White Christian Nationalist Joel Webbon Promotes the ‘Virtue of Hatred,’ Hopes for End of Democracy

Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon (Image from podcast episode "It's Time to Hate Sin (and sinners) Again"

Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon and podcast co-host Michael Belch devoted the latest issue of the Right Response ministries podcast to promoting “the ancient Christian virtue of hatred.” In the episode titled “It’s Time to Hate Sin (and sinners) Again,” Belch referenced the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics and complained that Christians have become too tolerant of “displays of open, rampant, unashamed wickedness in our society.”

Webbon and Belch discussed the need to hate the enemies of God while simultaneously loving them by praying for their conversion. Webbon was careful to state that he is not calling for vigilante violence, but suggested other ways that righteous hatred could be put to use, including consumers boycotting “woke” companies, business owners hiring only Christians, and legislators writing laws that bring “just, strict, swift penalties to those who do wicked things.”

Webbon, who longs for a Christian dictatorship that will crush its enemies, is no fan of democracy, believing that the American people have become too degenerate to function as a constitutional republic. Noting that people call him out for being opposed to the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, he declared, “I think there’s a lot of people that shouldn’t be able to vote, besides just as it pertains to the Nineteenth Amendment.”

“Democracy has not been great,” he said in this week’s podcast. “Part of the reason things get worse and worse and worse is because of democracy. You poll the degenerate peanut gallery, and what you get is further devolving into degeneracy.”

He did encourage people to cast “righteous votes” given our current system, but added that “by God’s grace I hope that one day we don’t” have a voting mechanism.

Webbon smeared the Democratic party and its supporters, making false and ridiculously broad claims that “the left hates children” and that the end goal of the Democratic party is to facilitate “the diddling of children.” Webbon blamed women in leadership—which he called a “gynocracy”—for Christians having “forfeited” their once-dominant political power, because women, he said, are not temperamentally suited to hating their enemies.

Webbon also promoted the ancient antisemitic portrayal of Jews as Christ-killers. While some Jews followed Jesus, he said, many were even more opposed to Jesus than the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who for political reasons “gives the Jews what they like, which is killing God.”  Webbon recently complained about Hindus and other non-Christians living in his neighborhood, which he called a sign of God’s judgment upon our land.”

Webbon used the podcast to promote his ministry’s “Christ is King” conference next April in Temple, Texas, and its “super-based” speakers list, which features “the Christian prince himself, Dusty Deevers,” a white Christian nationalist Oklahoma state senator who argues that “nations will rise and fall on the basis of their submission to Christ.” Another speaker will be Stephen Wolfe, author of “The Case for Christian Nationalism,” which in the words of one reviewer “advocates for an ethnically uniform nation rules by a ‘Christian prince.’” Joining them will be radio host Steve Deace, who has made “repeated calls for violence against his political opponents,” as Right Wing Watch has reported.

Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.