Blog & Mablog

Last week we taped an episode of Man Rampant for our upcoming season, and the interview was with Larry Sanger, the man who initially built out Wikipedia. He has done quite a number of other things since those early years, some of which activities have recently gotten him banned as an editor at Wikipedia. One of his recent projects is called WikiCritic, and by the time our Man Rampant episode airs, his site should be up and running. I will let you know.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/   IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.

In Doug's continued dialogue with Ehud, Wilson talks about 'Big Fat Sinners, All of Them'... In my last letter, I addressed (and answered) the belief that some Christians have had that consigns Jews to the status of “Christ-killers.” That is a very specific issue, and one relatively easy to address from Scripture with texts that are very much on the nose. What I want to address now is downstream from that. What is the biblical response to those Jews who have hardened in their unbelief because of the treatment they have received from professing Christians? And more to the point, why should you refuse to participate in that hardening?For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/   IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.

I have to begin by saying that I like Neil Gorsuch. I like the fact that he is on the Court. Despite a few unfortunate votes, his presence there is pretty reliable and steady. He voted to strike down Roe, and so he has won my friendship forever.That said—and let us frank and honest here—that statement above is about as defensible as the infamous response of Ketanji Brown Jackson, which she made that time when the good senators decided for some reason to test her biology chops.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/   IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.

As I write these words, the trial of Lindsay Clancy in Massachusetts is wrapping up. She killed her three kids a few years ago, and the trial is over whether she did so in the grip of postpartum psychosis, and so not guilty by reason of insanity, or whether she was responsible for three counts of criminal murder. If the former, she will go into a mental institution, and if the latter, she will go to prison.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/   IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.I first read Eric Hoffer's book The True Believer in 1984, over forty years ago now. I had also read Orwell's 1984 in that same year because I thought it was an appropriate time to get around to it, and you could kind of see where things were going by that point.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.Nancy Mace has had an interesting and somewhat conflicted career. For just one example, she was the first woman to graduate from the Citadel, and during her congressional stint she was an active voice in opposing the use of women's bathrooms there by trans men. In other words, she successfully invaded a male-only space, and then fought hard to preserve a female-only space.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.Doug continues his series of his letters to Tyler... When you showed no signs of changing your mind for week two, the tone changed completely. After a few badgering sessions, she seduced you. A couple days later, there was some mild badgering, and then she seduced you again. And she asked you to come back to your regular church, but you went off to a different church again. Do I have it basically right?For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.One of the recent discussion points on the right is related to a comment made by our vice-president about the appeal of socialism. He said, and I quote: “My warning to my fellow Republicans . . . You don't stop socialism by throwing slogans at people about the free market. You stop socialism by making people's lives better.” Now the VP is exactly right in what he says here, but some are worried about what he is not yet saying, and what that might mean. If this statement ends with a period, stop, then sign me up. But if there is an ellipsis after better, then I want to see where that might be going. My observations of the political world over the course of my lifetime has made me nervous about all ellipses.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.A decade ago, Canon published Empires of Dirt, and given our cultural moment now, the subtitle is interesting to look back on. That subtitle was “Secularism, Radical Islam, and the Mere Christendom Alternative.”In some respects, the terrain back then was quite different than it is today, but in other ways, it is still the same old game . . . only more pronounced and amplified. It is the same old pudding, but somebody put more eggs into it, and then somebody else took an egg whisk to it.I can see that puzzled look on your faces. Please allow me to explain.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.In Doug's continued dialogue with Ehud, Wilson's talk about the 'King of the Jews' ... According to the “Christ-killer” taunt that some misguided souls have leveled at the Jews, the idea is that the Jewish people are collectively and uniquely responsible for the execution of their Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. I will discuss the full range of that word uniquely a bit later in this letter.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.Doug Wilson begins a new series of letters to "Tyler," a fictional husband who is navigating some difficult issues in his marriage. Let me summarize what you are up against. You've been married for 35 years, with some periods where it was “okay, not great” and other times when it was pretty rocky. At the same time those times of turmoil were largely kept away from the three kids, who are now all married and gone. The kids would also testify that they had a decent Christian home to grow up in, but they would also all say that they always knew that things between you and Sally were not all that great.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.In order to discuss the point I wish to make here, we must begin with the realization that feminism is a wasting disease. But to be more precise, it is a particular variant of the wasting disease—the foundational disease being egalitarianism. The virus that makes this disease and all its variants so virulent is the sin of crackling envy, a sin that has slain its millions.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.I want to begin with a proposal for a particular pro-life amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Having done so in this introduction, I will then outline in summary form the advantages of this approach. I will then touch on a key distinction to help us understand the fact that there is more than one way to terminate a pregnancy. And in the final section, I will try to answer possible objections to this approach, or at least suggest the direction of the answer.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.I acknowledge at the outset that this apologia for my activities might seem like I am trying to aim my answers in two different directions, but I also want to maintain that this is not my fault. This article about me was conflicted and could not make up its mind. Am I too tall or too short? Being charged with both presents me with a unique argumentative challenge, but I shall do my best. But as many of my watchers know, I am in good company.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.Darryl begins (I am going to keep this amicable by calling him Darryl) by staking out one position as articulated by one Samuel Goldman, that position being a call for a renewed civil religion. That's on one end. On the other end of things would be that skeery-scary Christian nationalism. And Darryl wants a Presbyterian middle way to wend its path in between these two options.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.In Doug's continued dialogue with Ehud, Wilson's talk about the 'King of the Jews' ... We have considered Christ in His offices of prophet and priests, and so we come now to the third one—the office of king.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.Technology in warfare can certainly evolve and develop in ways that do not disrupt our basic understanding of what is going on. From the day that two tribes were throwing rocks at each other to the time when two nation states were launching missiles at each other, with the era of trebuchets in between, everyone understands the basic concept involved. All of it is right-handed warfare, with the projectiles simply differing in weight, speed, and behavior on impact.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.Over the last year or so, from time to time you may have wondered to yourself why I have taken it into my head to go around talking about the 19th Amendment so much. This, along with my supposed interest in repealing the right of women to vote. Why on earth would I ever do something like that? Well, you can't expect me to talk about slavery all the time, can you?For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.So when die-hard defenders of Candace try to say, as they will try to say, “Candace never said that Erika Kirk was in on the plot to kill Charlie!” or “Candace never denied that Tyler Robinson did it!” the reply should be, “Roll the tape.” And the way you can tell that radical relativism is the captain of their mental ship now is that rolling the tape does not matter to them in the slightest.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.In my last letter, I was emphasizing the prophetic office of Christ. He was the greater prophet who had been promised by Moses (Deut. 18:15). But I also need to present Christ to you as the one who holds two additional offices. John Calvin famously described the Lord's three combined offices as the crucial offices of prophet, priest, and king.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.The Supreme Court's failure last week to uphold the president's executive order on birthright citizenship was genuinely disappointing. At the same time, it should not be an occasion for outrage or despair. There is all kinds of maneuvering room here. And. when you have maneuvering room, there are better things to do than to screech about it online. Let us pull ourselves together.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.So, America. Happy birthday to you. You are now 250 years old, which is halfway to 500. We still have plenty of time to fix all of this. Don't let the astonishing fact of commies getting elected interfere with your celebrations. That is like coming down with a case of the shingles, but you still get your birthday presents...For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

