The Blog at Patheos is “410 Gone”

I hope to have more to say about it soon but for now, I can report that I am blogging here now at wthrockmorton.com.  Patheos leadership informed me yesterday that my blog no longer fit their “strategic objectives.” Since I don’t know what those are, I can’t say how I didn’t fit them.

In any case, thanks to friend J.D. Smith, the blog was quickly migrated with the content to this ad free site. The downside is that I have been unable as yet to find out from Patheos how to get my comments moved along with the posts.

What a strange turn of events. Patheos was at the center of the Mars Hill Church and Gospel for Asia stories and now they host Mark Driscoll and K.P. Yohannan. All of the those Patheos links about Mars Hill and GFA are now erased. The content is here and archived elsewhere but admittedly, it will be harder to find.

 

88 thoughts on “The Blog at Patheos is “410 Gone””

  3. Can’t imagine what the “strategic objectives” were behind ousting your blog, while giving a place to the likes of Driscoll.

  4. I’m a queer atheist who frequents Patheos Nonreligious. I value your internal criticism of Evangelical power structure, as well as your work on the farce that is ex-gay therapy, greatly. I suspect that a lot of the Nonreligious authors do too. You’ve been linked to there more than once.

    I hope that this is not a sign of things to come on Patheos. Please continue your valuable work.

  5. Glad you’re still with us! You’re a valued source for truth and objectivity.

  6. The Evangelical bullies at Patheos will not be able to silence truth. Are they prematurely congratulating themselves for deleting your posts? Do they really think they have the resources to erase your digital footprint permanently? They must consume too much Left Behind fan fiction, and are far too drunk on their own authoritarian desires and hatred for truth, honesty, integrity, and transparency.

  7. PS: Thank you for the feedback address for Pathos. I have already sent an e-mail.

  8. Yea!!!!!!!
    I found you!!
    So glad that you have a new home! I started following you in 2016 in the midst of all the GFA nonsense. Our church was pretty involved because we are mere kilometers from their Canadian headquarters. We severed all ties, mostly due to you and Bruce Morrison. Along the way, I have learned a lot (especially about your strange politics down south ?) I have been a loyal reader ever since.
    Thank you for all you do. Thank you for helping us think and question.
    Pathos leadership must be very childish, indeed, if they thought you would just go quietly into the night.
    I will pass the word.
    Thank you, and thank you.

  9. Partner with someone technical and also s
    ome one with a lot of money and start an alternate Patheos.
    Beat them at their own game, recruit other bloggers. Recruit bloggers away from them, or get other bloggers to duplicate post, there and by your new forum. Get it all set up and then do a massive launch with a lot of bloggers showing up on your site. Do a shock & awe. You can’t carry all of this, you need partners. Ask & ye shall receive.

  10. They are all genuine but low-competence authoritarian personalities — corrupt bullying men who line their pockets every chance they get in the professional religious traditionalist racket. Quite consistent with the message of those who are warning about the rise of a Russia-like kakistocracy where competent elites and professional civil servants are replaced by cronies of strong-men with fake diplomas, plagiarized dissertations, and a single concern: their personal enrichment.

  11. In checking out Patheos, I think the goal is more subversive. I think they selected Driscoll to represent “Evangelicals” because of his troubles with plagiarism and his reputation as a anti-woman (which after years of exposure to his ministry and things his Elders said directly to my wife I agree with). I think the goal is to use him as the “Evangelical” poster-boy to help the larger narrative to alienating Christians from the cultural. I know that sounds crazy conspiratorial, and maybe I am wrong, but it is the only thing that makes sense why anyone would align “vision” with Driscoll.

    1. Given that there are numerous blogs on Patheos, ranging from evangelical to progressive, and numerous non-Christian ones, I doubt that is correct.

      1. But all those “other” blogs are safely tucked away in their respective channels. Warren’s was the only blog on the evangelical channel that consistently critiqued evangelicalism. Atheists picking on Christianity? Nothing to see here, of course they’re going to do that. Progressive Christians picking on Christianity? They’re not even real Christians. But an actual evangelical shining light on evangelicalism’s dirty laundry? Can’t have that!

  13. Can you tell us the best address to use to comment directly to Pathos on their decision to remove your blog?

  14. I suppose it was only a matter of time.

    I hate being right sometimes. And I did have hope that US Evangelicalism might turn back from the abyss, and get its own house in order. After all, about 20% have the honesty and integrity of Warren. They’re not all in it for the malice and the money, and those who aren’t with the majority are their very antithesis. Humble seekers after Truth, and attempting to follow in Christ’s footsteps.

    I expect the slow purge to continue, in the more liberal Christian sections of Patheos. I hope I’m wrong. Just as I’d hoped Warren’s blog wouldn’t be Vapourised in the Orwellian sense. It’s one thing to block updates, another to entirely remove a long history of content.

