This was a mistake, at least for the peace in my social media feed. Two years ago as a result of this innocent shout out, I started getting interactions with a group of \u201cwhite nationalists\u201d and they haven\u2019t ended yet. They were aggressive, but their recruiting techniques were shades of\u00a0That Hideous Strength<\/em> or getting into the cool kids club in high school. If you were with them, you were\u00a0young or understood the young<\/em>, smart (\u201chigh IQ\u201d), and manly.<\/p>\n Adoptions, especially inter-racial adoptions, were intolerable and they went after such race traitors (\u201ccucks\u201d) with a vengeance.<\/p>\n They were more than a little sad and terribly offensive, but Socrates is a hard master so I tried talking with them, reading the links they sent, and learning what I could about this \u201calt-Right.\u201d My hope was that I could understand what motivated them and be of some help.<\/p>\n Most of my friends thought I was wasting my time. Who cared what this fringe group thinks? Yet these were serious people with some tech skills. It turned out I wasn\u2019t wasting my time.<\/p>\n They found a fairly mainstream ear in Steve Bannon at Breitbart who was willing to play footsie with them, appropriate some of their language, as he looked to harness their energy to get to the White House. Hordes of avatars, a single individual could control many accounts on line, could make a Jewish person or an African American\u2019s life miserable.<\/p>\n Misery happened to friends.<\/p>\n This alliance worked out well for Steve Bannon. He is in the White House having pushed off the \u201cyoung,\u201d \u201chigh IQ,\u201d and \u201cmanly\u201d fringes of the alt-Right that did not have the media savvy of a Milo Yiannopoulos, knowing how to stay just to the left of outright racialism. Bannon continues to mess about with European versions of the American alt-Right and urging the President to do so as well.<\/p>\n Forget politics, however. The ideas are the thing that might dull the conscience of the Republic.<\/p>\n I doubt politics is ready for the straight alt-Right, but it is in the world of ideas that they are dangerous. This is\u00a0not<\/em> because their ideas are new, nineteenth century eugenics with a smattering of twenty-first century genetics will get you by, but due to their ability to make allies in some Evangelical circles<\/p>\n Alt-Right types attack the \u201ccultural Marxists\u201d (a phrase echoing Third Reich\u2019s assault on \u201ccultural Bolshevism\u201d) and this phrase has become mainstream in conservative Christian circles. It is impossible to define (ask!), but becomes a catch all for real problems including leftist attacks on free speech, media bias, and the dominance of the sexual revolution in pop culture at the expense of morality.<\/p>\n To Evangelical young adults given the dispiriting choice between Jerry Falwell Jr. and Ayn Rand, the alt-Right might seem like a fun, puckish alternative. For most Christians, it is an unfortunate alliance, but the urge to power in the alt-Right is dangerous.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t spent the last two years with the alt-Right clogging your social feed and sending you email, then you might not understand what a vile group they are.<\/p>\n Tired of losing with \u201cgentleman\u201d candidates like McCain and Romney, many who are tolerant of the alt-Right are willing to mess about with the tactics of the group. These better souls fail to see that the logic of the movement is incompatible with a traditional Christian ethic, but the alt-Right does not miss the problem.<\/p>\n If you hang around long enough, the alt-Right will push the issue and help the ally see the light.<\/p>\n Here is a sample of a recent letter, I received. Be warned that the language and content is offensive, but it is worth reading, because it says where I think a part of the \u201cconservative\u201d Christian movement is heading. It will not head all the way in this direction, but the logic of what they have tolerated tactically in politics (watch the ongoing compromise of Kellyanne Conway), will begin to change their religious views.<\/p>\n Here is the letter without links:<\/p>\n At a recent alt-right meet up in Boston, a number of young alt-righters noted how they\u2019ve given up on Christianity and have converted to neo-paganism (Asatru Folk Assembly).\u00a0 Their complaints about Christianity were as follows:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n \u201cChristianity today has become synonymous with basic faggotry.\u00a0 You have literal cuckolds adopting blacks and you have weak girly men crying about the need not to deport 3rd world invaders.\u00a0 This religion, they maintain, is a disgrace for any man with a healthy testosterone level.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Christianity has not always been so cucked.\u00a0 Even 100 years ago Christianity was largely uncucked.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n What happened?\u00a0 One professor of evolutionary psychology and religion, in a forthcoming book, argues that mainstream Christianity has been overtaken by girly men.\u00a0 It\u2019s undergone a selection process where more manly men have left leadership positions so all that\u2019s remaining are cuckolds. