How Plain-Spoken Courage Can Move the Overton Window
The Time for Christians to Control Public Discourse is Now
The Overton window can shift when a motivated minority of influential voices are committed to speaking boldly on issues they care about.
The Overton Window is named after political analyst Joseph Overton, who noticed that public approval or disapproval drives policy. It represents what is generally believed to be right or wrong. At one time, our shared morality was derived from the Bible, which also tells us what happens when people reject it. They get the book of Judges, where “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 21:25). In other words, biblical morality becomes mob morality. The social pressure to conform to mob morality is a big part of what many now call the Overton window.
The Overton window determines that some ideas are “mainstream” but other ideas are “extreme.” Ethics aren’t based on objective standards, it’s a popularity contest. And it’s fickle. Twenty years ago, supporting “gay marriage” was an extreme position, but it’s considered mainstream. The shift has been so dramatic that it’s considered extreme to oppose it. Social pressure is its animating force. Another example is mutilating the genitals of children. This was once a barbaric practice that only happened in third-world countries. Today, it’s done in the suburbs and covered by health insurance.
Labels are powerful. Most people want to be considered reasonable and moderate. No one wants to be an “extremist,” a “radical,” or an “alarmist.” Derogatory labels like these are effective tools in the hands of the thought police that cause people to feel shame for holding unfashionable views. Shame can drive public opinion, leading people to self-censor or adapt their views, lest they be cast into the outer darkness with the rest of the “deplorables.”
Moving the Overton Window
Since the Overton Window is a sociological phenomenon, no one directly controls it and everyone participates in it. That’s good news. Even better, it’s not a democracy. The majority doesn’t move the Overton window, the Overton window moves them. The window itself is moved by whoever has the courage and influence to move it in their direction. In recent weeks, we’ve seen how a motivated minority with a compelling message can make a difference.
For example, for over a year now, pearl-clutching and hang-wringing regime evangelicals have policed the Overton window with warnings about how “Christian Nationalism” will destroy our gospel witness in the public square. Pastor Doug Wilson, considered a chief proponent of Christian Nationalism (though he prefers to speak of “mere Christendom”), remains unmoved by the pressure to keep silent about Christ’s Lordship over government.
Wilson’s affable demeanor combined with his reasonable articulation of biblical principles has earned him a significant following of ordinary Christians who are hungry for bold leadership. Wilson’s recent appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show was captioned in a tweet that said, “Pastor Doug Wilson is the Christian Nationalist they warned you about.” In less than 24 hours, this tweet gained over 4.6 million views. Wilson’s joyful courage is opening the Overton window to the right and forcing a needed debate about how Christian political engagement in the modern world.
To give another example, Dusty Deevers was an obscure, Baptist pastor in Oklahoma who had the guts to defy the rhetorical overlords and move the window to the right. He advocated for Christian positions that are considered “controversial” because the Overton window deems them unacceptable. What were these controversial views? He believes abortion is murder and mothers who abort their children should be prosecuted as criminals, not treated as “second victims.” He also believes pornography is a social disaster that destroys marriages and increases sex addiction, human trafficking, and child exploitation.
Deevers had the nerve to campaign precisely on these issues and won a state senate seat. He then had the gall to keep his campaign promise by introducing legislation to outlaw pornography and abolish abortion in his state. Predictably, the outrage machine fired up, inviting derisive coverage from Rolling Stone and a mocking monologue from Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon.
This press coverage was an unexpected gift, however, because it forced a public debate that thrust his local message into a national debate. He exposed the harmful and well-documented effects of pornography. Videos of women smiling, dancing around, and celebrating their abortions gained a lot of traction. They aren’t victims. They are celebrating the murder of their own children. Some pro-life organizations were exposed for hypocritically lobbying against legislation that would abolish abortion. Deevers’ strategy to “go on the offense” highlighted wicked practices and exposed his detractors for defending them. His plain-spoken courage catapulted his long-shot candidacy to victory and gave his message national exposure that didn’t cost him a dime.
Since the Overton window can be pried open when a motivated minority of outspoken voices articulate an important message, what’s preventing us from doing it? This isn’t as impossible as it sounds.
Christians and the Overton Window
In public discourse, Christians easily fall into the trap of letting the Overton window “frame” how issues are presented. For example, every discussion of homosexuality must include some reference to how homosexuals were made in God’s image, though no discussion of any other sin requires such qualification. Homosexuals are universally regarded as marginalized and traumatized victims of intolerant cruelty, usually by mean-spirited Christians. Rarely does anyone speak of sodomy, instead preferring silky smooth phrases such as it being “less than God’s best.”
When bolder Christians do speak plainly on these matters, other Christians get nervous. So they join in denouncing their fellow believers, accusing them of being un-Christlike and lacking the proper tone. They scold their Christian brothers and sisters with fine-sounding admonitions like, “The world is watching.” They insist that our Christian prophetic witness be limited to whatever the Overton window will allow.
In the past ten years or so, the Overton window has rapidly lurched much further to the left, pressuring Christians into an ever-accommodating posture to the world. Yet, the far left is typically among the most unstable, quick-tempered, over-sensitive, and easily offended people in our society. The threat of enduring angry outbursts from them is enough to cause many Christians into a posture of appeasement and cowering in silence. That may seem like a sensible strategy in the short term, but in the long term, it rewards irrational behavior. No one wants to trigger an unpleasant scene, so we choose the seemingly sensible route of saying nothing and going along to get along. This strategy allows the Overton window to continue moving in ways that further suppress our public voice. Sooner or later, we may find ourselves unable to speak at all.
