Jordan Peterson Paper Links "Christ Is King" To Extremism With Shoddy Scholarship

Canadian psychologist and political commentator Dr. Jordan Peterson has co-authored a brief report that claims the Christian phrase “Christ is King” has been hijacked by online extremists. However, the report is full of basic errors.Thy Name in Vain: How Online Extremists Hijacked ‘Christ is King’ is a 21-page paper authored by Peterson and around a dozen others, and claims that the phrase is being “weaponized” on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter). It alleges that the phrase is being used by “Nazis” and others to promote “hate speech.”

While the report correctly notes Pope Pius XI instituted the Feast of Christ the King in 1925, it incorrectly claims the phrase was only used in liturgy and hymns. In fact, Christians have extensively used the phrase “Viva Cristo Rey” or “Long Live Christ the King.” For instance, it was a rallying cry in Mexico in the 1920s when the secularist government was brutally oppressing Catholics.The phrase finds its ultimate roots in the Crucifixion itself, with Christ’s executioners having nailed a board reading ‘INRI’—short for Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum, meaning ‘Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews’—to the Cross.