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{{short description|American journalist}}{{pp-move}}{{Use mdy dates|date = September 2016}}

factoids

| birth_place = Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.| death_date = | death_place = | alma_mater = Louisiana State University| occupation = Columnist, writer| notable_works = The Benedict Option (2017)| party = American Solidarity PartyJulie Harris2022|end=div}}}}{{Conservatism US|commentators}}Raymond Oliver Dreher Jr.{{efn|Pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|r|iː|É™r}}.}} (born February 14, 1967), known as Rod Dreher,WEB,www.gracetyler.org/blog/2018/10/22/a-conversation-with-rod-dreher/, A Conversation with Rod Dreher, gracetyler.org, Karolyn, Davis, October 22, 2018, October 1, 2020, is an American expatriate writer and editor living in Hungary.WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/goodbye-louisiana-i-tried/, Goodbye, Louisiana. I Tried, The American Conservative, Rod, Dreher, October 2, 2022, January 13, 2023, He was a columnist with The American Conservative for 12 years, ending in March 2023, and remains an editor-at-large there.WEB, After 12 Years, A Farewell To This Blog,www.theamericanconservative.com/after-12-years-a-farewell-to-this-blog/, The American Conservative, 15 March 2023, 24 February 2023, He is also author of several books, including How Dante Can Save Your Life, The Benedict Option, and Live Not by Lies. He has written about religion, politics, film, and culture in National Review and National Review Online, The Weekly Standard, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications.He was a film reviewer for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and chief film critic for the New York Post. His commentaries have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and he has appeared on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, Court TV, and other television networks.WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/author/rod-dreher/, Rod Dreher, Author at The American Conservative, The American Conservative, en-US, 2019-12-31,

• WEB,www.orthodoxspeakers.com/speakers/rod-dreher.html,www.orthodoxspeakers.com/speakers/rod-dreher.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20110327075259www.orthodoxspeakers.com/speakers/rod-dreher.html,">web.archive.org/web/20110327075259www.orthodoxspeakers.com/speakers/rod-dreher.html, 2011-03-27, Rod Dreher - Speakers - Orthodox Speakers Bureau, 2011-03-27, 2019-12-31,

Early life and education

Dreher was born on February 14, 1967, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.WEB,onbeing.org/programs/rod-dreher-the-faith-life-of-the-party-part-ii-the-right/, Rod Dreher — The Faith Life of the Party: Part II, The Right, The On Being Project, en-US, 2019-12-31, He was named after his father, Ray Oliver Dreher, a local landowner and parish sanitation official.WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/that-was-a-man-ray-dreher-starhill/, That Was A Man, Rod, Dreher, The American Conservative, August 25, 2015, March 27, 2023, Dreher was raised in the small town of St. Francisville, the parish seat of West Feliciana Parish north of Baton Rouge.MAGAZINE,www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/01/rod-drehers-monastic-vision, Rod Dreher’s Monastic Vision, Rothman, Joshua, The New Yorker, April 24, 2017, en, 2019-12-31, However, he transferred to Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in Natchitoches at the age of sixteen, where he was part of the school’s first graduating class in 1985.WEB, 2019-01-24, Cultivating Alumni Relationships: LSMSA’s Connections Weekend,www.lsmsa.edu/news-detail?pk=1232278, 2022-04-06, Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts, en, In 1989 he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Louisiana State University.WEB,www.lsu.edu/mediacenter/news/2017/03/21roddreher.eb.php, Best-Selling Author and LSU Graduate Rod Dreher to Speak on March 24, March 21, 2017, Louisiana State University, August 13, 2017,

Career

Dreher began his career as a television critic for The Washington Times, and later worked as chief film critic for the New York Post and editor for the National Review. In 2002, Dreher wrote an essay that explored a subcategory of American conservatism he defined as “granola conservatism”, whose adherents he described as “crunchy cons”.WEB,www.nationalreview.com/2005/05/crunchy-cons-rod-dreher/, Crunchy Cons, Dreher, Rod, 2002-09-30, National Review, en-US, 2019-12-31, He defined these people as traditionalist conservatives who believed in environmental conservation, frugal living, and the preservation of traditional family values, while also expressing skepticism towards aspects of free-market capitalism. He portrayed “crunchy cons” as being generally religious (typically traditionalist Roman Catholics, conservative Protestants, or Eastern Orthodox). Four years later, Dreher published a book expanding on the themes of this manifesto, Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, Gun-Loving Organic Gardeners, Evangelical Free-Range Farmers, Hip Homeschooling Mamas, Right-Wing Nature Lovers, and Their Diverse Tribe of Countercultural Conservatives Plan to Save America (or At Least the Republican Party).NEWS,www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/02/AR2006050201873_pf.html, Crunchy Culture: Author Rod Dreher Has Defined A Political Hybrid: The All-Natural, Whole-Grain Conservative, Hank, Stuever, The Washington Post, May 3, 2006, October 1, 2020, From 2006, Dreher maintained a Beliefnet blog entitled “Crunchy Con”; the blog was renamed “Rod Dreher” in 2010, with a shift in focus from political to cultural topics.WEB,blog.beliefnet.com/roddreher/2010/01/welcome-to-the-new-rod-dreher-blog.html, Welcome to the new Rod Dreher blog, Rod Dreher, January 3, 2010, WEB,blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2010/01/the-last-days-of-crunchy-con.html,blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2010/01/the-last-days-of-crunchy-con.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20100206124124blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2010/01/the-last-days-of-crunchy-con.html,">web.archive.org/web/20100206124124blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2010/01/the-last-days-of-crunchy-con.html, 2010-02-06, The last days of Crunchy Con - Crunchy Con, 2010-02-06, 2019-12-25, During this time, Dreher worked as an editorial writer and columnist for The Dallas Morning News, which he left in late 2009 to become the publications director for the John Templeton Foundation.WEB,blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2010/01/the-last-days-of-crunchy-con.html, The last days of Crunchy Con, Dreher, Rod, January 1, 2010,blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2010/01/the-last-days-of-crunchy-con.html," title="web.archive.org/web/20100206124124blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2010/01/the-last-days-of-crunchy-con.html,">web.archive.org/web/20100206124124blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2010/01/the-last-days-of-crunchy-con.html, February 6, 2010, On August 20, 2011, Dreher announced on Twitter that he was leaving the Templeton Foundation in order to return to full-time writing.WEB,twitter.com/roddreher/status/104981674290458624, Rod Dreher, August 20, 2011, Twitter, 2014-12-23, In 2013, Dreher published a book titled The Little Way of Ruthie Leming, about his childhood in Louisiana and his sister’s battle with cancer.BOOK, The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life: Rod Dreher: 9781455521913: Amazon.com: Books, 2013, 978-1455521913, registration,archive.org/details/isbn_9781455521913, Dreher, Rod, Grand Central, In 2015, Dreher published How Dante Can Save Your Life, a memoir about how reading Dante’s Divine Comedy helped him after his sister’s death.BOOK, How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-Changing Wisdom of History’s Greatest Poem: Rod Dreher: 1941393322: Amazon.com: Books, 978-1941393321, Dreher, Rod, April 14, 2015, Regan Arts., Dreher began writing a blog for the American Conservative in 2008; in 2017, the blog received on average more than a million page views per month.NEWS,www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/rod-dreher-is-the-combative-oversharing-blogger-who-speaks-for-todays-beleaguered-christians/2017/10/27/6f322e06-adde-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html, Rod Dreher is the combative, oversharing blogger who speaks for today’s beleaguered Christians, Heller, Karen, October 29, 2017, The Washington Post, 25 December 2019, “An influential and prolific blogger for the American Conservative — he averages 1.3 million monthly page views on his blog.”, In March 2023, funding for Dreher’s blog at The American Conservative was withdrawn. According to Vanity Fair the departure was prompted by a withdrawal of support for Dreher by philanthropist Howard Ahmanson Jr. who, per Vanity Fair, single-handedly funded Dreher’s salary at the website in an unusual arrangement which also allowed Dreher to publish without an editor.WEB, Ecarma, Caleb, How Rod Dreher’s Blog Got A Little “Too Weird” For The American Conservative,www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/rod-dreher-blog-weird-american-conservative, Vanity Fair (magazine), Vanity Fair, 11 March 2023, 10 March 2023, Ahmanson had become dissatisfied with the tone of Dreher’s posts, describing them as “too weird”, citing as the prime example one particular blog post where Dreher reminisced about a Black elementary-school classmate of his, who had an unusual-looking uncircumcised penis that Dreher described as a “primitive root wiener”. Dreher said he intends to continue blogging on Substack and may also contribute to The American Conservative with editorial oversight.The Benedict Option“>

