Rod Dreher

[[File:Rod Dreher.png|165px|thumb|right|Rod Dreher]]
{{homophobia|1}}
{{cquote|The cultural point remains: the more people from alien cultures you have moving into your own, the more fragile and vulnerable your own culture becomes, especially if it is held with less force than the aliens hold their own.|||Rod Dreher<ref name="Barbarians">[https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/two-kinds-of-barbarians-whiteness/ Two Kinds Of Barbarians]</ref>}}

'''Raymond "Rod" Oliver Dreher Jr.''' {{lived|1967}} is an American [[Religious Right|Conservative Christian]] and [[Homophobia|homophobe]]<ref>[https://www.salon.com/2013/02/26/the_friendy_face_of_conservatism_is_an_old_school_homophobe_partner/ Conservatism's "friendly face" is an old-school homophobe]</ref> who opposes equal rights for [[LGBT]] people and dislikes [[African American|African people]].<ref name="Barbarians"/><ref name="Bad history">[http://archive.ph/gKFiw Rod Dreher’s Bad History]</ref><ref name="Patheos">[https://www.patheos.com/blogs/mercynotsacrifice/2018/01/25/rod-dreher-karin-mcquillan-evaporation-white-taboo/ Rod Dreher, Karin McQuillan, and the Evaporation of White Taboo]</ref> He is senior editor and a former blogger at ''The American Conservative''. Dreher describes himself as a "Righty [[journalist]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christian]], [[The South|Southerner]], Europhile, Ignatian (Team Reilly),{{efn|"Ignatian (Team Reilly)" is a reference to the protagonist of the novel ''Confederacy of Dunces'', Ignatius J. Reilly. Walker Percy, in his foreword to the novel summarized Reilly as a  "slob extraordinary, a mad {{wpl|Oliver Hardy||,}} a fat {{wpl|Don Quixote||,}} a perverse [[Thomas Aquinas]] rolled into one&nbsp;— who is in violent revolt against the entire modern age…"<ref>''Confederacy of Dunces''</ref>{{rp|17}} It is a novel the oddly foretold the rise of the [[neoreactionary movement]].}} eclecticist."<ref>[http://archive.ph/EkppL Rod Dreher]. Twitter.</ref>

==Early life and career== 
Dreher is from [[Louisiana]] and never shuts up about it. He began working in journalism after college and by the early 2000s was working for the [[New York Post]]. The paper received numerous complaints in 2001 when Dreher wrote an article criticizing R&B singer Aaliyah's funeral because it held up traffic.<ref>[https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2001/0903/394590-aaliyah/ Row over Aaliyah's funeral] </ref>

==Homophobia and racism==
{{main|1=Homophobia|3=Racism}}
Dreher believes that [[Christians]] must be granted the right to [[Discrimination|discriminate]] against [[LGBT]] people whenever their religion demands it. He is author of the book ''The Benedict Option'', arguing anti-LGBT Christians should withdraw into [[cult]]-like isolation, modelled on a [[medieval]] Benedictine [[Monasticism|monastery]], where they are free to indoctrinate their children in peace.<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/benedict-option/517290/ The Christian Retreat From Public Life]</ref>

In 2018, Dreher attracted widespread criticism for his defense of [[Donald Trump]]'s offensive comments regarding [[African]] countries as "shitholes".<ref name="Patheos"/><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20180124055704/https://thewitnessbcc.com/shtholes-section-8-response-rod-dreher/ Of Sh*tholes and Section 8: A Response to Rod Dreher]</ref><ref>[https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/01/26/benedict-option-based-christian-principles-or-white-middle-class-ones Is the Benedict Option based on Christian principles—or white middle-class ones?]</ref>

Dreher calls African people “barbarians” but insists that isn’t racist because it is a “perfectly just” description.<ref name="Bad history"/> Dreher took an [[African-American]] professor’s remarks out of context, stirring up a racist mob against him in the process.<ref>[https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/06/02/texas-professor-white-people/ Did a Texas A&M Professor Advocate Killing White People?]</ref>

Dreher supports [[TERF]]s, and defends the right of Christians to [[Transphobia|discriminate against transgender]] people.<ref>[https://thinkprogress.org/conservative-outlet-debates-transgender-compromise-abce0ac39af3/ National Review op-ed says treat trans people with basic dignity, right-wing loses it]</ref>


==Theistic evolution==
{{main|Theistic evolution}}
Dreher's exact position on evolution is hard to pin down. He believes that the Christian [[God]] created the world but says he does not personally believe in [[young earth creationism]]. Although he disagrees with the YEC position he has defended [[creationists]], saying "I admire their bullheadedness" and has written articles supporting them.<ref>[https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/in-defense-of-creationists/ In Defense Of Creationists]</ref><ref>[https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/ben-carson-creationist/ Ben Carson Is A Creationist. So?]</ref>