IT'S HERE! Pre-Order the 4th installment of the Ashtown Burial Series at ashtownburials.com.In this letter, I am going to start with the understanding that you have a high respect for Scripture. Although you are not yet at the point of affirming complete faith in its divine inspiration, you do take the prophets seriously, and have some sense of scriptural authority. You grew up with it, and it is deep within you.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

We are going to be talking about Nazis in just a bit, but we need to start with something else first. Bear with me. It will all flow together shortly, as when you fold whipped egg whites into the batter for chiffon cake. Something like that, at any rate. One searches for the right words.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

If He did not rise, then as the apostle Paul noted, we Christians are the most pitiable creatures ever (1 Cor. 15:19). If He did rise from the dead, then He is the promised Messiah that the entire Old Testament was pointing toward. That would make the Jews the most to be pitied. This would mean that the ingenuity of a thousand rabbis can't put the Old Testament jig saw puzzle together . . .For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

So let us talk about that impotent contemporary ritual called the “land acknowledgment.” Nowadays when an event or activity is going to be taking place somewhere, or an institution is opening, the proceedings will often begin with a land acknowledgment. This is a little empty gesture recognizing the indigenous people who used to live there. Along with the implication that nothing will be done about it.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

Cultural gaslighting is attempted when people in charge of something take some absurdity, throw a saddle on it, and then stand next to it, booted, spurred, and ready to ride. For example, the absurdity could be saying that the attempted beheading in Ireland was the result of us not being welcoming and inclusive enough. And believe me, they will ride that absurdity as long as the people out there put up with it. Who are you going to believe? Me or your lying eyes?For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