The Benedict Option

From 2015 to 2021 Dreher wrote about what he calls the “Benedict Option”, the idea that Christians who want to preserve their faith should segregate themselves to some degree from “post-Obergefell” society, which he sees as drifting further away from “traditional Christian values” (particularly those regarding sex, marriage, and gender).BOOK, {{Google books, GaMgDgAAQBAJ, yes, |title=The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation|last=Dreher|first=Rod|date=2017|publisher=Penguin Random House|isbn=978-0-7352-1329-6|location=New York City|quote=Post-Obergefell, Christians who hold to the biblical teaching about sex and marriage have the same status in culture, and increasingly in law, as racists.}}MAGAZINE,time.com/3938050/orthodox-christians-must-now-learn-to-live-as-exiles-in-our-own-country/, Orthodox Christians Must Now Learn To Live as Exiles in Our Own Country, Rod, Dreher, Time (magazine), Time, en, June 26, 2015, 2020-01-01, Dreher says that Christians should try to form intentional communities, such as the Bruderhof Communities,NEWS,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/life-among-the-bruderhof/, Life Among The Bruderhof, The American Conservative, Rod, Dreher, March 20, 2017, 2017-05-15, en-us, WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/weekend-at-the-bruderhof/, Weekend At The Bruderhof, Dreher, Rod, The American Conservative, en-US, May 6, 2018, 2019-10-26, or the School for Conversion.NEWS,theweek.com/articles/555734/benedict-option-why-religious-right-considering-allout-withdrawal-from-politics, The Benedict Option: Why the religious right is considering an all-out withdrawal from politics, Linker, Damon, May 19, 2015, The Week, October 1, 2015, NEWS,www.catholicworldreport.com/Item/4027/would_alasdair_macintyre_live_in_a_benedict_option_community.aspx, Would Alasdair MacIntyre Live in a “Benedict Option” Community?, DeVille, Adam A. J., July 14, 2015, Catholic World Report, October 1, 2015, MAGAZINE, Dreher, Rod, October 6, 2015, Benedict Option FAQ,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/benedict-option-faq/, The American Conservative, July 7, 2016, The phrase “Benedict Option” was inspired by Alasdair MacIntyre’s 1981 book After Virtue, and refers to the sixth-century monk Benedict of Nursia. Dreher’s book on the subject, The Benedict Option, was published by Sentinel in 2017.Reviews for The Benedict Option ranged from the laudatory to the highly critical. David Brooks of The New York Times described it as “the most discussed and most important religious book of the decade,” while also expressing concern that “by retreating to neat homogeneous monocultures, most separatists will end up . . . fostering narrowness, prejudice and moral arrogance.“NEWS,www.nytimes.com/2017/03/14/opinion/the-benedict-option.html, The Benedict Option, The New York Times, David, Brooks, March 14, 2017, 26 December 2019, Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote that the prominence the book gives to “same-sex relations,” as opposed to “poverty, racism and war,” “reinforces the common perception that the only ethical issues that interest traditional Christians are those involving sexual matters.” Nonetheless, Williams suggested that “The book is worth reading because it poses some helpfully tough questions to a socially liberal majority, as well as to believers of a more traditional colour.“WEB,www.newstatesman.com/politics/religion/2017/05/benedict-option-new-monasticism-21st-century, The Benedict Option: A new monasticism for the 21st century, New Statesman, Rowan, Williams, Rowan Williams, May 30, 2017, en, 2017-05-31, Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, described Dreher’s book as “brilliant, prophetic, and wise,“WEB,www.touchstonemag.com/archives/from-the-editor/operation-benedict.php, Operation Benedict, James M., Kushiner, Touchstone (magazine), Touchstone, August 23, 2019, en, 2019-12-26, while Alan Levinovitz, a religious scholar at James Madison University, described it as “spiritual pornography,” the soul of which “is not love of God; it is bitter loathing of those who do not share it.“WEB,lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-awful-pleasures-of-spiritual-pornography/, The Awful Pleasures of Spiritual Pornography, Levinovitz, Alan, May 29, 2017, Los Angeles Review of Books, 2019-12-26, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito cited The Benedict Option in a court ruling in favor of the freedom of hiring by two religious schools on July 8, 2020.WEB, Dreher, Rod,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/big-scotus-win-for-religious-liberty/, Big SCOTUS Win for Religious Liberty, The American Conservative, July 8, 2020, Various conferences and symposia have discussed the Benedict Option as an idea,WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/benedict-option-conference/, Benedict Option Conference, The American Conservative, March 21, 2016, en-US, 2019-12-26, WEB,www.plough.com/en/events/2017/benedict-option, Time for the Benedict Option?, Plough, March 16, 2017, en, 2019-12-27, WEB,www.thegregorian.org/2017/benedictine-symposium-on-the-benedict-option, Benedictine Symposium on the “Benedict Option”, 2017-04-03, The Gregorian Institute, 2019-12-26, WEB,www.touchstonemag.com/fight-or-flight/index.php, Fight or Flight? The 2019 Touchstone Conference, Touchstone, en, 2019-12-26, as have Christian theologians and commentators. The Reformed philosophical theologian James K. A. Smith, for instance, has written a number of critical responses to the idea,WEB,www.cardus.ca/comment/article/the-benedict-option-or-the-augustinian-call/, The Benedict Option or the Augustinian Call?, James K. A., Smith, Comment, March 16, 2017, en, 2019-12-26, NEWS,www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/03/10/the-new-alarmism-how-some-christians-are-stoking-fear-rather-than-hope/, Perspective {{!, The new alarmism: How some Christians are stoking fear rather than hope|last=Smith|first=James K. A.|newspaper=The Washington Post|language=en|access-date=2019-12-26}}WEB,eppc.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/01064050/1-Monday-14-2016-Re-imagining-Religion-in-a-Secular-Age-Q-and-A.mp3, Re-imagining Religion in a Secular Age, Smith, James K.A., Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Faith Angle Forum, 26 December 2019, WEB,www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2018/10/18/james-k-smiths-theological-journey, James K. A. Smith’s Theological Journey, 2018-10-18, America Magazine, en, 2019-12-27, including one in which he argues that the world Dreher laments the loss of “tends to be white. And what seems to be lost is a certain default power and privilege.“WEB,thewitnessbcc.com/benedict-option-leaves-out-black-church/, The Real Reason the Benedict Option Leaves Out the Black Church, Tisby, Jemar, 2017-03-29, The Witness, en-US, 2019-12-30, Dreher has repeatedly called these charges “motivated reasoning” on his blog.WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/despair-alarmism-benedict-option-james-ka-smith/, ‘Despair,’ ‘Alarmism,’ & the Benedict Option, The American Conservative, Rod, Dreher, March 17, 2016, en-US, 2019-12-26, WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/benedict-option-benedict-arnold/, The Benedict Arnold Option, The American Conservative, Rod, Dreher, March 10, 2017, en-US, 2019-12-26, WEB,www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2017/03/a-cheap-shot-on-chaput-esolen-dreher, A Cheap Shot on Chaput, Esolen, Dreher {{!, Mark Bauerlein|website=First Things|date=March 14, 2017 |language=en|access-date=2019-12-27}}WEB,bradlittlejohn.com/2017/03/29/alarm-alarmism-and-faithful-witness-the-benedict-option-and-its-critics/, Alarm, Alarmism, and Faithful Witness: The Benedict Option and Its Critics, Littlejohn, Bradford, 2017-03-29, en, 2019-12-27, The Catholic writer Elizabeth Bruenig has argued that Dreher’s strategy of “withdrawing from conventional politics is difficult to parse with Christ’s command that we love our neighbors,“WEB,democracyjournal.org/magazine/city-of-rod/, City of Rod, 2017-03-01, Democracy Journal, Elizabeth, Stoker Bruenig, en, 2019-12-26, while the Christian literary scholar Alan Jacobs has responded to these and other criticisms of The Benedict Option.WEB,www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/03/the-benedict-option-and-the-way-of-exchange, The Benedict Option and the Way of Exchange, Alan, Jacobs, March 20, 2017, First Things, en, 2019-12-26, WEB, Jacobs, Alan,blog.ayjay.org/questions-for-the-critics-of-the-benedict-option/, questions for the critics of the Benedict Option, The Homebound Symphony (blog), en-US, 2019-12-26, WEB, Jacobs, Alan,blog.ayjay.org/on-spears-throats-and-motivated-reasoning/, on spears, throats, and motivated reasoning, The Homebound Symphony (blog), en-US, 2019-12-26, The writer Leah Libresco has published a guide to the practical aspects of building “BenOp communities.“WEB,www.plough.com/en/topics/community/intentional-community/getting-practical-with-the-benedict-option, Getting Practical with the Benedict Option, Plough, Mark, Gordon, August 10, 2018, en, 2019-12-26, Dreher’s experience as a 2021 fellow at Hungary’s Danube Institute and his observation of Viktor Orbán’s government persuaded him that Christian conservatives could in fact still win and wield substantial political power. “Orbán was so unafraid, so unapologetic about using his political power to push back on the liberal élites in business and media and culture,” Dreher told The New Yorker{{’}}s Andrew Marantz in 2022. “It was so inspiring: this is what a vigorous conservative government can do if it’s serious about stemming this horrible global tide of wokeness.” Dreher also argued that the U.S. Republican Party needs “a leader with Orbán’s vision—someone who can build on what Trumpism accomplished, without the egomania and inattention to policy, and who is not afraid to step on the liberals’ toes.“MAGAZINE, Marantz, Andrew, The Illiberal Order: Does Hungary Offer a Glimpse of Our Authoritarian Future?,www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/07/04/does-hungary-offer-a-glimpse-of-our-authoritarian-future, 6 July 2022, The New Yorker, July 4, 2022, June 27, 2022, Hungaryauthoritarianfuture,

