Book-Banning Husbands and Dismissing Women Critics

Oh, these women with their opinions and their books

There’s a video clip making the rounds. In a sermon, Pastor Joel Webbon calls upon men to be “very vigilant in your wives and what they are reading and what they are listening to.” He argues that one of the most common ways “good women” get derailed is through women’s Bible studies—a woman teaching other women without a man there to guide her.

Webbon describes having been in the position of finding his wife reading and not knowing whether “this is a bad book.” Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to read it to find out for himself, so he had to tell his wife, “You’re not going to read it.” She’d need to wait until they could read the book together. He gave the example of finding his wife reading a book about paedobaptism (baptism in infancy), and having to tell her to stop. “No. We’re not doing that yet. We will become paedobaptists when I’m ready. But my wife’s not going to be a paedobaptist for three years before I am, and I don’t have time to read it right now.” He knows what he believes now, and, as he says he told his wife, “You’re not going to outpace me.”

Underlying this very frank depiction of a man desperate to stay ahead of his wife’s intellectual evolution is the theological position that men are supposed to be spiritual leaders in the home. It just won’t do to have the woman lead or think ahead of the man, endowed as he is with gender-specific metaphysical insight. It could cramp his schedule to keep up. He could strain himself and his power, ahem, I mean God’s design for marriage would be threatened.

How unnatural. Women reading unsupervised!  

If you don’t know Joel Webbon, he’s the character who recently explained how in his vision of a Christian nationalist country, women would not have the right to vote. Here’s why, according to Webbon, “because if we had a Christian nation tomorrow and women did have the right to vote, we wouldn’t have a Christian nation in fifty years.”

He argues that God wants men to be the head of Christian homes, but women’s suffrage and no-fault divorce have split households. To his mind, it’s a form of representative governance—instead of a direct vote, women and children would be civically represented by a man who (he assumes) has their best interest at heart.

There was a time when I could wave off such commentary as fringe. I wish we lived in that time. By way of further introduction, I should note that Webbon was a contributing editor (along with William Wolfe, former Trump administration senior official) to “The Statement on Christian Nationalism & the Gospel.” That document outlines a vision for a Christian country and denies that it is a civil government’s place to establish a “secular, neutral, or godless order.”

More specifically, the statement declares:

“We affirm that the specific, short-term priorities of Christian Nationalism in the context of the United States are to call our nation, in her laws, formally to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ, to declare solemn days of humility and repentance, to abolish abortion, to define marriage as the covenant union of a biological male [to] a biological female, to de-weaponize the federal and state bureaucracies which target Christians for censorship and persecution, to secure our borders and defend against foreign invaders, to recapture our national sovereignty from godless, global entities who present a grave threat to civilization like the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum, etc., and, to exercise restraint in international military intervention and adventurism in overseas “democracy building.”

Over and again, those who seek to use faith to gain dominion over one group—women, for example—are insatiable. It starts with books, it ends with the fall of marriage equality, religious overreach into all corners of people’s lives, and a withdrawal from international entities that could provide oversight.

Are these just the scribblings of craven men with no real ability to implement? If you check the author line of “The Statement on Christian Nationalism & the Gospel,” you’ll also find Oklahoma State Senator Dusty Deevers.

Look also to the Heritage Foundation, which spearheaded Project 2025, a conservative blueprint to undo the left’s influence across U.S. federal departments. Included on the advisory board of Project 2025 is the Center for Renewing America, run by Russell Vought, Trump’s former director of Office of Management and Budget. Vought, it has been rumored, could be in the running to become chief of staff if Trump wins a second term. Vought too voices concerns that Christians are under attack. In February, Politico reported that in documents it had obtained from CRA, a list of top priorities for CRA in a second Trump term included “Christian nationalism” and invoking the Insurrection Act from the start to squash protests.

Interestingly, after the Politico article, William Wolfe scrubbed mention that he was a fellow at the Center for Renewing America from his X profile. This is the same man who at a Jesus and Politics conference said Christians were “getting close” to needing to “heed the call to arms” to defend the faith. He read from a 1758 sermon: “‘To arms!’ Then the sword is, as it were, consecrated to God; and the art of war becomes a part of our religion.”

I am no fan of slippery slope logic. But in this case, it’s less a ‘first they came for women’s books…’ situation, mounting from there, and more a comprehensive project of dominion across the board. That dangerous lady book he can’t be bothered to read is just indicative of the rest.

---

The hammer of patriarchy and dismissal of women does not require a Washington D.C. think tank, but in this week’s roundup, I do loop to another pastor.

On the scale of oppression, the Southern Baptist sex abuse crisis and history of coverup looms large, with enough credible allegations to trigger a U.S. Department of Justice investigation. After votes for reform that left some abuse survivors hopeful years ago, many have told me their hopes are nearly shattered after delays establishing a database of credibly accused clergy, an SBC presidential candidate who characterized 42 sexual abuse lawsuits against SBC entities a ‘distraction’ from the gospel, and an amicus brief filed by SBC in an unrelated Kentucky case in order to shore up the denomination’s future legal options.

Actions—and inactions—matter. Yesterday, I was reminded that words do as well.