JP recently appeared on “Jubilee”, the YouTube channel known for having “debate-ish” videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pwk5MPE_6zE
The setup here is they will take some person and surround them with tens of their opponents, so you have “Jordan Peterson vs 20 Atheists”.
In this exact video, one of the people asks JP if he’s a Christian and he replies “Don’t be a smartass!”
I haven’t seen someone that espouses so many Christian values and philosophy while trying to hold it at arm’s length. Is this just part of the usual JP tactic where you call into question any terms used in a discussion to sound deeply philosophical?
He seems to have an atypical relationship with Christianity and I can’t decide if that’s some genuine crisis he has OR if he just pretends to hold this stance just to add one more slippery facet to his behavior.
If nothing else, it’s very odd.
It’s an interesting enough read, however, the only thing I saw that was indicative of Christian belief was his desire to create and lead a church. However, plenty of cult leaders have already done the same. What makes him a real Christian and not just another brand of cultist along the lines of Mormonism or Jehovah’s Witnesses?
I see JP’s public presentation of Christianity as actively steering people away from what it really is. He focuses far too much on a mythologized, deistic form of Christianity and far too little on the beliefs that set Christianity apart. So, regardless of what he might think he believes in secret, I will continue believing, until things change, that someone who has intentionally given such a flawed interpretation for as long as he has cannot truly be called a Christian.
Fair enough. I don’t see Mormons or Jehovah’s as ‘not Christians’ though, nor do they as they believe in Christ as the son of their God - which is really all it takes to be a Christian fundamentally. However I do agree that the practices of the Mormon and JW church are very manipulative and controlling to their followers in the way cults often are, and overall a negative impact to the lives of most of their followers (except those at the top).
When people brand certain Christians as not Christian because they don’t follow Christs teachings the way they believe they should be followed or by some other personal metric then it quickly becomes a ‘No True Scotsman’ situation.