Political views

Views on sexuality, sexual assault, and gender

Dreher holds to what he describes as biblical Christian teaching on sexuality and gender, including on the sinfulness of same-sex sexual relations and the naturalness of male–female difference.WEB,www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/benedict-option/517290/, These Conservative Christians Are Choosing to Retreat From Public Life, Green, Emma, 2017-02-22, The Atlantic, en-US, 2019-12-26, While some writers have praised Dreher’s insights into the fundamental nature of the social changes caused by the sexual revolution,WEB,www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2016/06/eating-locusts-will-be-benedict-optional, Eating Locusts Will Be (Benedict) Optional, Carl R., Trueman, First Things, June 2016, en, 2019-12-26, WEB,www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=30-04-040-b, Choosing the Good Portion, Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, Bradley W., Anderson, en, 2019-12-26, others have argued that Dreher has not sufficiently grappled with the problem of how conservative Christians should live alongside gay peopleWEB,thinkprogress.org/atheist-christian-dreher-benedict-option-2bdb68a0b792/, An atheist and a Christian review ‘The Benedict Option,’ a guide to hiding from queer people, ThinkProgress, Zack, Ford, Jack, Jenkins, March 24, 2017, en-US, 2019-12-30, WEB,www.christiancentury.org/blog-post/reactionary-option-musings-decline-western-civilization, The Reactionary Option: Musings on the decline of western civilization, The Christian Century, Daniel José, Camacho, en, 2019-12-30, and have criticized the language Dreher has used to describe them.WEB,www.salon.com/2013/02/26/the_friendy_face_of_conservatism_is_an_old_school_homophobe_partner/, Conservatism’s “friendly face” is an old-school homophobe, 2013-02-26, Elon, Green, Salon, en, 2019-12-24, MAGAZINE,newrepublic.com/article/48581/the-gay-fixation, The Gay Fixation, Linker, Damon, 2009-03-23, The New Republic, 2019-12-29, 0028-6583, Dreher has published numerous articles expressing alarm at the growing visibility of transgender people in American society, which he sees as part of a “technology-driven revolution in our view of personhood.“WEB,www.commonwealmagazine.org/reading-opposition, Reading the Opposition, Commonweal (magazine), Commonweal, Paul, Baumann, December 13, 2018, 2019-12-27, He has been described in The Guardian as “a man who appears to view fomenting transgender panic more as a vocation than a job.“NEWS,www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/28/conservative-writers-trump-transgender-troops-ban-military-writing, ‘Biology is not bigotry’: conservative writers react to ban on trans troops, Wilson, Jason, 2017-07-28, The Guardian, 2019-12-24, en-GB, 0261-3077, In September 2018, during Brett Kavanaugh’s U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Dreher sided with those conservatives who minimized the importance of an alleged sexual assault by Kavanaugh when he was 17. Dreher tweeted: “I do not understand why the loutish drunken behavior of a 17 year old high school boy has anything to tell us about the character of a 53 year old judge.“MAGAZINE,www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/after-the-kavanaugh-allegations-republicans-offer-a-shocking-defense-sexual-assault-isnt-a-big-deal, After the Kavanaugh Allegations, Republicans Offer a Shocking Defense: Sexual Assault Isn’t a Big Deal, Tolentino, Jia, Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker, en, 2019-12-29, MAGAZINE,newrepublic.com/article/151509/brett-kavanaugh-new-face-mens-rights, The New Face of Men’s Rights, Heer, Jeet, 2018-10-03, The New Republic, 2019-12-29, 0028-6583, MAGAZINE,newrepublic.com/minutes/151261/kavanaugh-accusations-divide-right, Kavanaugh accusations divide the right., Jeet, Heer, 2018-09-17, The New Republic, en-us, 2019-12-29, WEB,www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2018/09/20/brett-kavanaugh-alleged-actions-17-relevant-court-nominee/1356690002/, Kavanaugh allegations: Is what someone does at age 17 relevant?, Sean, Rossman, USA Today, en-US, 2019-12-29,

