Controversial pastor Doug Wilson believes giving women the right to vote has hurt the family, according to a video published last week.
Wilson, pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, made his argument in a discussion about masculinity and men’s duty to represent family in the church and society.
He said that the decision to allow women to vote stemmed from Americans believing “the lie of individualism” that hurts the institution of families.
“When women were granted the right to vote, the nation had already accepted the lie that a nation is nothing more than a collection of individuals,” Wilson said. “And so, the matter was framed this way: Men, as individuals, can vote, so why cannot individual women do the same? We were so muddled, we thought we were giving the franchise to women when we were in fact taking it away from families.”
Wilson, 71, has long made headlines for his controversial actions and words. He’s become known for being a figurehead of moderate Christian nationalism and having a lax view on pre-Civil War American slavery.
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He has also faced criticism for his church’s handling of sexual abuse cases in its congregation. Critics have contended that Wilson’s church vied for leniency for convicted abusers, sided with alleged perpetrators over victims, and discouraged victims from speaking out.
Breakdown of family structure causes men to become “spiritual eunuchs”
In Wilson’s video, he opens by stating that “the men of our generation have had a failure of nerve. They have abdicated their responsibilities, and we are consequently in the midst of a crisis of leadership.”
Wilson said that men have not kept God’s covenant which has caused “cultural chaos.”
He then claimed that humanity is designed to operate by means of covenants, especially the covenant of marriage, the “institution of the church,” and the “civil order.”
Wilson said that these institutions, which have been made “by the hand of God,” are at their core made up of families. Families, he said, need to be represented by a head of the household — something society’s current view of masculinity fails to do.
“Because of the crisis of masculinity in the home, that representation is not being offered by our households, and if it were being offered, it would be received by our civil order only with laughter and by an ignorant theological indignation in our churches,” Wilson said. “In short, we all, from top to bottom, are in high rebellion against God’s design for family and culture.”
This breakdown of family structure and masculinity has turned men into “spiritual eunuchs,” he claimed.
Wilson said that true masculinity requires a man to represent “his household to the other governments established by God,” including the church and the civil government.
When the family structure breaks down, society hurts families, he added.
The nation failed to recognize how men are ambassadors of their families when women received the right to vote, he noted.
He also claimed that when the church fails to recognize the “divinely appointed representative of the household,” the church disregards what a family is.
The willingness of men to “embrace” the responsibility leading the household is “biblical masculinity,” Wilson said. “Refusal to do so at the level of each household is covenantal castration.”
Men who don’t follow Biblical masculinity should repent and turn from their “effeminacy,” he said.
He said that many current theological models don’t have the right perspective of masculinity. They instead characterize it as “a discipleship program for weenies,” he added.
(Photo: Geoff Crimmins/The Moscow-Pullman Daily News, CC BY-SA)
“A husband must assume a mantle of strength and a demeanor of masculine leadership,” he said. “When men have assumed godly responsibility of leadership within the home, they must bring that representative headship to bear outside the home.”
Without this masculine leadership, all attempts from families and churches at reforming culture “are sweeping water uphill,” he said.
Wilson’s Disciples Questioned Women’s Voting Rights
This isn’t the first time the issue of women’s voting rights has come up in relation to Wilson.
In 2022, Wilson’s disciples questioned women’s right to vote, The Roys Report previously reported.
On social media, group of male leaders associated with the pastor said that the Constitution’s 19th Amendment was a mistake.
Women lack the discernment to vote, and therefore, shouldn’t be given the agency, according to the group.
“Yes, women are more easily deceived than men . . .” tweeted Joel Webbon of Right Response Ministries, which partners with Wilson on lectures, YouTube videos, and events. “Yes, the 19th Amendment was a bad idea.”
In a previous blog post, Wilson has elaborated on his position on voting, particularly in churches.
In churches, he said he favors voting by heads of households. Under this arrangement, women get to vote only if they are the head of their household.
Freelance journalist Liz Lykins writes for WORLD Magazine, Christianity Today, Ministry Watch, and other publications.
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14 Responses
The loss of rights for women is the end of Christian Nationalism. Men rule. Deal with it.
