Just like Crowder found it acceptable to churn out content with his marriage on the rocks, TNE leader Tim Whitaker is still pushing out cont
Darrell Lucus at The New Evangelicals:
Almost two years ago, right-wing influencer Steven Crowder came under well-deserved fire from all sides when Yashar Ali surfaced video of him from 2021 viciously berating his pregnant wife, Hilary, for not wanting to handle his dogs’ medicine. Ali released it after Crowder publicly announced their pending divorce despite Hilary pleading for him not to do so. The video had even some of the most rock-ribbed conservatives putting Crowder on blast. And yet, in the face of all of this, Crowder continued churning out podcasts and videos as if nothing else had happened. That made a lot of people on all sides of the aisle want to shake him and ask, “What the hell are you doing?” This writer was one of them. Seriously, folks. If Crowder were serious about getting help, churning out content would rank pretty low on the list of priorities. And considering that he holds himself out as a born-again Christian, churning out content shouldn’t even be on the list. Well, it looks like we on the left have our own answer to Crowder—Tim Whitaker, founder and executive director of The New Evangelicals, a collective of moderate and progressive Christians of which I was a supporter until last month. However, I, along with quite a few others, walked out when it was apparent that TNE was willing to condone an obvious pattern of abusive behavior on Whitaker’s part. In case you missed it, last month, we learned that Whitaker was under fire for a disturbing pattern of behavior towards TNE’s former creative director, Adele Mulford. While running late to a documentary shoot, Whitaker engaged in “rage driving”—something which put Mulford on edge since she is dwarfed by the 6-4 Whitaker. After all efforts to mend fences went nowhere, TNE called in GRACE in August. However, Mulford and another TNE contractor, Cherri Rodriguez, resigned in September.
GRACE finished its work in early March. However, the first anyone even heard about this came when Mulford teamed up with Rodriguez to release the report via a site called TNE Reckoning. Mulford was known as the “Reporting Victim,” or “RV,” in the report; Rodriguez was “Witness 1,” or “W1.” Its findings were unsparing—Whitaker, or “Individual 1,” had engaged in “behavioral misconduct” and demonstrated “a lack of self-control, controlling behaviors, and holding double standards.” GRACE recommended taking the focus off Whitaker and diversifying the board. Both the board and Whitaker committed to implementing GRACE’s recommendations. As troubled as I was that we learned about this second-hand, it looked encouraging that TNE recognized that its rapid growth in a short time meant it was no longer just a startup. This needed to be addressed in a way that showed it was willing to hold itself to the same standards it held others. I was concerned, though, that Whitaker was churning out videos and shorts as if nothing happened—not exactly a posture consistent with his initial promise to “embrace repentance.”
[...] It didn’t have to end this way. Any doubt that this could have had a better ending was put to rest when Rodriguez shared an email she and Mulford received from Bruce Johnson, then a member of the TNE board, shortly after she and Mulford resigned. Johnson revealed that as soon as Mulford and Rodriguez filed a formal grievance about Whitaker’s behavior with Mulford, he “pushed hard” for an independent investigation, believing it was necessary to show that TNE had to put action behind its talk about finding “a better path forward in faith.” Johnson has since disappeared from the list of board members; it’s not clear whether he left on his own. Clearly, Johnson believed that TNE needed to meet the moment, and how it did so mattered. Mulford and Rodriguez are of the same mind; indeed, Rodriguez tells me that if TNE’s board had more members like Johnson, it’s very likely she and Mulford would still be on the payroll. I know that if TNE had met the moment in the right way, it’s very likely I would still be there as well. As it stands now, the board doesn’t appear to have the guts to realize Whitaker has no business churning out content—and for that matter, being TNE’s leader at all. It may not quite be like the situation with Crowder, who by all accounts has surrounded himself with “yes men” who were probably echoing a number of Twitter comments saying that Hilary was the aggressor, not him. But it’s no less disturbing.
Darrell Lucus is right: Tim Whitaker is NOT fit to lead The New Evangelicals.