Views on race and immigration

In a 2014 blog post titled “Tips for Not Getting Shot by Cops,“WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/tips-for-not-getting-shot-by-cops/, Tips For Not Getting Shot By Cops, The American Conservative, November 29, 2014, January 7, 2021, Dreher wrote that Michael Brown was shot by police in part because Brown was a “lawbreaker” who “hung out with lawbreakers,” although “None of this means that Wilson was justified in using deadly force against Brown” and “it doesn’t mean that there aren’t big problems with policing in Ferguson.“WEB,slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/09/brett-kavanaugh-christine-blasey-ford-elite-power.html, Brett Kavanaugh Is the Culmination of a Political Movement Devoted to the Status Quo, Bouie, Jamelle, 2018-09-19, Slate Magazine, en, 2019-12-30, NEWS,www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2018/09/18/daily-202-polarization-poses-problems-for-kavanaugh-as-he-prepares-to-testify-in-his-defense/5ba064af1b326b47ec9596bc/, The Daily 202: Polarization poses problems for Kavanaugh as he prepares to testify in his defense, Hohmann, James, 18 September 2018, Washington Post, 29 December 2019, WEB,www.vox.com/first-person/2018/9/28/17913708/brett-kavanaugh-hearing-police-race-teens, The Kavanaugh hearings show who we afford a second chance and who we don’t, Weaver, Vesla Mae, 2018-09-28, Vox, en, 2019-12-30, Dreher is a critic of large-scale immigration to the United States and Europe; he has defended the concept of Western civilization and condemned identity politics associated with race.MAGAZINE,newrepublic.com/article/149527/rod-drehers-bad-history, Rod Dreher’s Bad History, Livingstone, Josephine, 2018-07-03, The New Republic, 2019-12-25, 0028-6583, NEWS,www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/03/what-is-a-black-professor-in-america-allowed-to-say-tommy-j-curry, What is a black professor in America allowed to say?, Kolowich, Steve, 2017-08-03, The Guardian, 2019-12-25, en-GB, 0261-3077, In 2001, Dreher published an article mocking the funeral celebrations of the African-American singer Aaliyah, and subsequently reported having received threatening phone calls from people with “black accents”. (Dreher later expressed regret for his comments on the funeral.) In June 2018, Dreher compared African immigration to Europe to a “barbarian invasion”.MAGAZINE,newrepublic.com/article/149527/rod-drehers-bad-history, Rod Dreher’s Bad History, Livingstone, Josephine, 2018-07-03, The New Republic, 2019-12-24, 0028-6583, Subsequent to the Christchurch mosque shootings of March 2019, Dreher strongly condemned the shooter’s actions and aspects of his ideology, but also commented that the shooter had “legitimate, realistic concerns” about “declining numbers of ethnic Europeans” in Western countries; as a result of these comments, multiple scholars criticized the University of Wollongong’s Ramsay Center for Western Civilization for inviting Dreher as a speaker.WEB,www.smh.com.au/education/everything-tarrant-identifies-is-true-ramsay-centre-under-fire-for-speakers-20190318-p5157y.html, ‘Everything Tarrant identifies...is true’: Ramsay Centre under fire for speakers, Singhal, Pallavi, 2019-03-19, The Sydney Morning Herald, en, 2019-12-27, WEB,www.smh.com.au/national/after-christchurch-universities-have-a-responsibility-abandon-ramsay-20190318-p5154r.html, After Christchurch universities have a responsibility: abandon Ramsay, Riemer, Nick, 2019-03-18, The Sydney Morning Herald, en, 2019-12-27, WEB,overland.org.au/2019/03/the-ramsay-centre-and-the-reality-of-ideology/, The Ramsay Centre and the reality of ideology, Riemer, Nick, Overland literary journal, March 28, 2019, en-US, 2019-12-28, WEB,farragomagazine.com/2019/08/08/alt-right-academics-break-ranks-over-ramsay-centre/, Alt-Right? Academics Break Ranks Over Ramsay Centre, Payne, Jemma, 2019-08-08, Farrago Magazine, en, 2019-12-30, JOURNAL, Moses, A. Dirk, 2019-04-03, “White Genocide” and the Ethics of Public Analysis, Journal of Genocide Research, 21, 2, 201–213, 10.1080/14623528.2019.1599493, 132394485, 1462-3528, Moses writes that Dreher “concedes too much” (p.213) to the Christchurch shooter, and that Dreher and others who advance “an alarmist ‘decline of the West’ narrative need to think carefully about how they are intellectually equipping those with catastrophized subjectivities to take their proclaimed state of emergency as a green light for desperate measures.” (p.212) Dreher has said that his concerns about immigration stem from sympathy for the less well-off, whom he argues are most negatively affected it, and by a desire to preserve Western cultural traditions.WEB,www.stitcher.com/s?eid=62423222, Rod Dreher on America’s post-Christian culture war [CORRECTED] from The Ezra Klein Show, www.stitcher.com, en, 2019-12-26, In January 2018, Dreher attracted criticism for his qualified defense of Donald Trump’s comments regarding “shithole countries” (he defended the content of the comments while criticizing their vulgarity), and in particular, for his suggestion that readers would object to section 8 housing being built in their neighborhoods because “you don’t want the destructive culture of the poor imported into your neighborhood.“NEWS,www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/01/24/is-it-ever-okay-to-say-shithole/, A lesson in what made Trump’s ‘shithole’ comments so racist, Roberts, Molly, January 24, 2018, The Washington Post, 27 December 2019, WEB,www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2018/01/26/benedict-option-based-christian-principles-or-white-middle-class-ones, Is the Benedict Option based on Christian principles—or white middle-class ones?, Patrick, Gilger, 2018-01-26, America Magazine, en, 2019-12-28, In response to those remarks, Sarah Jones of the progressive commentary magazine The New Republic described Dreher as having a “race problem.” Her article also referred to Dreher’s comments on Jean Raspail’s 1973 novel Camp of the Saints. Dreher has strongly criticized the novel’s use of derogatory language to describe non-Westerners and called the book bad, both aesthetically and morally. However, Dreher has also referred to the “valuable” and “prophetic” lessons that can be drawn from the work, including from Raspail’s argument, which Dreher presents as potentially correct, that “the only way to defend Western civilization from these invaders [non-Western immigrants] is to be willing to shed their blood.” He has also drawn parallels between the migrant crisis described in the book and contemporary immigration to Europe and the United States. Dreher replied to Sarah Jones by calling her a “social justice warrior” and “propagandist.“MAGAZINE,newrepublic.com/article/146758/rod-drehers-race-problem, Rod Dreher’s Race Problem, Jones, Sarah, 2018-01-25, The New Republic, 2019-12-24, 0028-6583, MAGAZINE,newrepublic.com/article/146925/notorious-book-ties-right-far-right, The Notorious Book that Ties the Right to the Far Right, Jones, Sarah, 2018-02-02, The New Republic, 2019-12-25, 0028-6583, WEB, Good Lessons from a Bad Book,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/good-lessons-from-a-bad-book-raspail-camp-of-the-saints/, September 14, 2005, 2020-09-10, The American Conservative, Rod, Dreher, en-US, WEB, America’s Camp Of The Saints Problem,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/america-camp-of-the-saints-problem-migrant-caravan/, October 22, 2018, Rod, Dreher, 2020-09-10, The American Conservative, en-US, WEB, Sarah Jones: SJW Propagandist, January 25, 2018, Rod, Dreher,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/sarah-jones-sjw-propagandist/, 2020-09-10, The American Conservative, en-US, Dreher’s comments on section 8 housing were defended by the columnist Damon Linker, who wrote: “Every time a wealthy liberal enclave takes a NIMBY position on affordable housing, it shows he [Dreher] has a point about the need for greater honesty on these issues”.WEB,mobile.twitter.com/DamonLinker/status/956588700028342297, Twitter, mobile.twitter.com, 2019-12-26,