To his credit, Dreher is not a [[Biblical literalist]], but he does [[Cherry picking|cherry-pick]] what bits he wants to believe from the [[Bible]]. He has written that "there may not have been a literal [[garden of Eden]], but at some point there was a [[metaphysical]] and [[spiritual]] event called [[the Fall]]."<ref>[https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/did-adam-and-eve-really-exist/ Did Adam And Eve Really Exist?]</ref>

Dreher has never written that he accepts the [[evidence]] for [[common descent]]. Until 2011 he worked for the [[Templeton Foundation]] which supports theistic evolution.<ref>[https://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/roddreher/2010/02/what-good-has-intelligent-design-done.html What good has intelligent design done?]</ref><ref>[https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/rod-dreher-is-back-let-joy-be-unconfined-c/ Rod Dreher is back. Let joy be unconfined] "I was unable to blog elsewhere, under the rules of the John Templeton Foundation, where I worked until just recently. The Templeton Foundation is a truly remarkable place, and I loved the people and the ideas I got to work with there. But in the end, I’m a writer, and I wanted to return to what makes me happy and gives meaning to my life."</ref>

[[P. Z. Myers]] has commented that Dreher is “totally ignorant of [[science]]”.<ref>[https://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/03/08/dreher-is-really-a-piece-of-wo  Dreher is really a piece of work]</ref> Dreher has also drawn criticism from [[Jerry Coyne]].<ref>[https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2010/03/08/rod-dreher-and-the-templeton-bribe/ Rod Dreher and the Templeton “bribe”]</ref>

==Too weird for ''The American Conservative''==
On February 24 2023, Dreher announced on his ''American Conservative'' blog that it was ending at that location, and that he was taking his "[[culture war]]" blog to [[Substack]].<ref>[https://archive.li/OIoPa "After 12 Years, A Farewell To This Blog"] by Rod Dreher, American Conservative, 2023 February 24, archived on 2023 April 19</ref>

In March 2023, {{wpl|Vanity Fair (magazine)|''Vanity Fair''}} reported the purported reason for this change: Dreher's blog had simply gotten too weird.<ref name="dreherweird">[https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/rod-dreher-blog-weird-american-conservative "How Rod Dreher’s Blog Got a Little “Too Weird” for The American Conservative"] by Caleb Ecarma, Vanity Fair, 2023 March 10</ref> According to ''Vanity Fair'', the blog was unique in that it was [[Wingnut welfare|entirely financed]] by an heir to a banking fortune named {{wpl|Howard Ahmanson Jr.}} who admired Dreher's work. However, the benefactor started souring on Dreher when Dreher's writings went too far.<ref name="dreherweird"/> 

Among the problematic articles were several about [[homosexuals]] and {{wpl|Mpox|the Mpox virus|}} that attracted criticism from other bloggers (in a tweet, for instance, [[Andrew Sullivan]] simply called one of these articles "[[evil]]".)<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20220724200843/https://twitter.com/sullydish/status/1551298077792899072 "In which @roddreher wonders whether a man with monkeypox molested two children who then became infected. Zero evidence. Just asking questions. Evil."] by Andrew Sullivan, @sullydish, Twitter, 2022 July 24, archived on 2022 July 24</ref> In the articles, he gleefully and luridly depicted the disease's effects, demanded that public health authorities "shut down [[gay sex]] festivals and gay sex clubs", and speculated without evidence that two other children who contracted monkeypox got it from "being poked by those strangers on {{wpl|LGBT pride|Pride}} weekend".<ref name="dreherweird"/><ref>[https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-price-of-pride/ "The Price Of Pride"] by Rod Dreher, American Conservative, 2022 July 30</ref><ref>[https://www.theamericanconservative.com/why-did-sebastian-kohn-get-monkeypox/ "Why Did Sebastian Köhn Get Monkeypox?"]</ref> 

Another "red flag" article was a strange musing on [[circumcision]]. In this article, he mused about one kid in his elementary school (third grade) class who was [[African-American|black]] and had been born at home, and therefore was not circumcised. Dreher bizarrely (and with a hint of [[racism]]) described the kid's penis as a "monstrous" "primitive root wiener".<ref>[https://www.theamericanconservative.com/gary-shteyngart-circumcision-gentile-region/ "Gary Shteyngart’s ‘Gentile Region’"] by Rod Dreher, American Conservative, 2021 October 4</ref><ref name="dreherweird"/>