The system of anarcho/tyranny begins by being slack with native criminals, and harsh with those who resist them. A homeowner who defends his property against a burglar can get in far more trouble than the burglars do. In the UK, you can get in more trouble for posting a meme about violent immigrants than you can for being a violent immigrant. And it all begins with a “soft on crime” mentality, which is hard on anyone who does not join in with the soft on crime approach.Anarcho/tyranny is then taken to the next level with unrestricted immigration. You not only let in the Third World, but you also let in Third World levels of criminality. At a certain point, the law-abiding explode, and nine times out of ten this just strengthens the hand of the anarcho/tyrants. They say, “white privilege now includes burning Belfast down, and so we clearly need to take steps and implement measures."For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

I was born in 1953, and therefore have to confess that I am a boomer, right there in the middle of the pack. There were boomers ahead of me, and boomers behind me, and absolutely everybody in my third grade class was also a boomer. Although we didn't call ourselves that at the time. Sad to say, we were largely unaware at the time.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

So last Thursday the first part of the PCA's study report on Christian nationalism dropped. For those who would check it out, here you go. The following is what I tweeted at the time, and so here we are...Before getting to my promised awkward questions, let me start by saying what was good about the report. And there was much that was good—if we restrict ourselves to various points in isolation. But depending on how the follow-up Q&A goes, we might find ourselves trying to deal with a conflicted version of Bunyan's Mr. Facing-both-ways. We shall see.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

The name Israel was given to Jacob at Peniel (Gen. 32) when he was on his way to reunite with his brother Esau—doing so while not knowing if that reunion was going to be bloody or not. God had told him to return, and had promised that such a return would be blessed. But this was a promise that Jacob had to hang on to by sheer faith, especially after he got word that Esau was headed his way, and with four hundred armed men with him.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

I think we should be frank with one another at this point and just acknowledge that the world is having itself an upheaval. If this is not the Fourth Turning that Howe and Strauss wrote about back in the day, it is bidding fair to approximate some kind of white water turning. As the saying goes, “first they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” But all along that process is a good deal of churn...For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

The Declaration famously says that we are “endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights.”... The American Founding was a creationist event, and precisely because it was a creationist event, we have enjoyed a truly solid foundation for the blessings of liberty. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

What I am addressing here is the rank and manifest hypocrisy. In the original tweet, my point was that a hypocrite has no right to proclaim that Christ is king over all when it is manifestly clear that He is not king of his own mouth, or keyboard, or meme strategies. How can you declare that Christ is king over all those realms that you cannot change when His kingship is not apparent in those realms that your repentance could change?For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

I have already raised the central concern that we should have concerning AI, which is the problem that I have identified as AI-dolatry. AI excels at role-playing and has no scruples about role-playing as the Most High God...When professional worriers express their concerns about the impact of AI, it is often the economic side of things that comes to the fore. As mentioned above, I don't think that is the main thing, but it is a thing, and so we should address it.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

Your parents are the most important relationship in your life right now....And your parents have been constant, and they are number one to you right now. If you were to come to Christ, He insists upon taking that primary place, which means that your parents would then be necessarily demoted.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

I don't want to seem ungrateful because I really have benefited much from the contributions of what might be called “Banner of Truth” postmillennialism. However, the emphasis with this strand of theology is almost entirely focused on the gigantic ticker tape parade of evangelism, mission work, intense revivals, and more. Scarcely a thought is given to how we might clean up after the parade, who would be responsible for that task, and what our laws would look like after the revival.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

Candace began her public career as an ambitious leftist climber. She then had a “conversion” to conservatism as signaled by her Blexit move… After Charlie's death, what should have been a unifying moment for conservatives if ever there was one, she began an unrelenting attack on Turning Point, Erika, and assorted others, and now appears to be making her move. She wants the right and left to “come together” in a spirit of unity… What is actually happening in all this is that she is returning to her factory settings, which in my view are clearly on the left.And Nick Fuentes?… Fuentes was doing the same thing as Epps on J6, whooping and hollering to incite the masses, and yet the Feds decided to overlook all that. You know, boys will be boys. Especially when it is one of our boysFor more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

Ben Sasse is dying in public, and knows that he has very limited time remaining on this earth. He sees it coming, and is looking straight at it. And so we can see his faith, his courage, and his wisdom. It is on display for us, and it is obviously the real thing. Christ is there.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

We are of course talking about the indictments that were just handed down by the Department of Justice. Now of course all the usual cautions apply—an indictment is not a conviction, etc. But because of the open and obvious grift that has been on display at the SPLC for years and years, and because of the situations that involved us here in Moscow directly, these indictments are not alleging anything that would be out of character at all. All of this really does fit into the “it figures” category.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