Views on international affairs

Dreher has been a consistent critic of the role of Islam in international affairs, but has shifted in his view of the efficacy of foreign military interventions. Subsequent to the September 11 attacks, Dreher published numerous articles that were critical of Islam,JOURNAL, TAMNEY, JOSEPH B., 2004, American Views of Islam, Post 9/11, Islamic Studies, 43, 4, 599–630, 0578-8072, 20837376, JOURNAL, Choudhury, Cyra Akila, April 2006, Terrorists & Muslims: The Construction, Performance and Regulation of Muslim Identities in the Post-9/11 United States, Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion, en, 7, 939812, JOURNAL, Razack, Sherene, 2005, Geopolitics, Culture Clash, and Gender After September 11, Social Justice, 32, 4 (102), 11–31, 1043-1578, 29768334, {{Citation|last=Verheul|first=Jaap|title=“How could this have happened in Holland?” American Perceptions of Dutch Multiculturalism after 9/11|date=2009|work=American Multiculturalism after 9/11|pages=191–206|series=Transatlantic Perspectives|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=978-90-8964-144-1|jstor=j.ctt46n1tg.16}}WEB,www.dallasobserver.com/news/why-do-the-muslims-hate-rod-dreher-so-7121621, Why Do the Muslims Hate Rod Dreher So?, Wilonsky, Robert, 2007-02-09, Dallas Observer, 2019-12-28, WEB,www.dallasobserver.com/news/former-dmn-writer-urges-christians-to-desert-america-maybe-hell-go-first-7359332, Former DMN Writer Urges Christians to Desert America. Maybe He’ll Go First., Schutze, Jim, 2015-07-01, Dallas Observer, 2019-12-28, {{Citation|title=The Clash of Civilized Bloggingheads {{!}} Reza Aslan & Rod Dreher|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8C7Q_B8HM4|language=en|access-date=2019-12-24}} including one in which he praised the anti-IslamicWEB,harvardpolitics.com/world/islam-in-the-netherlands/, When Fear Leads a Nation: Islam in the Netherlands {{!, Harvard Political Review|language=en|access-date=2019-12-31}} Italian writer Oriana Fallaci’s anti-IslamicNEWS,www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jul/13/books.italy, Anti-Islamic Italian author in new legal fight, Hooper, John, 2005-07-12, The Guardian, 2019-12-31, en-GB, 0261-3077, book, The Rage and the Pride, as containing “much truth” to “shock awake a noble civilization hypnotized by multiculturalist mumbo-jumbo”; he also noted that the book contained a “few ugly parts”.WEB,www.nationalreview.com/corner/my-favorite-italian-rod-dreher/, My Favorite Italian, Dreher, Rod, 2003-01-23, National Review, en-US, 2019-12-31, In 2002, Dreher described the assassinated Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn as a “martyr in the war on political correctness.“JOURNAL, Ayalew, Helinna, 2010-04-01, Political Leadership in the Transformation of Societies: F.W. de Klerk and Pim Fortuyn in the Multicultural Project,digitalcommons.macalester.edu/macintl/vol25/iss1/6, Macalester International, 25, 1, 2158-3676, Dreher supported the Iraq War in 2003, but later came to believe that the invasion was a mistake;WEB,www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6817201, Bush, Iraq Lead a Conservative to Question, January 11, 2007, NPR, en, 2019-12-31, WEB,www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2007/01/the-conscience-of-rod-dreher/231458/, The Conscience of Rod Dreher, Sullivan, Andrew, Andrew Sullivan, 2007-01-13, The Atlantic, en-US, 2019-12-31, he now supports a non-interventionist foreign policy.WEB,www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/4/14/15290394/intervention-isolation-trump-america-first-syria, After the Syria strikes, right-wing non-interventionists are back in the wilderness, Vox (website), Vox, Nicole, Hemmer, 2017-04-15, 2020-01-15, He was critical of US President Donald Trump’s decision to order missile strikes in Syria in April 2017.WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/trump-syria-non-intervention/, Trump Flip-Flops On Non-Interventionlast=Dreherwork=The American Conservative, October 2, 2020, Dreher has expressed support for various conservative and neo-nationalist governments and parties in Europe. He has praised the French Front National politician Marion Maréchal-Le Pen.MAGAZINE,newrepublic.com/article/147187/american-rights-deep-ties-reactionary-europe, The American Right’s Deep Ties to Reactionary Europe, Heer, Jeet, 2018-02-23, The New Republic, 2019-12-29, 0028-6583, WEB,providencemag.com/2018/02/marion-le-pen-catholics-protestants-conservatives/, Marion Le Pen, Catholics, Protestants & Conservatives, Tooley, Mark, 2018-02-25, Providence Magazine, en-US, 2019-12-29, He has written that although Francisco Franco and his regime were not “without sin”, he is “glad that Franco won” the Spanish Civil War, due to the Red Terror carried out by the Second Spanish Republic.WEB,thetartan.org/2019/2/25/forum/spain, Legacy of the Spanish Civil War, The Tartan, Atahan, Kiliccote, 2020-01-18, In 2020, Dreher attended a conference of nationalist politicians and thinkers in Rome that included Orbán, Maréchal-Le-Pen, and Giorgia Meloni.WEB, Mammone, Opinion by Andrea, Let’s not allow Bannon and ‘conservatives’ to legitimize extremism in Europe,www.cnn.com/2020/06/24/opinions/steve-bannon-conservatives-extremism-europe-mammone/index.html, 2020-09-06, CNN, June 25, 2020, WEB, Ferraresi, Mattia, Nationalists Claim They Want to Redefine Conservatism, but They’re Not Sure What It Is,foreignpolicy.com/2020/04/10/nationalism-conservatism-hungary-viktor-orban/, 2020-09-06, Foreign Policy, April 10, 2020, en-US, WEB, 2020-04-23, The surprisingly Catholic roots of the European Union,www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2020/04/23/surprisingly-catholic-roots-european-union, 2020-09-06, America Magazine, en, WEB, Applebaum, Anne, Anne Applebaum, 2020-02-10, This Is How Reaganism and Thatcherism End,www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/the-sad-path-from-reaganism-to-national-conservatism/606304/, 2020-09-06, The Atlantic, en-US,