==Viktor Orbán apologist==
{{main|Viktor Orbán}}
{{cquote|"How is Orban's [[Hungary]] more free than most Western liberal democracies?"|||Rod Dreher, who has a strange [[doublespeak]] concept of the word "[[freedom|free]]"<ref>[https://www.theamericanconservative.com/what-is-freedom-anyway/ "What Is Freedom Anyway?"] by Rod Dreher, American Conservative, 2023 January 26</ref>}}
In the early 2010s, Dreher moved back (with his wife and children) to the rural [[Louisiana]] parish where he grew up, where his estranged family of origin still lived. Reportedly the results were terrible for Dreher's personal life; the relationship with his origin family remained estranged, while the move wrecked his own health and his [[marriage]].<ref>[https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/04/rod-dreher-chapo-blog-american-conservative.html "For Years, the Left Has Laughed at Rod Dreher. Is That Over Now?"] by Phil Christman, Slate, 2023 April 16</ref> After the subsequent [[divorce]], Dreher, who while at a four month fellowship at the Hungarian {{wpl|Danube Institute}} in 2021 developed an admiration for the "Christian conservatism" politics of Viktor Orbán,<ref>[https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/what-rod-dreher-sees-in-viktor-orban "what American Conservatives See In Hungary's Leader"] by Benjamin Wallace-Wells, New Yorker, 2021 September 13</ref> decided to move to Budapest in October 2022.<ref>[https://www.theamericanconservative.com/goodbye-louisiana-i-tried/ "Goodbye, Louisiana. I Tried"] by Rod Dreher, American Conservative, 2022 October 2</ref>

Since this move, Dreher has become an apologist for Orbán.<ref name="bulkwarkincident">[https://www.thebulwark.com/how-rod-dreher-caused-an-international-scandal-in-eastern-europe/ "How Rod Dreher Caused an International Scandal in Eastern Europe"] by Balazs Gulyas, Bulwark, 2023 February 2</ref> However, Dreher's strange thoughts about what "freedom" is like matches well with Dreher's inexperience with reporting while within an authoritarian regimes. In late January 2023, Dreher was invited to a small press office consisting entirely of Orbán sycophant reporters. There, Orbán (among other [[Xenophobia|anti-immigration]], [[Islamophobia|anti-Islam]], Hungarian [[Catholic]] nationalist musings) described how he [[Euroscepticism|detested the European Union]], and shilled for [[Vladimir Putin]] in the context of the ongoing [[Ukraine#Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russian invasion of Ukraine]]. Naively, Dreher published these remarks in his ''American Conservative'' blog, not knowing that in an authoritarian country, you cannot publish exactly what you hear if it goes against the interest of politicians.<ref name="bulkwarkincident"/><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20230126211121/https:/www.theamericanconservative.com/viktor-orban-we-are-in-a-war-with-russia/ "Viktor Orban: ‘We Are In A War With Russia’"] by Rod Dreher, American Conservative, 2023 January 26, archived on 2023 January 26</ref> The article ended up causing much outrage, particularly in [[Ukraine]], where Dreher's unfiltered reporting actually helped cause a diplomatic scandal.<ref name="bulkwarkincident"/> In the fallout from the incident, Dreher scrambled to rewrite the article and attempted to bury the controversial unfiltered comments by Orbán, calling them a "[[just joking|joke]]".<ref name="bulkwarkincident"/>

==Ancient Aliens A-Go-Go==
Dreher has a new book coming out in 2024, "Living In Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age". On a Substack post promoting the book, he wrote: 
{{cquote|Jonah told me that the “ancient gods” told him their plan was to lead humanity to merge itself with machines, and through that, they (the entities) planned to enslave and destroy humanity. Sounds crazy, right? Except here’s the thing: this line keeps coming up from people who claim to be in touch with these entities. A Christian friend in publishing told me that a man who used to be close to him in their Christian college went on to do DMT, the ultra-powerful [[psychedelic]], and to have a “de-conversion experience” — meaning, he renounced his Christian faith. That ex-Christian now claims to be in touch with “ancient gods” who are going to merge man with machine, and who are going to come back to defeat the evil God of the Bible. 

Look, if you’ve followed my career for any amount of time, you know that these people and these stories find their way to me. It’s why my friend [[Ross Douthat]] once asked me when I was finally going to write my “[[woo]] book.” So, maybe I just have had uncanny luck, if luck is the word, in meeting and hearing from people from all over who tell close variations of the same story: that the Ancient Gods are going to [[ancient astronauts|return manifesting as aliens]], and are going to assault the [[God]] of the [[Bible]] — [[Baal]], [[Moloch]], and [[Ishtar]] strike back — and ultimately enslave humanity.

Maybe I’m just a weirdo magnet. Or maybe something dark and extremely significant is underway right beneath our noses, and playing out in ways we have not anticipated, if we even thought about it at all. <ref>[https://substack.com/@roddreher/p-149030160/ "Demon-worship at the Flea Market"] by Rod Dreher, Substack, 2024 September 18</ref>}}


This [[UFO]] theory is apparently a significant part of the book. Early reviews have been... unappreciative.<ref>[https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/rod-dreher/living-in-wonder/ Living In Wonder] "If you’re inclined to Orthodox fundamentalism, then this is your book. If not, not." Kirkus Reviews, 2024 September 14</ref>

==See also==
*[[Toby Young]] (a Dreher lookalike with less hair)

==External link==
*[https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/ Rod Dreher]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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[[Category:Bloggers]]
[[Category:Christians]]
[[Category:Homophobes]]
[[Category:Journalists]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Racists]]
[[Category:Transphobes]]

Categories: Bloggers, Christians, Homophobes, Journalists, Living people, Racists, Transphobes