Tucker Carlson Speaks at the Center for Christian Virtue

So, I'm really struck by the ballot initiatives that your voters will be facing in November. And I'm struck because they're so very different from the politics that I covered for the bulk of my life. I'm 54, been covering this stuff since I was 22. And for most of that time, the debates that we had in the political sphere were over competing visions for how to improve people's lives. The minimum wage was always a really intense debate. And I always felt like maybe the minimum wage killed jobs, I guess, that's what my side said. And I think that's probably true. And the other side would say, but people need more money to live, and so we're gonna mandate that they make this much. And it was a, you know, I was on one side of it, but I could also sort of see the other side. Both sides were at least pretending to try to improve the lives of the people who voted for them. But when you wind up in an election where the two top ballot initiatives are one, encouraging people to kill their own kids, and two, encourage their kids to do drugs, who's benefiting here? I'm serious. The one unalloyed source of joy in your life is your children. The point of life is to have children, and to watch them have grandchildren. Nothing will bring you joy like that will. Nothing comes close. Would you trade your job for your children? Would you trade anything for your children? Of course not. And so anyone telling you don't have children, kill your children, is not your friend, is your enemy. And by the way, it's a very recognizable promise that they're making you, because it's as old as time, and it's chronicled in great detail throughout the Hebrew Bible. It's human sacrifice, which rears its head about every four chapters, and which is singled out for approbation every time. Of all the sins the ancients committed, that sin, every single time it's described, is called detestable, at least in the RSV. Detestable. God singled that out. Throw your children into the fire. Now, why were people doing that? Because, of course, they believed they were getting power, and contentment, and happiness in return. All it's gonna take is to sacrifice your children. This is as old as time. Every civilization on the face of the Earth has engaged in it, every one. Not just the Mayans and the Aztecs, but the Scandinavians, my people, the Irish. No, it's true. Even the Swedes did it. I know, it's embarrassing. But the archeological record tells us that human sacrifice, the sacrifice of children, the killing of children, is the one constant in human civilization. Now, you answer the question, how can that be? How did all these civilizations, at different points of the compass, that we know had no contact with one another, reach the same conclusion, that in exchange for killing their own children, they would be happy or safe? Probably not a conclusion they reached organically, right? It cuts against the imperative of evolutionary biology, which is to continue the species. And those of us who grew up in a secular world being taught that people are motivated by instinct designed to continue the species, pause at that and say, wait a second, how does killing your own children advance the cause of perpetuating the species? It doesn't. In fact, it's an attack on that. So it's not a natural human function to want to kill your own children, actually. That's an idea, an impulse that was introduced. Outside forces are acting on people at all times throughout history in every culture on the planet to convince people that if they sacrifice their children, they will be happy and safe. And that's exactly what this is. This is a religious right. This is not a policy debate. They're not telling you that some girl got raped at 13 and she needs to go to college and therefore, unfortunately, we need to abort the child. No, that was 20 years ago. Now they're saying abortion is itself a pathway to joy. Really? So this is not a political debate. This is a spiritual battle. There is no other conclusion. Take more drugs and be happy? Right, okay. Less conscious, less aware. Give your soul over, dull yourself, become a robot. Really? Those are the promises they're making? Okay. So how do you respond to this? And that's what I've been thinking about all day. I went on my morning walk with my dogs in Maine this morning from which I derive much wisdom every morning, my wife and I. By the way, I'm not a theologian. I'm the opposite of a theologian, so don't take any theological insight from me at all. I'm just a reader, okay? And here's what's jumped out at me. So my second favorite character in the New Testament is Paul. And I think from what I can tell, the bulk of the New Testament is written by or about Paul. He's a leading character in this drama, I would say. And I think just an amazing person because he was not a good person. He was like a horrible person. He was on his way to murder Christians when he was knocked down and blinded and then pivoted on a dime and devoted his life to spreading the gospel. So I find it very inspiring that a truly awful person could become one of the great people of all time. That's reassuring. But the two qualities that really jump out of the story of Paul's life, first and most obviously is the courage. This is like the bravest guy ever. There's not a letter he wrote where he didn't have a sword hanging over his neck. He expected at any moment he murdered, and I think the consensus among historians is that maybe in the end he was. He was murdered, as were all of his friends. But he lived with the certainty that he was gonna be killed for his beliefs every day. And he was totally unbothered by it, completely. He was just moving as fast as he could in the time allotted. He didn't know how much he had, but he just kept going, but he was never afraid. As his boat was sinking in the Med, in his year-long journey, and everyone was freaking out, totally fine. Oh, we're shipwrecked, no problem. Never afraid. And by the way, why would he be afraid? He believed his fate was sealed. He was going to join Jesus. He was going to heaven. He was totally convinced of that. And it seems to me maybe the one takeaway is, like, that's table stakes in Christian faith, fearlessness. That is actually the marker of it. Are you afraid or are you not? Well, if you're afraid, then you're kinda not doing it right, are ya? Like, there's no excuse for being afraid. And I don't wanna take this opportunity that you've so graciously given me to spend the next 40 minutes pounding on the Episcopal Church, so I won't. But I grew up in it, my ancestors were in it, high-level people in it, I married into it, I was educated in it, I educated my kids in it, I was as firmly ensconced as that church as you could be, even as it crumbled around us and became this very aggressively pagan institution. But we stayed because it's hard to leave something you grew up in. But the moment that we left for good, and actually, really, it was the greatest thing we ever did, really got to understand God better once we left church. Weird how that works, but the moment that catalyzed it for us was COVID, which was really an amazing and clarifying experience, and I'm just, as sad as it was, I'm so grateful that we lived through that because everything became so much clearer than it was. But the church that we went to closed for COVID, and they closed their Christmas service, and we have this, the one thing about the Episcopal Church, we have this amazing liturgy written by actual Christians, and we have Lessons in Carols, this ritual that I grew up with, my wife grew up with, her father's an Episcopal minister, and we love it. And all of our children come home, and we go to it, and it's just this beautiful service, and they canceled Lessons in Carols. And I know I'm revealing how shallow I am, but I just wanted to go to the service because I love Lessons in Carols, and I love all the carols, and I love all the lessons. And they didn't have it. And I said to my wife, well, why aren't we having Lessons in Carols? Like, that's like a requirement. There's no Episcopal Church without Lessons in Carols. Like, what? And she's like, well, COVID, and the minister sent this letter, here it is. She is afraid that she's going to, you know, die. From COVID. And I was like, well, she's afraid she's gonna die? Why is she worried about dying? She's a Christian minister. Like, why should she care? Dying? If you're afraid to die, then you don't really mean it, do you? No! Even I, I was like 50 years old at the time, and like, probably have some reason to worry about what happens after I die. Even I'm not afraid to die. I'm a talk show host. And she's afraid to die? Okay, not a Christian. We can stop wasting our time on that. And we've done Lessons in Carols in our backyard in the three years since. We're doing it again. We've got a choir. They're terrible at singing. They drink too much, but it's amazing.