Views on Hungary and Viktor Orbán

Dreher has written supportively of the government of Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán,NEWS, Novak, Benjamin, Grynbaum, Michael M., 2021-08-07, Conservative Fellow Travelers: Tucker Carlson Drops In On Viktor Orban, en-US, The New York Times,www.nytimes.com/2021/08/07/world/europe/tucker-carlson-hungary.html, 2021-08-08, 0362-4331, WEB,hungarytoday.hu/american-conservative-orban-dreher/, The American Conservative: Orbán Wants to Avoid Problems of the West, 2019-09-11, Hungary Today, en, 2019-12-27, WEB,intpolicydigest.org/2019/09/19/strong-men-in-europe-tony-abbott-visits-hungary/, Strong Men in Europe: Tony Abbott Visits Hungary, Binoy, Kampmark, 2019-09-19, International Policy Digest, en-US, 2019-12-27, whom Dreher first met at a religious-liberty conference in Budapest in 2019.MAGAZINE, Wallace-Wells, Benjamin, What American Conservatives See in Hungary’s Leader,www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-inquiry/what-rod-dreher-sees-in-viktor-orban, 7 July 2022, The New Yorker, Condé Nast, September 13, 2021, WhatConservativesSee, In 2021, Dreher was given a paid fellowship by the Danube Institute, a conservative think tank based in Budapest and funded by Orbán’s government. While many international observers believe that Orbán’s premiership has been responsible for the erosion of democracy, human rights, an independent judiciary, press freedom, and the rule of law in Hungary,NEWS, Zalan, Eszter, Hungary Is Too Small for Viktor Orban,foreignpolicy.com/2016/10/01/hungary-is-too-small-for-viktor-orban/, 7 July 2022, Foreign Policy, Graham Holdings Company, October 1, 2016, NEWS, How Viktor Orban hollowed out Hungary’s democracy,www.economist.com/briefing/2019/08/29/how-viktor-orban-hollowed-out-hungarys-democracy, 7 July 2022, The Economist, 29 Aug 2019, OrbanEconomist, NEWS, Serhan, Yasmeen, The Other Threat to Democracy in Europe,www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2022/04/democracy-eu-hungary-viktor-orban-russia/629504/, 7 July 2022, The Atlantic, Emerson Collective, April 11, 2022, OrbanTheAtlantic, NEWS, Shattuck, John, How Viktor Orban degraded Hungary’s weak democracy,theconversation.com/how-viktor-orban-degraded-hungarys-weak-democracy-109046, 7 July 2022, The Conversation, January 11, 2019, OrbanConversation, WEB, Freedom in the World 2021: Hungary,freedomhouse.org/country/hungary/freedom-world/2021, Freedom House, 7 July 2022, Dreher commented that “I was there about ten days before I realized that eighty, ninety per cent of the American narrative about the country just isn’t true.” Observing Orbán’s government, Dreher found “so inspiring ... what a vigorous conservative government can do if it’s serious about stemming this horrible global tide of wokeness.” Dreher identified as instructive for U.S. conservatives Orbán’s belief “in national sovereignty, not globalism. He’s not opposed to transnational alliances and organizations, but he believes that it’s important for people to keep and defend their own traditions and ways of life. That entails controlling immigration.“NEWS, Dreher, Rod, Defender Of The Normies,www.theamericanconservative.com/defender-of-the-normies/, 8 July 2022, The American Conservative, American Ideas Institute, 29 June 2022, Normies, Discussing Orbán’s anti-LGBT+ policies,NEWS, Fae, Jane, Viktor Orban has quashed transgender rights in Hungary. The rest of Europe is next,www.independent.co.uk/voices/viktor-orban-hungary-transgender-rights-uk-tories-lgbtq-a9524521.html, 8 July 2022, The Independent, Independent Digital News & Media Ltd, 20 May 2020, OrbanTransgenderRights, NEWS, Rankin, Jennifer, Hungary passes law banning LGBT content in schools or kids’ TV,www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/15/hungary-passes-law-banning-lbgt-content-in-schools, 8 July 2022, The Guardian, 15 June 2021, HungarySchoolBan, Dreher stated, “We are living, right now, through an ongoing societal catastrophe with gender confusion and transgenderism. Viktor Orbán wants to save his nation from this ideological toxin and does not hesitate to use the power of the state to do so, even if it might violate the spirit of liberalism.“NEWS, Liasson, Mara, Here’s why American conservatives are heading to Hungary for a big conference,www.npr.org/2022/05/18/1099680587/a-prominent-conference-of-american-conservatives-is-taking-place-in-hungary, 8 July 2022, Morning Edition, National Public Radio, 19 May 2022, NPRBigConference, Orbán famously asserted in a 2014 speech that “The new state that we are building in Hungary is an illiberal state.“NEWS, Simon, Zoltan, Orban Says He Seeks to End Liberal Democracy in Hungary,www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-07-28/orban-says-he-seeks-to-end-liberal-democracy-in-hungary#xj4y7vzkg, 7 July 2022, Bloomberg, Bloomberg L.P., 28 July 2014, IlliberalState, NEWS, Tóth, Csaba, Full text of Viktor Orbán’s speech at Băile TuÅŸnad (TusnádfürdÅ‘) of 26 July 2014,budapestbeacon.com/full-text-of-viktor-orbans-speech-at-baile-tusnad-tusnadfurdo-of-26-july-2014/, 7 July 2022, The Budapest Beacon, Real Reporting Foundation, 29 July 2014, OrbanIlliberalStateFullSpeech, Comparing dynamics in Hungary to those in America, Dreher said, “We all seem to be barreling towards a future that is not liberal and democratic but is going to be either left illiberalism, or right illiberalism. If that’s true, then I know which side I’m on: the side that isn’t going to persecute me and my people.“Dreher has played a key role in encouraging other members of the American conservative movement to engage with Hungary and to look toward Orbán’s political strategy and governance as a model. In 2021, Dreher invited Tucker Carlson, whom Dreher calls “the most important conservative figure in America,” to visit Hungary. After Carlson replied that he was already considering a visit but that the trip had become entangled in red tape, Dreher personally spoke to Hungarian government ministers and one of Orbán’s closest advisers to assure them that “Tucker was somebody who could be trusted.” Carlson subsequently spent a week in Hungary taping episodes of his Fox News series Tucker Carlson Tonight, during which Carlson conducted a one-on-one interview with Orbán and praised him as the only elected leader on Earth who “publicly identifies as a Western-style conservative.” Subsequently, the American Conservative Union hosted its first conference in Europe, CPAC Hungary, in Budapest in May, 2022, with Dreher in attendance.Dreher has stated that the U.S. Republican Party needs “a leader with Orbán’s vision” and has written favorably about American candidates and elected officials whose words and actions echo Orbán’s.NEWS, Dreher, Rod, American Orbanism,www.theamericanconservative.com/american-orbanism/, 8 July 2022, The American Conservative, American Ideas Institute, 27 June 2022, DreherAmericanOrbanism, In 2022, speaking to Andrew Marantz of The New Yorker he said, “Seeing what J. D. Vance is saying, and what Ron DeSantis is actually doing in Florida, the concept of American Orbánism starts to make sense. I don’t want to overstate what they’ll be able to accomplish, given the constitutional impediments and all, but DeSantis is already using the power of the state to push back against woke capitalism, against the crazy gender stuff.” By contrast, Dreher’s close friendMAGAZINE, Rothman, Joshua, Rod Dreher’s Monastic Vision,www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/01/rod-drehers-monastic-vision, 8 July 2022, The New Yorker, 1 May 2017, MonasticDreher, and fellow conservative writer Andrew Sullivan has spoken critically of U.S. conservatives’ admiration for Orbán: “If these people think the extreme left is hijacking American society in dangerous ways, then, yes, I agree. ... But to go from that to ‘Let’s embrace this authoritarian leader in this backwater European country, and maybe try out a version of that model with our own charismatic leader back home’—I mean, that leap is just weird, and frankly stupid.”