    Warren, I also know that this must be a disappointment to you. Not so much personally, but that the rot is so deep in Evangelicalism now that you and those like you are now a tiny minority. Please accept my condolences, and be of good heart, for there are many who support you and your ilk.

    1. @Zoe – The people behind Patheos now represent a strand of Fundamentalism/Evangelicalism — the old Moral Majority, 700 Club, largely Southern, (White) Christian Nationalists whose “traditional orthodoxy” includes denying the equal humanity and civil rights of gay people, Muslims, women, etc. While these tendencies exist and run through all flavours of conservative American Christianity, it is important for Christians who reject these ideas to stand up against them so they do not become or appear to be more central and established than they are.

      Everyone who does not want to fund the Sekulow family by providing free content to carry ads for the NRA, Dobson, ACLJ, and other causes steeped in blood money and bigotry — JUST LEAVE PATHEOS!

    2. Kind and (bittersweet) true words for Warren. Thanks for expressing them, and doing so well.

  15. I am already following your new blog in my RSS reader. My thanks to Fred Clark for giving me the pointer to it. I have appreciated your honesty over the years, and I expect that to continue.

  16. Good luck on the new site. Patheos loss. I didn’t always read your posts, but the ones I read seemed well written and truthful.

  17. I can’t even remember what first led me to cross paths with your blog (I am thinking perhaps the Mars Hill material), but I have come to greatly appreciate your straightforward and knowledgeable approach to the subjects you cover. I believe you are performing a valuable service in asking probing questions, and challenging dishonesty or flawed thinking in social/religious/political positions and arguments when you encounter them.

    I hope that you can find some concrete answers as to why Patheos so suddenly cut you off with no warning or specific explanation. Regardless of the reason(s), the abruptness of the action and the deliberate vagueness of the justification provided do not speak well regarding the principles of those who are running the site. If they had an issue, they should have had the convictions and decency to communicate it clearly.

  18. Warren,
    Your reporting must have hit many nerves in the evangelical industrial complex.
    Because of your diligence, our family stopped donating to Gospel for Asia.
    You broke news about K-Love, their manipulative “Share-a-Thons,” and Mike Novak’s compensation.
    Now we look at 990’s to check executive compensation before donating to any Christian charity.
    We learned so much about Mark Driscoll and how Gateway promoted his quick return to ministry.
    Just last week, my hairdresser recommended that I read Robert Morris’s tithing book. Your blog is the reason that I will never do so.
    Thank you for shining light and speaking truth!
    We really appreciate all you do!

  19. But, Mark Driscoll never admitted any wrong, in fact he blamed others…. yet they give him a platform? By the way, I would be fired for the crap that Driscoll pulled…. but, he is “sucessful preacher”, so I guess the same standards do not apply to him..

  20. now the evangelical industrial complex is trying to censor, control and gatekeep the blogging world? hmmm… yup that seems like industry standards… and boilerplate mentality… ah, the powers that be and their control and influence… well, this is a time of reckoning… and God is exposing all the crap/abuse of power/power dynamics that have been going on… not surprising that those who don’t want this exposed would be using manipulative type behavior to keep things hidden…

    1. They won’ t shut me up about abusers like Mark Driscoll…. and given my position, I come in contact with lots of people…

    2. It’s not necessarily censorship so much as Patheos deciding what they are going to provide a platform for. It’s strange to make the change without warning or giving a clear reason, of course.

      1. And it would have been courteous for them to allow an “I’ve moved” post with a link to the new site location, rather than completely removing the content. The complete removal of the content makes me wonder if it’s a case of backing down to threats from GFA.

      2. Understand that Patheos is owned by the people behind the ACLJ, most notably Jay Sekulow. The ACLJ was directly involved in the efforts to criminalize homosexuality in Africa that Dr. Throckmorton so effectively and forthrightly opposed. You could not find more anti-gay Evangelicals than these.

      3. Jeffrey Chalmers, thank you, the theological issues that Mark Driscoll promoted have not even yet been covered thoroughly, the disaster here in Seattle was much worse than reached the media.

  21. Disturbing news. Hope you get your comments back soon (the Duplicator plugin on wordpress makes this very easy) and also your google ranking which will take much longer. I dont read anything else on Patheos except for you so I guess I no longer have any reason to visit it.

  22. This is very odd news. As an academic I have been following your blog and am using several of your posts for a bookschapter about a particular megachurch and media protest demonstrating the power of bloggers like you. Your removal from Patheos in itself raises many questions about power and authority in the blogosphere. I do hope that more information about Patheos decision will be available.

    thanks for your excellent work, MK

  23. This seems strange to happen without warning.

    It could be your views on homosexuality, which are incompatible with conservative Christian orthodoxy, triggered the issue; there’s at least one other evangelical Patheos blogger (Jonathan Aigner/Ponder Anew) with views similar to yours, although based on what I’ve seen he doesn’t usually actively promote his views on the subject.