So it appears that Israel will be throwing a huge sodomy bash at the Dead Sea, near the site of the lately-departed Sodom and Gomorrah, thus setting forth a grim exemplar of insolence history month. And it was not just a privately organized thing either—the government of Israel is behind it, promoting and pushing the event.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

I have noticed that I have been asked more questions about the 19th Amendment over the last year or so than I had ever been asked in all of my life prior. There is of course some sort of strategy behind all the questions, which is usually aimed at discrediting our larger project, and so some friends have therefore wondered about what reasons I might have for even answering the questions. I subsequently hit upon the device of addressing all the questions in one go, through the construct of an imaginary interview. That way I can just refer people here.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

So on Monday I was slated to appear on a panel with Piers Morgan and, having done so, I encountered what passes for enlightened discourse these days—you know, in the twilight of our Republic.Piers was the host, and did an okay job trying to be the host, and I shared the panel with Tim Miller of The Bulwark and Wajahat Ali, who has a Substack newsletter, The Left Hook. When I say we “shared” the panel, that way of putting it is kind of misleading.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

Dear Ehud...Thanks for the email, and for the follow-up phone conversation. I think I have a good grasp of your questions now, and of your dilemma, and hope that I can be of some help. I am thankful that your friend Dawson recommended that you contact me—Dawson's a great one.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

Secularism is not a workable common sense solution for getting along in a pluralistic society. Secularism is simply apostasy and godlessness. And the fact that there are numerous Protestant theologians and ministers who are privately orthodox, and who would never themselves burn incense to the Queen of heaven on their own rooftops, but who nevertheless publicly argue for a “neutral” public square illustrates—as few other things could illustrate—that the heresy of secularism has made deep inroads among us. Nothing else can account for such confusion.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

So the war in Iran has been going on for a little over a month now, and enough of it has unfolded that I am now being asked on the regular what I think of the big picture....There is an additional factor in all of this in bello discussion. Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, worships as part of our church service in Washington D.C. How does that factor into all of this?...On the one hand, some critics want us to intervene and “make Pete stop it.” But then, think for a minute. Do these same critics really want me or any of my fellow pastors—with no background on the intel, with no military training at this level, with no security clearance, and with no basis for sticking our noses into the internal workings of the Pentagon—to be giving Pete any specific policy advice?For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

One of the ways to test whether truth is a person's absolute, as opposed to whether his tribal loyalty is, would be by seeing whether he ever acknowledges that his political opponent, the one who is against his tribe, has ever made a fair point. Or is he wrong about absolutely everything? This is how our polarization has come to pass; this is where it comes from. Far from making everyone more tolerant, relativism pushes people into the assumption that anyone who differs must be an orc.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

AI is a very slick search engine. You need to be careful with this one though. When you use google to search, it gives you a column of links, and the clear implication is that you need to evaluate the claims made on your own. “These are places that talk about your question, and now you are on your own.” But AI responds to you with an authoritative voice, telling you that this is the way it is. But it got that info by scrubbing the entire web, and there is a lot of bum dope out there. In addition, AI doesn't just search for things, it just flat makes things up. More than one attorney has gotten busted for submitting a brief with non-existent court cases in it. AI is not a truth machine, but rather a consensus machine, so take care.For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

If you are anything like me, you may have wondered from time to time about the precise nature of the argument between Job and his three friends. Everyone in the book speaks a lot about the greatness of God, but in all the back-and-forth, what was the nub of the issue exactly?... His three friends thought that he should take responsibility in some way, but for what exactly? This Job refused to do, but what was he refusing to do exactly? Was it simply a matter of did too/did not? What were their arguments revolving around exactly?For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

So here is what happened—in case you are not up to speed. My friend Brooks Potteiger was on a podcast with Joshua Haymes and the topic of James Talarico, a death angel from Texas, came up. Now to be fair, he doesn't look like a death angel. As one meme put it, he looks like a walking embodiment of that COEXIST bumper sticker. But despite the choir boy appearances, he is a card-carrying member of the abortion death cult. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/  

We have already had suicides of young people guided to it by chatbots. We already have had a pastor setting up chatbot hot line, with the semblance of his voice, so that parishioners can call and get comfort and counsel from something that is no more than a souped-up answering machine. As things currently stand, we are not ready for what is coming. People who worship the way we currently do are exposed and vulnerable….A people without worldview wisdom are not prepared for what is coming. It all seems ridiculous for those who are running along on common sense, but then absurd claims are advanced, and we discover that we have no grounded answers. Is a married man who has intercourse with a sexbot an adulterer? Scripture please. For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/