Political endorsements

On November 1, 2020, Dreher recommended that “unsafe state readers” of his blog vote for Donald Trump, while noting that he planned to vote for the American Solidarity Party because his state is already “safely in Trump’s hands.“WEB, Dreher, Rod, 2020-11-01, Peggy Noonan Hates Both Choices,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/trump-biden-peggy-noonan-hates-both-choices/,web.archive.org/web/20201101204640/https://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/trump-biden-peggy-noonan-hates-both-choices/, November 1, 2020, 2020-11-01, The American Conservative, In October 2020, Dreher tweeted that the American Solidarity Party enabled him, for the first time, to vote “for a party [he] actually [believes] in.“WEB, Dreher, Rod, Rod Dreher,mobile.twitter.com/roddreher/status/1315711108557217793, 13 October 2020, Twitter, He also later appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and said that he is a supporter of the American Solidarity Party,WEB, Rod Dreher name drops the American Solidarity Party on MSNBC,www.youtube.com/watch?v=VarYp9L2rNo, live,ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/VarYp9L2rNo, 2021-12-20, 22 October 2020, YouTube, {{cbignore}} and on the same day, published an article endorsing Brian Carroll of the American Solidarity Party.WEB, Dreher, Rod, Solidarity? In America?,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/solidarity-america-american-solidarity-party/, 22 October 2020, The American Conservative, October 16, 2020, In 2024, Dreher told a Hungarian news outlet he voted for Trump in 2020 and intends to again in 2024.WEB, SZŐCS, LÁSZLÓ, Woke is a religion supplement based on division,magyarnemzet.hu/lugas-rovat/2024/02/a-woke-egy-megosztottsagra-epulo-vallaspotlek, 22 February 2024, Magyar Nemzet, February 20, 2024, In 2008, 2012 and 2016, Dreher declined to endorse a candidate for president.WEB, Dreher, Rod, The Conservative Vote: A Symposium,www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-conservative-vote-a-symposium/#dreher, 24 October 2020, The American Conservative, October 31, 2012, WEB, Dreher, Rod, The American Conservative Presidential Symposium,www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-american-conservative-presidential-symposium/#dreher, 25 October 2020, The American Conservative, November 4, 2016, In the 2015 and 2019 Louisiana gubernatorial elections, Dreher voted for Democrat John Bel Edwards citing his views on abortion, guns, and economics.WEB, Trump Loses Louisiana, November 17, 2019,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/trump-loses-louisiana/,

Postliberalism

(File:David Jeffery (6).jpg|thumb|The Post-Liberal Turn and the Future of British Conservatism – Budapest)Dreher has been associated with a recent political movement that has been alternatively labelled “postliberalism,” “anti-liberalism,” “national conservatism,” or “the new nationalism.“WEB, Continetti, Matthew,www.nationalreview.com/2019/06/new-american-right-schools-of-thought/, Making Sense of the New American Right, 2019-06-01, National Review, en-US, 2020-01-01, WEB,www.chronicle.com/interactives/20190912-academias-holy-warriors, Academia’s Holy Warriors, 2019-09-12, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jon, Baskin, 2020-01-01, WEB,www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2018/02/21/the-rise-of-anti-liberalism/, The rise of anti-liberalism, Hamid, Shadi, 2018-02-21, Brookings Institution, en-US, 2020-01-01, WEB,www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/9/9/20750160/liberalism-trump-putin-socialism-reactionary, The anti-liberal moment, Beauchamp, Zack, 2019-09-09, Vox, en, 2020-01-01, WEB,jacobinmag.com/2019/08/national-conservatism-right-politics-james-burnham-josh-hawley-managerialism, The Right’s Phony Class War, Jacobin (magazine), Jacobin, David, Sessions, en-US, August 7, 2019, 2020-01-01, WEB,www.commonwealmagazine.org/open-letter-against-new-nationalism, Open Letter {{!, Against the New Nationalism |work=Commonweal Magazine |date=August 19, 2019 |access-date=2020-01-01}} The movement has been defined in connection with a manifesto titled “Against the Dead Consensus,” published in First Things in March 2019, which Dreher was a signatory to, and which argues that the “pre-Trump conservative consensus failed to retard, much less reverse, the eclipse of permanent truths, family stability, [and] communal solidarity,” and “too often bowed to a poisonous and censorious multiculturalism”; the manifesto argues for a conservatism of national, communal, and familial solidarity.WEB,www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2019/03/against-the-dead-consensus, Against the Dead Consensus {{!, Various|website=First Things|date=March 21, 2019 |language=en|access-date=2020-01-01}}MAGAZINE,www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/ross-douthat-describes-the-crisis-of-the-conservative-coalition, Ross Douthat on the Crisis of the Conservative Coalition, Chotiner, Isaac, The New Yorker, en, 2020-01-01, Critics of the movement have compared its proponents to the intellectual defenders of fascism in the 1930s, while those sympathetic to the movement have argued that “there is nothing shameful about love of one’s own, the impulse that links individual self-regard and love of family to affection for one’s own neighborhood, town or city, state, and political community as a whole (the nation).“WEB,theweek.com/articles/852808/inauspicious-timing-inaugural-national-conservatism-conference, The inauspicious timing of the inaugural National Conservatism Conference, 2019-07-16, The Week, Damon, Linker, en, 2020-01-01, WEB,theweek.com/articles/854135/republicans-are-becoming-more-like-democrats-why-are-democrats-upset, Republicans are becoming more like Democrats. So why are Democrats so upset?, 2019-07-23, The Week, Damon, Linker, en, 2020-01-01,

Controversies

In the early 2010s, Dreher involved himself in a controversy surrounding Metropolitan Jonah, then serving as the primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), who had encountered resistance in his attempts to involve the OCA more heavily in political issues, such as abortion and gay marriage.JOURNAL, Walsh, Andrew, Spring 2012, Cirque d’OCA,www2.trincoll.edu/csrpl/RINVol14No1/Cirque%20d’OCA.htm, Religion in the News, 14, NEWS,www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/metropolitan-jonah-goes-to-washington/2011/02/24/ABnZq3l_story.html, Metropolitan Jonah goes to Washington, Duin, Julia, 2011-03-20, Washington Post, 2019-12-25, en-US, 0190-8286, WEB,religionnews.com/2012/07/09/orthodox/, Orthodox, 2012-07-09, Religion News Service, en-US, 2019-12-28, WEB,www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/september/eastern-orthodox-lose-two-evangelical-bridges.html, Eastern Orthodox Lose Two Evangelical Bridges, Gentry, Weston, ChristianityToday.com, August 27, 2012, en, 2019-12-29, Dreher started an anonymous website called OCA Truth, which published alleged private information about an opponent in the controversy.JOURNAL, Walsh, Andrew, Spring 2012, Cirque d’OCA,www2.trincoll.edu/csrpl/RINVol14No1/Cirque%20d’OCA.htm, Religion in the News, 14, . According to Walsh, the website charged that an opponent in the controversy, Mark Stokoe, was gay, and “posted texts, including Stokoe’s mother’s recent obituary from the Dayton newspaper, to support the charge.” It also “described how to find” Stokoe’s home address and political contributions online., Dreher’s connection with the website was exposed when emails connected to the website were leaked.WEB,www.ocanews.org/news/TheTruthAboutOCATruth4.30.11.html, The Truth Behind OCATruth.com, Orthodox Christians for Accountability, 24 December 2019, WEB,orthodoxleader.paradosis.com/2011/05/04/lies-and-leadership/, Lies and Leadership, Biberdorf, Fr Basil, 4 May 2011, The Orthodox Leader, 28 December 2019, WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/what-i-wish-every-bishop-would-get/, What I wish every bishop would get, The American Conservative, Rod, Dreher, October 17, 2011, en-US, 2019-12-25, Dreher later described his involvement in the affair as “foolish”.WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/black-humor-catholic-bishops-church/, Black Humor And Bishops, The American Conservative, Rod, Dreher, December 17, 2019, en-US, 2019-12-25, In May 2017, Dreher published, without context, remarks of Professor Tommy Curry of Texas A&M University, quoting a single sentence from the remarks misleadingly to suggest that Curry had incited violence against white people.NEWS,www.chronicle.com/article/Who-s-Left-to-Defend-Tommy/240757, Tough Talk, Kolowich, Steve, 2017-07-26, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2019-12-26, en-US, 0009-5982, WEB,dailynous.com/2017/05/11/philosophy-professor-receiving-death-threats/, Philosophy Professor Receiving Death Threats (updated with transcript, letter from colleagues), Weinberg, Justin, 2017-05-11, Daily Nous, en-US, 2019-12-28, WEB,www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/11/furor-over-texas-am-philosophers-comments-violence-against-white-people, Furor over Texas A&M philosopher’s comments on violence against white people, www.insidehighered.com, May 11, 2017, en, 2019-12-28, WEB,www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/07/threats-attacks-white-supremacists-target-campuses-170708055258069.html, Threats and attacks: White supremacists target campuses, Gottbrath, Laurin-Whitney, Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera, 2019-12-28, WEB,www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/it-takes-a-nation-of-snowflakes/541050/, A Nation of Snowflakes, Serwer, Adam, 2017-09-26, The Atlantic, en-US, 2019-12-28, Curry was subsequently subjected to a wave of racist abuse and intimidation.WEB,www.snopes.com/news/2017/06/02/texas-professor-white-people/, Did a Texas A&M Professor Advocate Killing White People?, Snopes.com, June 2, 2017, en-US, 2019-12-24, Dreher said that he did not seek comment from Curry prior to publishing his blog post, and Curry received the support of his faculty colleagues and university president.WEB,www.kbtx.com/content/news/Texas-AM-professors-defend-colleagues-comments--422065134.html, Texas A&M professors defend colleague’s comments, Gruenling, Jessica, www.kbtx.com, May 12, 2017, en, 2019-12-28, In January 2020, Dreher was named in a lawsuit brought by the parents of Kayla Kenney, a 15-year-old girl whose private Instagram images he posted to his blog allegedly without parental permission, and against whom he made allegations of sexual harassment, based on anonymous sources, that are denied by the girl and her family. The lawsuit accuses Dreher of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and invasion of privacy.WEB, 2020-01-24, Christian School That Expelled LGBT Student Sued for Defamation, Courthouse News Service, Andy, Monserud,www.courthousenews.com/private-christian-school-faces-defamation-lawsuit-after-expelling-lgbt-student/, 2020-09-13, en-US, WEB, Dye, Elizabeth, Parents Sue Principal Who Expelled Girl Over Rainbow Birthday Cake,abovethelaw.com/2020/01/parents-sue-principal-who-expelled-girl-over-rainbow-birthday-cake/, 2020-09-13, Above the Law, January 24, 2020, en-US, WEB, Kobin, Billy, Lawsuit: Louisville Christian school and conservative magazine outed ‘rainbow cake girl’,www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2020/01/24/lawsuit-louisville-whitefield-academy-expelled-girl-over-rainbow-cake-photo/4560470002/, 2020-09-13, The Courier-Journal, en-US, WEB, Bollinger, Alex, 2020-01-24, Girl expelled from Christian academy for wearing rainbow sweater comes out as parents sue school,www.lgbtqnation.com/2020/01/girl-expelled-christian-academy-wearing-rainbow-sweater-comes-parents-sue-school/, 2020-09-13, LGBTQ Nation,

