‘You’ve Used Jesus as a Mascot’—‘Piers Morgan Uncensored’ Panelists Slam Pastor Douglas Wilson

‘Piers Morgan’ Panel Debates Rhetoric and the Iran War

Piers Morgan, who is Catholic, next turned to Donald Trump’s rhetoric, including the president’s threat to end Iran as a civilization. Pastor Douglas Wilson agreed that Trump’s language “can be all over the place,” calling those presidential posts “unhinged.” But Wilson denied that Trump was threatening genocide.

When Morgan asked why Wilson, as a pastor, would try to “justify” what Trump had said, Wilson replied, “Because I’m not defending what he said. I’m defending what he’s doing.” Pressed about how “the reality of the [Iran war] is nothing like what President Trump has painted,” Wilson replied, “All the contradictory statements coming out of Iran really just reveal…that nobody knows who’s in charge there.”

Morgan’s view of the war, the host said, is that “Trump has got into something, he wants to get out, but he is not sure how to do that where it doesn’t look like an abject failure.” When Wilson said the war has only been going on for six weeks, Morgan replied, “We were told it was going to be over in two to three weeks two to three weeks ago, and it’s not.”

The host cited a new NBC poll that found 67% of Americans oppose the war. In addition, Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 37%.

Tim Miller pointed to a report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu goaded Trump into war with Iran. Referring to Wilson as a “quote unquote ‘pastor,’” Miller said, “Any defender of this war sounds incoherent because we haven’t got anything. There’s been no progress made, and there was no case made for [starting] it.”

What’s It’s Like To Be a US Christian Now

Piers Morgan asked Pastor Douglas Wilson, “What on earth are you beginning to think” as a Christian in America, with the president attacking the pope, America fighting with Israel against Iran, and an Israeli soldier desecrating a Jesus statue in Lebanon.

After condemning that act of vandalism, Wilson said if this war “turns into a forever war, I’m against it also.” The pastor described himself as a “no forever wars guy…especially in the Middle East.”

RELATED: Douglas Wilson’s CNN Interview Highlights His Influence, Critics’ Concerns

Wilson added, “I’ve been a quote unquote ‘pastor’ for just shy of 50 years, and so I’d like to know how much longer I have to go before I become a real pastor.”

Panelist Tim Miller replied, “Well, you have to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, probably.” Saying he was tired of Wilson being called a pastor, Miller said, “You hate everybody. You attack Black people, gay people, immigrants. Like, all you do is spread hate.” Although Miller said he was “very happy to have not read” Wilson’s latest book, “No Such Thing as Bad Words,” he said he’s “seen enough of your material on social media” to know there’s not “a ton of deep thought” behind it.

“I thought we were supposed to refrain from attacking religious leaders,” Wilson interjected, referencing the earlier conversation about attacking the pope.

At that, Wajahat Ali lit into Wilson, saying:

Pastor, I have no problem attacking wolves in sheep’s clothing. I have no problem attacking a man who wrote that American slavery was mutually harmonious between the slave master and the slave. That’s you. I have no problem attacking a man who proudly says he wants to do away with the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. I have no problem attacking a man like yourself who sits here incoherently supporting an incoherent, unwinnable, illegal war in Iran.

Ali also said he has no problem attacking “the religious leader of Pete Hegseth, a man who’s a cosplay crusader who’s leading some type of crusade, probably you put him on…getting Americans and innocent civilians killed.” Ali told Wilson:

I wish you would be a better Christian. I wish you would open up the Bible. I wish you would meet the Jesus that I met [at my] Catholic high school. The Jesus that took care of the sick, that took care of the poor, that welcomed the immigrant, that welcomed the marginalized, that helped them. But instead, you’ve used Jesus as a mascot for…your white Christian supremacy, your cruelty, your misogyny.

Ali said he is “so glad that people are finally waking up to your cruelty and to the idiocy of your star disciple, Pete Hegseth, who keeps messing up and literally does not read the Bible.” The journalist encouraged both Wilson and Hegseth to read the Constitution as well as the Bible, saying, “Just take a break, pastor.”

Wilson then chimed in, “Incidentally, we know that Jesus was not a socialist because he could actually feed people.”