Here’s a link to Alastair Roberts, theologian, for his compelling, long, and thorough argument about why Thomas Achord (pictured above) is likely to have created a hateful racist, antisemitic or misogynist account on Twitter under the name “Tulius Aadland,” despite Achord’s denial. It all starts as follows:
Thomas Achord, headmaster at a private Christian school of classical Christianity, is co-author of Who is My Neighbor in 2021. An Anthology of Natural Relations and co-host of Ars Politica with Stephen Wolfe. Wolfe is the author of The Case for Christian Nationalism. Ars Politica, a podcast devoted to Christian political thought, has been running since seventy episodes. Achord’s political project focuses on applying his knowledge of the Christian political tradition to today.
What relevance does Achord have? Stephen Wolfe’s association brought Achord to my attention at first. I don’t know, and I do not claim to know, to what extent Wolfe agrees with Achord. Based on publicly available information, I will now present my views about Achord’s views. Wolfe’s views are not my responsibility. Achord’s work represents, to my mind, a small, but troubling, corner of the world that has been generally called Christian nationalism and which I believe it would be disastrous for to see become the mainstay of this movement.
Wolfe recently recommended My Neighbor? to two of his friends. The Kinist IronInk Blog describes My Neighbor as the following: “This book is almost 700 pages in length and contains one after another from Christian and Pagan authors, which proves that the doctrines and beliefs of Kinism are what all men have believed in all times and all places.”
You can find more information about its contents in this thread.
According to my understanding, I strongly oppose Achord’s project political and any similar. This opposition does not come from a leftist. I have voiced my disapproval of mass immigration policies (see this Theopolis conversation), and advocated views that are highly objectionable to many. Achord actually quotes me from his book. Achord also mentions me as a supporter of Christian nationalism. This position is supported by many of my favorite voices in political theology.
My concern is not that someone is hiding in a Christian nationalist project or that certain projects are acting as Trojan horses. Achord is a prime example. In an effort to stop such influences, I will be trying to bring it to your attention. I fear that Achord is one example of this.
It would be more damaging to any Christian nationalist, postliberal or similar project if one of its supporters used it to cover for his or her segregationist and white nationalist views. It would be the most destructive thing for the movement if it was allowed to be coopted without opposition.
It is 100% correct! This is absolutely correct! Roberts is right that I have no problem with “Christian nationalism” depending on how you define it. I do not believe Wolfe would approve of my views. Perhaps I would. I don’t know. I haven’t read the book and I don’t think I would take a position on books I haven’t read.
The Achord thing was only something I became aware of when I read Twitter a few days back. It doesn’t matter to me if Thomas Achord was behind the Tulius Aadland account. Why? Sequitur is where my children studied. My wife taught there for six consecutive years, even though she was disgusted by all of this. It is a small Christian school which has been vital in my life and the lives of many Christian families I care about. Thomas Achord is a (talented!) teacher! It has had a teacher for many years and its headmaster for several years. It’s possible that its headmaster is living an online secret life as a racist and antisemitic white nationalist. I would be interested to learn more about it. If true, such a situation could cause shame and even death to the school. This is especially so given that Tulius stated explicitly that he was heavily involved in Classical Christian Education and that he wanted to use it to traffic in white nationalism.
I was shocked to learn that Achord was Tulius when I saw it on Twitter. I made arrangements for the information to be sent immediately to the Sequitur board with the message that they should be aware and begin investigating it. This was not Alastair Roberts’, but me. I did not believe that Achord is guilty, but I didn’t want the small school board to be shocked by the controversy on Twitter regarding its headmaster. I assumed they would investigate it and contact Achord. Although I don’t know Achord, he is a quiet, modest, and friendly man. I don’t remember ever having a conversation with him more than a few sentences. But I didn’t think he would be behind this account. Apart from his position, the only thing I knew was that he had gone out in his boat to rescue people in the Baton Rouge flood of 2016. Then, the authorities ordered him and the other private boaters to stop. Cajun Navy stuff. That’s what a great man does.
