Conservative influencer Andrew Wilson, appearing on the Triggernometry podcast, pushed back firmly on what he described as a widespread mischaracterization of Christianity as a pacifist faith.
When his hosts raised the teachings of Jesus Christ, including the well-known phrase from the cross, “Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do,” Wilson did not dismiss forgiveness as a Christian value. Instead, he challenged the idea that forgiveness and force are mutually exclusive.
“Of course, and you should forgive people,” he said. “I absolutely agree with that.”
Wilson then illustrated his position with a stark hypothetical, emphasizing that forgiveness does not require passivity in the face of violence.
“I may forgive a man who attempted to r*pe my wife, but I’m going to end them in the attempt,” he said. “I can forgive my enemies, but that doesn’t mean I need to let them crush me.”
He continued by repeating the distinction between moral forgiveness and physical self-defense.
“I can forgive people who have done me wrong,” he said. “That doesn’t mean I need to let them do me more wrong. I can forgive people for doing horrible acts against me. It doesn’t mean I need to continue to let them do horrible acts against me.”
From there, Wilson sharpened his argument into a direct critique of how he believes the political left has reframed Christian teachings.
“Christian ethics has been widely bast*rdized by progressive leftists as being some kind of hippie religion,” he said. “It is definitely not and never has been, and I don’t know where that came from.”
He then turned to scripture itself to support his case, citing specific moments in the Gospels that he argued contradict a strictly pacifist interpretation of Christianity.
“It’s not a pacifistic religion and it never has been,” he said. “Jesus told one of his disciples to sell a cloak and buy a sword. These were not pacifists.”
Wilson also referenced the episode in which Jesus expelled merchants from the temple.
“Jesus ran money changers out of a temple with a braided cord that he made out of leather and whipped them out of the temple,” he said. “I don’t know where the idea of pacifism came from.”
He added that Jesus used harsh language toward his critics, noting the severity of such accusations in the historical context.
“He called them serpents,” Wilson said. “He called people serpents, whitewashed tombs. He called them all sorts of names. These were k*llable offenses in his day.”
Earlier in the conversation, Wilson had also addressed what he sees as a modern misconception about the role of force in Christian doctrine.
“The scripture doesn’t prevent you from utilizing force,” he said. “This idea of Christian pacifism and Christians being… I don’t know where that came from. Britain, I think.”
Throughout the discussion, Wilson pointed that Christianity has always allowed for the use of force when necessary. Forgiveness, in his framing, is a spiritual posture rather than a political or physical one. A person can extend grace to an enemy in the moral sense while still defending themselves, their family, or their nation.