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Nonetheless, many alt-righters are still Christian and are forging away at a new form of Christianity called Uncucked Christianity.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Take a moment to pray for the souls of the people who wrote this email and to let your just anger at these ideas subside.<\/p>\n This requires level headed thinking. Most American Christians\u00a0will not<\/em> go all the way into this worldview, but more than a few will adopt the basic ideas behind the appeal.<\/p>\n In substance, the letter attacks interracial adoption and immigration.<\/p>\n Few Christians will (yet!) openly attack interracial adoption, but on immigration there is a softer spot. Reasonable people can disagree about immigration policy and politicians have long refused to listen to critics of establishment views regarding this issue.<\/p>\n This provides a wedge for the extreme alt-Right.<\/p>\n However, the\u00a0more important issue\u00a0<\/em>is that the alt-Right is arguing for the use of\u00a0power<\/em> as a solution to the problems. Ignore the childish appeals to insecurities in American men. They will only touch a fringe.<\/p>\n This group\u2019s appeal, and main danger to our immortal souls, will be inculcating the willingness to\u00a0do what it takes to stop cultural problems.\u00a0<\/em>They want power and they are not afraid to use it. Anyone who opposes this will be called \u201clow IQ\u201d or \u201ccucked.\u201d The political ends always justify the cultural (racial) means.<\/p>\n This\u00a0is utterly incompatible with traditional Christianity as the writers of this letter recognize.\u00a0<\/em>Of course the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil have always attracted Christians, so there are many sad cases of those who thought they could use force to bring on the Kingdom. The good news is that the Good News will not long endure such compromise.<\/p>\n When we take the sword, we do so with fear and trembling and not with joy.<\/p>\n Jesus died for our sins, but the alt-Right wants to pick up the sword and purge our cultural sins.<\/p>\n I am no pacifist. I think there is a time to fight, but for a Christian, the use of power is hedged with many checks and balances. We prefer to\u00a0lose<\/em> in the short term rather than win while losing our souls. Christianity loves everyone,\u00a0including losers!<\/p>\n The alt-Right is quite right about one thing. We will fight like ladies and gentlemen (having created the concept) and that always looks like a losing game. Martyrs look \u201ccucked,\u201d but they end up destroying the tyrant\u2019s strengthless presumption in this life and that to come!<\/p>\n History says so.<\/p>\n Thereis no place for\u00a0nationalism<\/em> in Christianity, only\u00a0patriotism.\u00a0<\/em>No Christian can ever simply put America first, because so many other relationships have a claim: family, church, community. Christianity is global, so while I am an American (what else could I be), I cannot\u00a0only<\/em> be an American. I must also recognize eternal value in other nations and ideals and that my own nation will not last.<\/p>\n No human nation can.<\/p>\n Augustine had it right: we are ultimately subjects of the City of God.<\/p>\n In short, if pressed, a Christian will fight within the limits of the moral law, but we will not lie, torture, or commit war crimes. That may look like a losing strategy, but so far so good for Christians. We have had many enemies, but always new ones! Where is Rome? Where is Stalin? Where is Mao?<\/p>\n Sadly, doing things right often requires losing in the short term. Think of the death<\/a> of Elizabeth Romanov, the New Martyr: she lost, so that Lenin surely would lose. He played power, she was a Christian and a lady and her story was greater than Lenin\u2019s legions.<\/p>\n It is always so.<\/p>\n Again: fight hard, in fact, fight harder and smarter, but the children of this age will\u00a0always<\/em> seem wiser than the children of the age to come. There is a limit to what we will do and no limit to what they will do.<\/strong><\/p>\n So it must be or we have become merely bully boy Brownshirts, opposing Redshirts, opposing whatever new revolutionary group the sexual revolution spawns.<\/p>\n It is all the misuse of power, all wrong, but tempting . . . what is coming will be a \u201cChristianity\u201d that is not so crude as to say it is uncucked, but that will dispense with the \u201cniceties.\u201d This Christianity will say politics isn\u2019t \u201cSunday School\u201d and so intentionally go into the fray intending to lie, cheat, steal, and eventually misuse power to \u201cwin.\u201d<\/p>\n Against this we need those who fight, but with their hands tied by ethics, conventions, and the Constitution. We must be Christians before Americans and Americans before we are winners.<\/p>\n God help us.\u00a0Go read That Hideous Strength.\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n _________<\/p>\n![\"Ancient_Nordic_Sami_people_offering_to_Diermes_or_Thor_by_Picart_1724_opt\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/169\/2017\/01\/Ancient_Nordic_Sami_people_offering_to_Diermes_or_Thor_by_Picart_1724_opt.jpg\")
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