Earlier this month, Right Wing Watch posted a couple of clips of far-right pastor Joel Webbon laying out his Christian nationalist vision for America in which this nation is controlled by a Caesar-like dictator who "rules with an iron fist" and forces everyone to at least "pretend to be Christian."
In response to Right Wing Watch's post, Webbon dedicated an entire episode of his podcast to insisting that his call for dictatorship was being misrepresented because, he claimed, he was merely speaking descriptively (i.e., explaining what could happen) and not prescriptively (i.e., explaining what should happen).
We're not sure we buy that defense, especially given Webbon's explicit declaration that "men must be governed" and "you need a Caesar-type" dictator to do that governing could certainly be interpreted as a prescriptive statement.
Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon says Americans are "degenerates" and therefore the Constitution doesn't work anymore, so this nation needs a Caesar-like dictator who "Constitution be dammed, just rules with an iron fist." pic.twitter.com/2sDev7ZFy1
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) May 8, 2024
We are even less convinced by that defense after watching the rest of Webbon's podcast as he very clearly laid out a prescription for how he'd like to see his Christian nationalist worldview implemented.
"I love the Constitution," Webbon claimed. "I absolutely love it. If there was anything that I would do to the Constitution at all—if revival swept through the land, or we got an American Cesar and he was Christian ... One of the first things that I would advocate for is not even changing the Constitution, but simply adopting to the Constitution a preamble of the Apostles' Creed."
"Other than that, I love the Constitution," Webbon added.
Webbon later insisted that nations must be governed by men who use their power to ensure that "we will serve the Lord, whether you like it or not."
"We are going to behave as a Christian people," Webbon proclaimed. "And what does that mean? It means we're going to ban pornography. It means we're going to ban no-fault divorce. It means we are going to absolutely, utterly abolish abortion, including in vitro, including the hormonal birth control pill, every single one of its forms; not just the Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas, but we're going to go down to the local CVS and we're going to start knocking those pills off the shelf. No more human sacrifice. So, a civil magistrates can do that. He can and should do that."
Webbon concluded by completely agreeing when his co-host asserted that it is preferable to see the United States become a Christian nation under whatever form of government is necessary to achieve that result rather than to see it remain a republic.
"I'd rather have a Christian monarchy than our current state of affairs," Webbon replied.