Achord was fired by the school within minutes. Then I discovered that he had written an essay for Medium, claiming to be the victim of someone impersonating him on Twitter as “Tulius Aadland,” which led to his persecution and exile. He claimed he had resigned in order to spare Sequitur any grief and strongly maintained his innocence. That was what I wanted to believe. Sequitur is important to everyone.
It’s impossible not to notice this post on Tulius Aadland:
This photo was taken in the Hope building at Istrouma Baptist church, where Sequitur meets to teach classes. The stylized cross is visible above. This is the Istrouma logo. Here’s an image from the church’s site:
If we believe that Thomas Achord, not Tulius Aadland, is real, then we must believe this troll entered the Sequitur classroom building, snapped the photo, and then uploaded it to a racist, homophobic, and misogynist Christian Chad account.
Do you really believe that? It could have happened, but I find it highly unlikely. It is more plausible to believe that Achord, like Tulius, did not imagine that the Istrouma Logo would reveal him years later. This account was discovered abruptly on Twitter.
If Achord really is Tulius, as it seems reasonable, given these facts and the dossier Alastair Robs has compiled, then you have to believe that it does matter, completely apart from Achord’s association with Stephen Wolfe. It is important to me as a parent of Sequitur-educated children and as someone who cares deeply about the school’s future. It is important to me as someone who does not want racists to infiltrate the CCE movement and use it for their evil purposes. (Achord has written beautiful and insightfully about CCE elsewhere. This darkness must be exposed. Achord is an excellent teacher and speaker, whose work extends beyond Sequitur and the Classical Christian Education community. Achord could be Tulius Aadland if he is Achord. Then he would have no business teaching children, running schools or using his growing popularity in the CCE movement, to quietly mainstream white nationalism. This innocent school could be thrown out by Sequitur’s board if they weren’t aware of the controversy. The CCE institutions that had Achord involved in their pedagogical work could also be guilty.
As I had heard that Alastair Roberts was writing a longer piece on Achord, I sent him the smoking gun tweet. Achord was already fired by the time this occurred and had written his defense on Medium. Roberts should know that this Tweet provided evidence that the Medium essay was false.
Roberts makes the case that this is important in relation to Stephen Wolfe’s project. He’s correct. Wolfe should be asked to explain what he knew and how much he shared Achord’s views. Why? His book is a statement of fact, but it’s easy to see why people are curious about where all this Christian nationalism, Wolfe’s at least, is heading. If it is in the Achord direction then it is towards the type of racial consciousness conservatives, like myself, regularly denounce publicly when it comes out of the Left. This is unacceptable on the Right. We have to express our disgust, especially when those who believe such things hold positions within our communities.
Sign up today
Receive weekly emails to your inbox
Again, I don’t have an opinion on the Wolfe book because I haven’t read it. It is not “guilty by association” for Wolfe to discuss his relationship to Achord’s thoughts, since they are co-hosts of an ideas podcast. Achord would not have been able to mention Stephen Wolfe’s popular book on Christian nationalism. He was using a podcast to spread religious and political thoughts. The board of Sequitur and his colleagues would not have known.
It is clear that he is Tulius Adland. This is evident from the evidence. Thomas Achord’s reputation and career were destroyed by Alastair Roberts. Stephen Wolfe may not have known about Thomas Achord’s true beliefs about Judaism and race. If so, he must make it clear. Thomas Achord is his close professional friend in the fight for ideas.
Alastair Roberts brings to light important, but painful and vital facts. It is always a sign that you are weak and lazy to blame the messenger. You can read the entire Roberts essay about Achord and make your own decision. Although all this evidence might not be enough to convict Thomas Achord in a court, it is clear that the board members of a Christian school cannot see any of it and make any other decision than to dismiss him. They let him go days earlier! Although I don’t have the proof, I think the board saw the tweet about the “smoking guns” and knew immediately what those not directly involved with the school wouldn’t: that the photo was taken inside the Sequitur classroom buildings. They didn’t believe his claims of innocence. I’m sure I wouldn’t, and I don’t. If he has a solid explanation, we’d love to hear it. It is cheap to make assumptions about the motives of Achord’s critics. This matter is serious, and it has implications for Christian public witness, integrity of CCE movement and our country’s political future.