He also addresses criticism of his occasional use of profane or vulgar words. “I deny that I use any language outside the clear parameters of Scripture, and further deny that my words are unnecessarily provocative,” he writes. In one well-known instance, he used a vulgar word to refer to women. He claims he was putting that word in the mouths of two feminists and not saying it himself. During our interview, I asked whether he anticipated his meaning would be twisted.

“I did it anyway because I think we got far more out of that for good,” he said. “It’s a cost-benefit thing.”

Wilson’s views on women and gender roles are a frequent source of controversy. Numerous media outlets have published interviews with women who say they were abused while attending CREC churches and that the church provided a framework for the abuse.

“The question is, is that framework within which people can be abusive, is that framework Biblical?” Wilson told me. “If you have a framework of: husbands are the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, wives are to be submissive to their husbands. That’s a framework that’s straight out of the Bible. And sinners abuse it.” Wilson said his church has helped women get out of abusive situations but also said he’d encountered situations in which the husband was the victim of abuse because the wife “was not behaving Scripturally.”

The CREC keeps growing despite the controversies. Clark thinks that’s because Wilson is “the Donald Trump of the conservative evangelical world.” As with the president, “the people who love him don’t care what he does because he fights.” Wilson will do anything and say anything, Clark adds. “He doesn’t care about the blowback and nothing ever seems to stick.” Read more»

Emma Freire | “Ambitious Faith: Doug Wilson is Bringing His Brand of Reformed Theology to America’s Political Centers” | November 13, 2025

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