The Overton Window and Conservatism
When a far-left activist is invited to speak on a college campus, conservative students typically ignore it and go on with their lives. They don’t riot or protest or do sit-ins. They put up with it because that’s what conservatives do. Conservatives value personal maturity and self-control because we value responsible citizenry. But on the rare occasion that a conservative speaker is invited to speak on campus, he is often greeted by angry protests or even violence. Outrage mobs form to shout him down, afterward demanding the University provide counseling services to cope with the trauma of nearly encountering a reasonable view.
Even though the far left does not represent most of the population, they exert outsized influence on the Overton window. Appeasing the left is easier than opposing them. Everyone knows that a lack of self-control is a defining feature of the far left. Leftists are much more likely to be triggered, protest, make a scene, have an angry outburst, cancel you, or destroy your life. Ordinary people avoid opposing them, so their emotional immaturity is rewarded by appeasement.
Every mother of a toddler has been tempted to yield to his demands for candy in the grocery store to avoid an embarrassing scene. Wise mothers know that’s a losing strategy. Rewarding bad behavior only leads to more of it. The far left controls the Overton window the same way. If a 50-year-old man who has been a faithful employee for two decades at his company refuses to use the preferred pronouns of the newly hired 23-year-old dude wearing makeup and a dress, he knows he’ll be turned into a villain, be reported to HR, and required to attend sensitivity training. This is where we are. The rabid, immature left will continue shaping public opinion on a variety of issues, not because their ideas are better, but because everyone else appeases them to avoid a scene.
But we are not without options.
Opening the Overton Window on the Right
As stated previously, the Overton window can move when a motivated minority is willing to joyfully endure the derision of the left long enough for their collective voices to be heard. They must be willing to “live not by lies,” as Solzhenitsyn put it. Plain-spoken truth moves the public opinion as reasonable views are articulated with clarity, force, courage, and joy. They must be prepared to endure reprisal from the left, which will surely come. Clear-headed truth telling must become the norm, not the exception. As their collective voices grow louder and reach critical mass, their message becomes harder to ignore. Ordinary people may open up to persuasion as a variety of voices convincingly articulate reasonable positions. When three or four become twenty or thirty, they may think, “This is starting to make sense.”
Moving the Overton window
Difficult social problems will not be resolved as long as angry, irrational mobs control public discourse. The need of the hour is godly Christian leaders stepping up to the microphone and plainly articulating positions that may seem laughable at first. Through persistence, they can keep issues alive long enough for people to get used to hearing them, then perhaps persuading enough of them to move the needle.
It will take great courage to break the left’s cultural taboos and take the heat for it. A society conditioned by Newspeak will be scandalized by the thoughtcrime of plain-spoken truth. The man who says things outside the Overton window will take the first arrows. He may sacrifice his reputation on the altar of honesty but will inspire others to add their voices. The more they speak, their accumulated voices move the Overton window, which reduces the cost for each new voice that enters their ranks.
The gatekeepers of public discourse will surely try to shame these thought-criminals as heretics. They capitalize on the collective fear of being publicly put to shame. The Overton window keeps people silent, allowing them to press their propaganda even further. Those who allow themselves to be intimidated by this tactic believe their silence will appease them. It never will. Winsome pandering or outright silence will only solidify their dominance of the Overton window.
Clear-headed Christians have been bullied into silence for far too long. The Overton window shifts with public perception, starting with a few bold, articulate, prophetic voices that arrest the public’s attention. They supply the talking points and vocabulary that other people use to amplify the message. As the number of influential voices grows, the ideas they articulate gain credibility. Their persistence creates a snowball effect that eventually persuades even greater numbers. And the cacophony of sober-minded voices can give the public a “road map” for approaching difficult subjects.
We’ve seen this happen as people challenged the regime’s COVID narrative. In the early stages of COVID, the Overton window kept people silent and compliant. Anyone who questioned the narrative was considered a heartless buffoon who didn’t care about saving lives. Since then, however, the window has shifted in the opposite direction. Those pushing masks and endless vaccine boosters seem ridiculous because it’s now obvious to reasonable people that the regime was lying.
Clear-headed voices who speak with conviction and joy can be very persuasive. They laugh at absurdity. Humor lowers people’s defenses. They don’t take foolish people seriously. They make jokes and deploy funny memes, knowing that this is far more effective against absurdity than logical arguments.
We cannot allow ourselves to be shamed into compliance. Whoever you’re most worried about offending is who controls you. If the left is who you fear offending the most, they are your masters, and you are their slave. They rule you with a subconscious bargain that your silence will earn their approval. It won’t. Fear God instead and speak plainly.
Courage is the only way. If we are slaves of who we are most afraid of offending, then may God be the one we most fear offending. If pleasing others is our driving energy, may God be the one we most aim to please. And God is not pleased by pandering, vague, man-fearing sophistry. What pleases God is courageous men and women, speaking plainly and humbly, bringing the sort of clarity that pierces hard hearts and builds up soft hearts. Courage is the greatest threat to the regime. And it is contagious. Plain-spoken courage is contagious. It can move the Overton window.
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