July 20th, 2026
by Matt Davis
by Matt Davis
Welcome back to The Front Porch!
I cannot stress how important this article is for us to consider in our current cultural and political climate. I referred to this phenomena of being conformed to a culture to gain credibility (or any least not be seen as an outsider) in my sermon from Judges 15 yesterday. Walker does a great job summarizing the dangers of the "left-wing" and "right-wing" gaze, both of which are dangerous.
I am very concerned about rising anti-semitism and racism on the fringes of the right. Well, maybe not so fringe as commentators like Tucker Carlson and others are platforming people with these views under the guise of "just asking questions". If we love truth and righteousness we can never be "NETTR's" (No Enemies To The Right). "Right" does not make right.
Walker writes, "My friend Joe Rigney has described a posture he calls the “progressive gaze”—the little progressive perched on the evangelical’s shoulder, auditing every sentence before it is spoken, whispering what may and may not be said if one hopes to stay in the good graces of respectable (often elite, progressive) opinion. For the status-conscious evangelical, it is servility dressed up as prudence, and Rigney is right to criticize it.
But the gaze has a mirror image. Call it the right-wing gaze. Here, the commissar on the shoulder is not a progressive but a pseudonymous X account with a Roman-statue avatar, questioning whether your take is sufficiently based or, for example, whether you are beholden to the “post-war consensus.” Or, it is some right-wing podcaster or YouTuber who talks unflinchingly—even daringly—of repealing the Nineteenth Amendment, rewriting the First Amendment, or who “just asks questions” around Hitler’s legacy (yes, that’s actually happening)."
Please read all of this and let's recommit to be defenders of righteousness and truth as representatives of King Jesus, not buying into the outrage machines that fight for our attention.
I cannot stress how important this article is for us to consider in our current cultural and political climate. I referred to this phenomena of being conformed to a culture to gain credibility (or any least not be seen as an outsider) in my sermon from Judges 15 yesterday. Walker does a great job summarizing the dangers of the "left-wing" and "right-wing" gaze, both of which are dangerous.
I am very concerned about rising anti-semitism and racism on the fringes of the right. Well, maybe not so fringe as commentators like Tucker Carlson and others are platforming people with these views under the guise of "just asking questions". If we love truth and righteousness we can never be "NETTR's" (No Enemies To The Right). "Right" does not make right.
Walker writes, "My friend Joe Rigney has described a posture he calls the “progressive gaze”—the little progressive perched on the evangelical’s shoulder, auditing every sentence before it is spoken, whispering what may and may not be said if one hopes to stay in the good graces of respectable (often elite, progressive) opinion. For the status-conscious evangelical, it is servility dressed up as prudence, and Rigney is right to criticize it.
But the gaze has a mirror image. Call it the right-wing gaze. Here, the commissar on the shoulder is not a progressive but a pseudonymous X account with a Roman-statue avatar, questioning whether your take is sufficiently based or, for example, whether you are beholden to the “post-war consensus.” Or, it is some right-wing podcaster or YouTuber who talks unflinchingly—even daringly—of repealing the Nineteenth Amendment, rewriting the First Amendment, or who “just asks questions” around Hitler’s legacy (yes, that’s actually happening)."
Please read all of this and let's recommit to be defenders of righteousness and truth as representatives of King Jesus, not buying into the outrage machines that fight for our attention.
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