The Gospel of Matthew Trewhella: The Wisconsin pastor was once a political pariah. But now his book is being quoted by politicians and former Trump officials. One activist is using it to disrupt elections.
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A few decades ago, Wisconsin Pastor Matthew Trewhella was known as a militant anti-abortion activist. Today, he’s got a different reputation: thought leader on the far-right, increasingly welcomed by Republicans.
Religion: He helped to rehabilitate his reputation through his 2013 self-published book, “The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates,” which uses a 16th-century Protestant doctrine to argue that government officials have a God-given right and duty to defy laws, policies or court opinions deemed “unjust or immoral” under “the law of God.”
Guns: Trewhella’s ideas have gained favor among gun-rights activists, as a wave of counties declared themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries,” some of which state that local law enforcement will not pursue gun laws they deem unconstitutional. ProPublica and Wisconsin Watch found at least 10 resolutions across the country that specifically refer to lesser magistrates.
Influence: Some people think Trewhella is old news, a '90s figure who’s too fringe to matter. Our reporting shows he’s influencing policies and movements today and is quoted by elected officials and Trump allies.
When ProPublica environment reporter Lisa Song attended this “plastic free” United Nations conference in April, where plastics treaty negotiations were taking place, she didn’t even get a see-through sleeve for her nametag. She’d have to reuse an old lanyard, they told her.
After all, representatives from roughly 170 countries were gathering to tackle a crisis: The world churns out 400 million metric tons of plastic a year.
But as the conference progressed, Song came to understand just how hard it would be for attendees to achieve any meaningful action on the world’s plastic pollution crisis. In fact, some attendees didn’t think there was anything wrong with plastic at all. Watch Song walk us through some shocking pro-plastic ads she saw at this “plastic free” UN conference.
