Much has been said and written about Tucker Carlson's interview with Nathan Apffel. If nothing else, I am grateful it cited the possibility of the U.S. "ending" the Iranian civilization (Trump II's threat) via tactical nuclear bombs.
The thought briefly entered my mind as I considered the President's social media threat but I discounted the idea as even too insane for Trump II. The pair called it unChristian.
They took some time to get to that conclusion, mostly via Christian theology combined with investigative journalism. Tucker setup his guest:
Carlson began with discounting the Western corporate mantra, measurement matters and is nearly the only thing that does. "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it" has always been bunk. There is underlying management theory, just as there is theology. Tucker and his guest tackled Christian theology.
The host made room for people being wrong but being in the right celestial/cognitive neighborhood. (This is the spot in the interview where Peter Thiel came to mind with his recent anti-Christ views.)
The pair talked about Jesus' charge to his disciples to go into the world and spread the good news (what eventually became the Gospels in the Bible).
Tucker Carlson cut his teeth inspiring revolutions, not necessarily the peaceful kind. I wondered if this was an "announcer call" for committed followers. If so, followers of what?
The focus was on institutions, church and government. It had a Grover Norquist/DOGE ring to it. People are taking advantage of institutions for earthly gains and that should be stopped immediately.
Letting go is a key for individual religious transformation. It may be key for corporations today pursuing AI, but corporations typically wish to control things vs. freeing them up. TechGods are disruptors, regularly killing professions and whole industries.
Apffel
cited globalism and competition for consumers as factors influencing nonprofits and religious institutions. That has a familiar ring as private equity underwriters (PEU) sent U.S. jobs overseas (mostly to Asia) while expanding internationally. Pick a PEU and check out their global office locations.
The filmmaker noted that corrupt religious organizations usually have an appealing mission that brings in donor money and diverts attention from sketchy or unethical business practices. Sam Bankman-Fried's "effective altruism" and Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein's "patriotic philanthropy" came to mind as Apffel spoke.
They delved into Christian Zionism and what drives that belief system. Religions are not governments and governments aren't religions. Conflating the two is problematic.
The interview closed with talk of the anti-Christ. Apffel suggested it would come as institutional power. He located it in the church with the use of the word "pew."
To what are people chained to today? Many things, but certainly our phones and social media apps stand at the top of the list. People are also chained to their jobs, where executives and company investors seemingly have all the resources of the world. I'd say the church has competition on many of these anti-Christ parameters.
Each of these two men have every right to wrestle with the Good Book and its application to the present day. I am not criticizing their theology. My father, were he still alive, could have done that as an Episcopal minister who taught Clinical Pastoral Education at a major teaching hospital.
I can observe Tucker Carlson's addressing someone he found wrong in the past, religion wise.
Lord, have mercy upon us all. Help us to love our neighbor and love you, our God. Some days it's darned hard given our neighbors.
