Draft:Corey Mahler

Corey Mahler is a podcaster and social media personality who leads a movement that is attempting to introduce fascist ideas into the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS). This movement, nicknamed “Lutefash” (i.e. Lutheran fascism) has been denounced by the leaders of the LCMS, whom Mahler considers to be apostates. His followers have expressed a desire to take over the LCMS in order to make it a welcoming place for “hardcore young men” (i.e. fascists).

The LCMS is staunchly conservative on doctrine, but is far less politically active than conservative evangelicals tend to be. Despite the denomination’s conservatism, mainstream LCMS members consider Mahler’s views to be abhorrent.

Views

 * Mahler openly proclaims men to be superior to women and believes women should be considered the property of their husbands. He frequently compares women to domesticated animals such as dogs or chickens No complementarianism here. Mahler also supports polygyny (at least in theory). He encourages his followers (who, understandably, are almost entirely male) not to read anything written by women or pay attention to their opinions.
 * Mahler believes anything that results in more people converting to Christianity was and is justifiable. Especially slavery and colonialism.
 * Mahler’s relationship to Christian nationalism is complicated. He distinguishes between “the American people”, who he considers to be a Christian nation, and the United States, which he denounces. Unlike evangelicals such as David Barton, Mahler does not support the American system of government and rejects the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as “Masonic” and Satanic. His ideal government would be an absolute monarchy, although he supports using fascism as a temporary “off-ramp” from democracy.
 * He regards the German culture as superior to that of English-speaking countries due to the influence of (classical) liberalism on the latter.
 * Mahler is an unabashed racialist and considers IQ and physiognomy to be extremely important. He also rejects interracial marriages and wants pastors who perform them to be kicked out of the church.
 * Like his hero Martin Luther, Mahler frequently engages in antisemitic rhetoric. He also believes the Nazis should have won World War II and that Hitler is in Heaven (whereas the Jews who died in the Holocaust presumably are not). He is obsessed with the Allied bombing of Dresden, considering it one of history’s worst atrocities, and argues it was explicitly intended as an attack on Christianity due to Dresden’s status as a historic center of Lutheranism.
 * Mahler thinks Western countries should cut all ties with Israel and impose sanctions on it, due to its treatment of the Palestinians.
 * Some of his posts on platforms such as Telegram border on incitement, such as his claims that killing an atheist or a Marxist should not be considered murder.

More unusual views
The ideas expressed above are relatively typical for “alt-right” types, but Corey Mahler also has more idiosyncratic ideas that he regularly posts online.

He is extremely sectarian. Some of his anti-Catholic statements, such as that the Pope should not be allowed to set foot on American soil, wouldn’t have been out of place in the 1920s. Mahler also really hates Baptists (perhaps due to his own belief that unbaptized infants who die are at risk of damnation).

Interestingly, out of all rival Christian churches, he probably dunks on the Eastern Orthodox the most, claiming Orthodoxy is an incoherent mysticism that only pretends to be Christian. He also claims that Orthodox Christians engage in deviant practices involving something called “dead foot water”. Martin Luther himself didn’t have much of a quarrel with the Orthodox Church (at the very least, he thought it wasn’t as bad as Catholicism), so Mahler’s views in this regard are quite remarkable. Mahler also mocks converts to Orthodoxy for allegedly being physically weak, which is part of a general tendency towards body-shaming (he also bashes other people for being overweight, including the current head of the LCMS). Given his low regard for the Orthodox, it’s perhaps no surprise that he adopts a “pox on both sides” attitude to the Russia-Ukraine war (in which he thinks the United States ought not to be involved).

Mahler opposes circumcision, and has spoken favorably of the emperor Constantine’s policy of executing Jews who circumcised their (Christian) slaves.

Stopped clock moments
Mahler has repeatedly spoken in favor of forgiving all student debt and making healthcare more affordable. Indeed, some of his statements on economic issues can make him sound like AOC. It still doesn’t make much of a difference considering how ugly his views on most other topics are. If you mix 1 pound of the finest German chocolate with 10 pounds of shit, you just end up with German scheiße.

Catchphrase
Mahler frequently reposts the same, fashwave-style image every Saturday night telling his followers to “go to church tomorrow”. If you see someone else on social media doing this, there’s a good chance they are a follower of his or are at least copying his style.

Irony
He shares a surname with one of the best-known classical composers, Gustav Mahler, who was born Jewish, converted to Catholicism, and whose works were later banned by the Nazis. In other words, he was pretty much the exact opposite of Corey. It should be obvious which Mahler is worth listening to and which one isn’t.