    It could be they decided to side with KP Yohannan/GFA, although that would be a bizarre decision at this point with a lawsuit well under way and the judge showing unhappiness with GFA’s defense. It certainly gives GFA ammunition to try to discredit you, so even if that wasn’t a factor in the decision it will have that effect. It could also be that GFA threatened legal action and Patheos backed down.

  24. It’s unclear to me how this fits in with the different “channels” on Patheos. Is it simply the evangelical channel you have been booted from? Or is everything owned by the same people? If so, how could they be against critiquing evangelism, since for e.g. just about every blog on the “progressive” channel does this continually?

  25. Well, Mr T., you WERE critical of the Orange One and his sycophants, and if Patheos and BN are ultimately controlled by Jay Sekulow, as someone posted above, this was to be expected. Also, you stepped on an awful lot of toes in the money-making machine that evangelicalism has become – there will be rejoicing in the houses of iniquity today 😉

    Please, keep up the good work!

    1. Over at the Patheos Non-Religious section there are several bloggers, Ed Brayton for instance, who are decidedly anti-Trump. Bob Sidensticker’s Cross Examined and Michael Stone’s Progressive Secular Humanist blogs have been strongly supportive of GLBTs. Captain Cassidy’s Roll to Disbelieve is strongly anti-fundamentalist and anti-evangelical (she uses the portmanteau word “fundagelical”). So possibly the reason why Dr. Throckmorton’s blog was deblogged is somewhat more involved.

      1. It’s one thing to make abstract arguments and sling insults, especially as a non-believer — that’s not threatening but money in the bank for Patheos.

        It’s quite another thing to do real scholarship and journalism, to dig deep into well-sourced facts and publicize ideas and critiques that directly target certain Evangelicals, their networks, and their agendas.

        Patheos has a nicely monetized synergy between its believers and non-believers firing back and forth at each other, providing two mutually reinforcing, self-captivated audiences that will never advance beyond their perpetual grappling. This will not last if everyone distressed by the advertising and ownership leaves, an outcome strongly to be encouraged.

  26. I give Warren a lot of flak for his past work on sexual orientation. But imo he’s an honest, decent man and is one of a very few people in this old world who is able to follow the evidence, even when that requires repudiating a previously held position. Why that kind of good character doesn’t fit with Patheos’s “strategic plan” is a mystery, But sooner or later, truth will out.

  27. Greetings everyone,
    Congratulations Warren – I forget who said it, I thing it was a British Peer and it goes something like this:
    Sometimes the best thing that can be said for you are the people who are talking against you.
    Hang in there – you still have finals to grade!
    Best regards,
    CJ

  28. Warren-

    This speaks volumes about Patheos. They tried to silence you because you are effective. This will backfire considerably. With the Streisand Effect this will back fire against Patheos. Hang in there and carry on. Keep writing about the issues you were. Your work on GFA and Mark Driscoll remains solid. You broke new ground in writing about evangelicals and politics which is important. The internet is safer and healthier with you reading and researching it. Please carry on. I will write about this at my blog next week.

  30. Warren,

    I haven’t always agreed with you, but I admire your work. What a strange thing. Glad you have a new home.

  33. Warren,
    I agree, Mark Driscoll and K.P. Yohannan can stay, and you have to go???? Hey Mark Driscoll, we will not forget your disgusting deeds!! You might be able to influence Patheos, but we will not forget. Also, Patheos, I will not forget this either, and I will make sure my colleagues and friends know about this!

  37. Patheos certainly didn’t follow Christian best practice in terms of the advertising on multiple counts – offensive content, quantity and a great chasm between article & comments.

  38. You are just about the only Patheos blog I read anyway. I only regret the potentially restricted exposure for you.

  39. Isn’t this a violation of your contract? Don’t they have to give you 30 days notice?

    1. I’d rather not discuss contract language publicly but I am looking into all aspects of the situation.

  40. This is incredibly disturbing news to me as well. I know that Patheos is owned by evangelical Christians, and my blog is no friend at all to evangelicals. I’m sorry this happened to you–your blog has always been a solid resource. I really hope Patheos sheds light on this decision.

    1. Patheos is NOT owned by the Evangelical Christians who founded it. They were bought out by their investors, BN Media, which assumed full control in late 2016.

      BN seems to be controlled by Jay Sekulow (Trump’s lawyer and chief counsel of the rabidly anti-gay American Center for Law & Justice) and led by Stephen D. Halliday. The current chairman of BN is Joseph Gregory of the new investment firm, Ashcroft, Sekulow & Gregory — yes, that Ashcroft. Gregory is on the board for Pat Robertson’s Regent University. These are all Virginia-based organizations.