Christian women need to realize that if it wins, they will be shoved to the back of the bus.
Something tells me that Pastor Wilson won’t be making the trip to New York to see Suffs on Broadway this summer. It is a musical retelling of the passage of that pesky 19th Amendment. You can watch a clip below.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d5_t8NPC67I
What a kookydoodle. If not for the internet, nobody would ever have heard of this nut.
Best comment ever! Works for the majority of TRR articles.
“Women lack discernment to vote”. Give me a break. Haven’t they noticed the long list of pastors who have disgraced themselves, and worse, the church and the name of Jesus, by their lack of discernment. Maybe men shouldn’t be leaders in the church.
Giving women the right to vote hurts families…somehow?! He fails to explain the connection. I wonder if women who have bought into his falicies are aware that until women could vote, there were unjust laws such as not having the right to their children, when a woman married her material assets; property, income, inheritance became his property solely etc etc. Womens voices raised concern over poverty affecting women and children providing visiting nurses, social workers. The lives of women and children improved thanks to the vote giving women a voice to become change agents re many justice issues in the US, Canada, and Great Britain (for starters.) It appears the profound ignorance of the likes of Doug Wilson and his ilk could care less..evidently.
So women are more “likely to be deceived”??!! Hmmm Maybe the believers and propagators of such rubbish have forgotten about deception of male leaders of numerous cults such as Jonestown, Waco Texas, the Moonies, Joseph Smith and his golden tablets, JW’s, World Wide Church Of God….ad nauseum. The profound ignorance of such statements as this boggles the mind. Too many of these leaders and followers appear to lack a modicum of critical thinking skills, wisdom or discernment. We poor daughters of Eve…always doomed to be led around by the nose for imperpetuity…apparently.
Men ruling was not the original design in the beginning but a result of the curse of Eve for eating of the prohibited tree. For w(omb)man was taken out of the side rib (=equality). And, Eve shall redeem womankind in these last days; as she has done it the past.
For it is the seed of the woman that crushes Satan head. She is coming; and they are–>
The Jael’s with tent peg thru Sisera’s skull. (Judges 4)
The woman of Thebez crushing Avimelech’s skull. (Judges 9)
The wise woman who ordered Sheba beheading (2 Samuel 20)
The Judith’s beheading king Holofernes (Judith 13).
The Esther’s ordering Haman’s head to be hung. (Ester 9)
Today: Is it not majority women who are taking down the current idol (#45) in evangelical-dom?
Listen, Doug Wilson and co.: there is a bounty for your head. And the head hunter is a woman. The pride of the lofty shall be brought low. The bows of the mighty broken; and every valley filled and the weak, feeble, the limb strengthened. The countdown has begun.
The majority male church leadership is failing. HaShem is fed up. Israel (=church) shall leave Egypt (current church systems/leadership) and through that born of a woman. Pharaoh shall not succeed in slaying the seed. Neither shall Herod the great kill this fruit. Her root shall wax strong. She shall spread her branches and her fruit shall heal and nourish.
No. I am not a radical feminist. This is not a “gender war”. Amos 3:4-8. For thus and such is the burden of the LORD. For YHVH has not left the church without a witness and a voice. S/he with ears, let him/her hear. Amen.
I have read Katherine Bushnell. And understand how truly unbiblical Mr. Wilson’s views and attitudes are about women and how they came to be. Sad the same old tired attitudes are since the Talmud.
Why isn’t this thought process, along with any other that places women beneath men, considered a view of a Pharisee? Yeshua said there is no male or female in Christ, so why do these men attempt to distinguish a difference? Anything said against Yeshua’s own words should be considered a lie and heretical. Yeshua’s words should be the only orthodoxy, because they are the only Truth.
Why anyone listens to what Doug Wilson has to say about any issue is beyond me.
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)
I thought our new covenant in and through Christ’s blood is the ultimate one. Why does he speak of these earthly covenants of family, church and politics?
His Kingdom is not of this world, we worship in Spirit and in truth, and we belong to the family of God.
Have you noticed a common thread with arrogant, abusive pastors? They impute the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture to their own speculation and theology.