Personal life

Dreher married Julie Harris Dreher in 1997. Dreher announced publicly through his blog the couple had begun the divorce process in April 2022.WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/tears-at-golgotha-communication-from-a-broken-heart-dreher-divorce/, Rod, Dreher, Tears at Golgotha, 2022-04-20, The American Conservative, April 20, 2022, en, WEB, Dreher, Rod, A Resurrection In Jerusalem,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/resurrection-in-jerusalem-dreher-divorce-healing-holy-sepulcher/, 2022-04-22, The American Conservative, April 21, 2022, en-US, The couple had three children together. Dreher lived in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. Raised a Methodist, he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1993,WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/conversion-reconciling-narratives-catholicism-orthodoxy/, Conversion & Reconciling Narratives, The American Conservative, November 15, 2018, January 7, 2021, and subsequently wrote widely in the Catholic press.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}} Covering the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal, starting in 2001, led him to question his Catholicism, and on October 12, 2006, he announced his conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy.WEB,journeytoorthodoxy.com/2010/06/22/crunchy-cons-conversion-crisis/, Crunchy Con’s Conversion Crisis, Journey To Orthodoxy, June 22, 2010, At the time, Dreher had argued that the scandal was not so much a “pedophile problem,” but that the “sexual abuse of minors is facilitated by a secret, powerful network of gay priests,” known as the “Lavender Mafia.“WEB,www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback-dreher042202.asp,www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback-dreher042202.asp," title="web.archive.org/web/20040205010019www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback-dreher042202.asp,">web.archive.org/web/20040205010019www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback-dreher042202.asp, 2004-02-05, Flashback: Rod Dreher on Catholic Church & Homosexuality on National Review Online, National Review, 2004-02-05, 2019-12-31, MAGAZINE,newrepublic.com/article/151589/conservative-resistance-inside-vatican, The Conservative Resistance Inside the Vatican, Oakes, Kaya, 2018-10-08, The New Republic, 2019-12-31, 0028-6583, In 2022, following his separation from his wife, Dreher moved to Budapest, Hungary, where he lives in what he has described as a self-imposed “exile”.WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/goodbye-louisiana-i-tried/, Goodbye, Louisiana. I Tried, The American Conservative, Rod, Dreher, October 2, 2022, January 13, 2023,

Father and uncle and the Ku Klux Klan

FBI documents uncovered in 2022 named Rod’s father Ray Dreher as a leader (Exalted Cyclops) of the Ku Klux Klan, a revelation which Dreher described as “proof of a terrible story that I had long suspected was true, but hoped against hope was not.“WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/a-darkness-revealed/, A Darkness Revealed, Rod, Dreher, The American Conservative, December 27, 2022, December 29, 2022, Ray Dreher Sr. and his brother, Murphy Dreher Jr., were close to local U.S. Representative and noted Klansman John Rarick; all three men belonged to the same Masonic lodge.WEB,www.theamericanconservative.com/a-darkness-revealed/, A Darkness Revealed, Rod, Dreher, The American Conservative, December 27, 2022, March 27, 2023,

Bibliography

{{Incomplete list|date=August 2017}}

Books

• BOOK,archive.org/details/crunchyconshowbi00dreh, Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, Gun-Loving Organic Gardeners, Evangelical Free-Range Farmers, Hip Homeschooling Mamas, Right-Wing Nature Lovers, and Their Diverse Tribe of Countercultural Conservatives Plan to Save America (Or at Least the Republican Party), Dreher, Rod, Crown Forum, 2006, 9781400050642, New York,
• BOOK,archive.org/details/isbn_9781455521913, The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life, Dreher, Rod, Grand Central Publishing, 2013, 9781455521913, New York, 1,
• BOOK, How Dante Can Save Your Life: The Life-Changing Wisdom of History’s Greatest Poem, Dreher, Rod, Regan Arts, 2015, 9781941393321, New York, 1,
• BOOK, The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation, Dreher, Rod, Sentinel, 2017, 9780735213319, New York, 1, The Benedict Option,
• BOOK, Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents, Dreher, Rod, Sentinel, 2020, 9780593087398, New York, 1,

Essays

• Dreher, Rod (April 22, 2002). www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback-dreher042202.asp" title="web.archive.org/web/20040205010019www.nationalreview.com/flashback/flashback-dreher042202.asp">“The Gay Question: Amid the Catholic Church’s current scandals, an unignorable issue.” National Review.
• — (September 30, 2002). “Crunchy Cons: Picking up organic vegetables in your National Review tote bag.” National Review.
• — (June 10, 2010). “Orthodoxy and Me.” Journey to Orthodoxy.
• — (June 26, 2015). “Orthodox Christians Must Now Learn To Live as Exiles in Our Own Country.” Time Magazine.

See also

• Resident Aliens

Notes

{{notelist}}

References

{{reflist}}

External links

• Rod Dreher on Substack
• Articles at American Conservative
• Articles at European Conservative
• {{C-SPAN}}

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