      BN’s other holdings are BeliefNet and Affinity4, a fundraising network for Focus on the Family, and the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ). Affinity4 and ACLJ are both successors of older projects Sekulow spearheaded with Pat Robertson. There are some other familiar names on the various boards, such as T. D. Jakes. Bloomberg and other corporate records online make this information readily accessible online.

      ACLJ and Affinity4 have been directly involved in spreading anti-gay messages and public policy globally, especially in Africa and Europe, much like the ADF which is a similar but larger “Christian legal aid” organization. If you do a little research, you will find serious, credible scholars and activists have been documenting the political impact these groups have had around the world since about 2008-2012.

      1. Wow, thanks for the details there! That was more than I could possibly have hoped to see. If accurate, it definitely means evangelicals are up to their eyebrows in the site, though. Focus on the Family, Pat Robertson, TD Jakes, etc., those are all evangelicals. I reckon nobody here will disagree that there are evangelicals, and then there are evangelicals. (I knew about the BN purchase of Patheos–all of the bloggers around at the time probably did.) Thanks again –

        Cas

  41. Unreal.

    But the good news is that Patheos is continuing to prove itself to now be an organization that people of character don’t want to be associated with. This is a God thing and will all make sense here soon.

    “and let us run with *endurance* the race that is set before us…” – Hebrews 12:1

    Keep at it, Dr. Throckmorton.

    1. Huh, does Patheos/BeliefNet have ties to them? I mean it sounds plausible, especially if that was the set of posts published right before the axe fell, but I’d not seen links like that. I just would have thought Patheos/BeliefNet was more a digital thing.

    2. Never mind, sorry to bother you! I see now that yes, they do have links to GfA — apparently the leader of it is a blogger with their evangelical channel. I’m no longer surprised that this has happened. Warren was no friend to Mark Driscoll, and now he’s proving to be no friend to the leader of GfA.

      I’m flabbergasted that someone thought that this Yohannan guy was an evangelical. I’d seriously have pegged him as a weird house-rules fusion mix of Eastern mysticism and Christianity long before thinking of him as evangelical.

      1. GfA as well as ACLJ, which is actually owned and led by the same people who own and lead BN Media, LLC.

        Professor Throckmorton directly called for Jay Sekulow to be investigated by the federal government. I would not be surprised if this all by itself was a reason for Sekulow’s increasing involvement in BN Media and this deletion.

        “Federal Tax Forms Show Why the Sekulow Family Business Should Be Investigated (UPDATED)”
        JUNE 29, 2017 BY WARREN THROCKMORTON
        http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rNau2lsqQUkJ:www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2017/06/29/sekulow-family-business-investigated/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca

  44. Glad to see you here. Any indications other blogs have been dropped by Patheos? If so, any pattern might give some clues to their “strategic direction.”

      1. A number of Pagan bloggers on Patheos were driven out not too long ago and tried to mount some public dissent.

  45. Very sad and disturbing – especially for no reason(s) to be given. The age of authoritarian operations seems to be blossoming (queue “The Age of Aquarius” and a smile).

  48. This is a tremendously disturbing, but less than surprising turn of events. I have made repeated requests to Patheos for an explanation as to why they are willing to host the likes of Driscoll and K.P. Yohannan and have yet to re dive a reply. I suspect this is the only one I will get. Thank you for your tireless work to truly protect the least of these! Blessings.

  49. Glad your blog landed on its feet, as it were.
    Thank you for continuing as a voice of truth in these days of “alternative facts.”

  50. This is very disturbing but not surprised since you don’t follow the Evangelical ‘best practice’ (since it does not appear in the Bible, so it can’t be a biblical principle) to to criticize fellow evangelicals. Heck half of the Pauline epistles are critical of fellow believers including Peter for some of his actions.

    I have bookmarked this website.

  54. This is a really troubling development, and I hope Patheos sheds more light on it soon. Your reporting has always been excellent and I’m sad to lose you as a colleague.

    1. Thanks, I hope they do as well. Let me know if you hear anything.

      1. Some atheists actually listen and sometimes agree with you so you can’t be a proper evangelical (snark).

    2. Hey Hemant, I’m glad you found out, I was going to let you know. Can you and some of your buddies ask some pointed questions of Patheos about Dr. Throckmortons er, dismissal, if Patheos powers that be go under a cone of silence? You and Warren are /were my two favorite blogs there btw.

      I had this happen to me – I was working/blogging at an evangelical portal and poof, the owner deemed fit to erase me. Well, excccuuse me.
      Tech friends scrapped Google and got me back up and running and I kept at it another 10+ years, until I decided it was time to quit.

      It is disconcerting to be dumped Dr. T., I’m sorry this happened to you. I suspect your best blogging days are yet to come, and damn, you’ve had some good ones to date.:^) Carry on.

      Thanks for stepping up J.D.

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