words to another US preacher, Owen Strachan:
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They have moved on: On abortion, the pattern is set. The mainstream parties of the right, Republicans in the US, Tories in the UK and Liberals in Australia, are less and less interested in enacting laws to restrict it.
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h/t David Maegraith
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A sad whistleblower story: Youlanda Borucki, a child care centre manager who who alerted police to one of Australia’s worst paedophiles, has been found not guilty of a charge of using a work computer to alert the media.
Borucki worked at a Queensland Uniting Church child care centre as Ashley Paul Griffith, who has been convicted of 307 child sexual offences, The Guardian reports
Borucki alerted the police to Griffiths’ offending, and although it took another later police investigation to bring him to trial, she was clearly acting as a whistleblower.
But as a Uniting Church spokesperson said “The Uniting Church notified relevant authorities and regulators of a privacy data breach which resulted in the Queensland Police Service bringing the charge against the individual in question.”
There’s been no apology from the church for putting Borucki through the trial. the guiardian reports instead that “Borucki was told she would be made redundant the day before Griffith was arrested and she was sacked shortly afterwards. Her blue card permitting her to work with children is suspended.”
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I hope it is true: The most-read article for 2024 in the oldest magazine in the English-speaking world, The Spectator, is Jusib Brierley’s A Christian Revival, which is underway in Britain. He notes the rise of intellectual approval of Christianity as a civilising force by people like historian Tom Holland.
“If conservative-leaning intellectuals only ‘cosplay’ at Christianity (Tom Holland’s phrase) without really believing it, then this ‘New Theist’ movement will inevitably fade away. Co-opting Christianity in the cause of an anti-woke agenda or in order to fend off radical Islam turns it into a useful political tool, but drains it of any life-giving power. A Christian nationalism of the right will become as pallid and pointless as the Christianity of the progressive left that parrots the latest politically correct talking points.”
Obadiah would like to agree with Brierley that besides this new groupthink on the right, there is a genuine search after God – and that people like Tom Holland follow intellectual Ayaan Hirsi Ali into faith. Maybe just the fact that Brierley’s piece was so well-read gives hope.