Who Is David Virtue? -- II

One of the first things that's struck me about David Virtue's site is that the comments work much the same way as the comments on Stephen Smuts's blog. They're basically nutjob central, a bizarre collection of posters who ascribe to some obscure corner of Anglicanism, or just as commonly, no version of Anglicanism at all -- indeed, I wonder whether some pledge anywhere, or attend any parish of any denomination. But they're angry -- The Pope Is The Antichrist angry in many cases.

They attack the occasional sane poster with impunity, so that there's an ongoing angry paranoid-fringe atmosphere, much like the one Stephen Smuts maintains. I think the strategies of Virtue and Smuts are similar: both tacitly encourage the nutjobs in their comment sections, while maintaining a distance at the same time. Smuts, though, has openly opposed my own comments, while again tacitly endorsing the comments of the usual suspects there. David Virtue doesn't really need to say anything at all, because he knows the lunatics are running the asylum at Virtue Online. But make no mistake, the crazies are on both sites because Smuts and Virtue want them there. They fully understand the intent of the posts, and they enforce that intent in the comments like a cyber goon squad, while Virtue and Smuts can pretend they're not a part of it.

Why does anyone need this sort of cheering section? That's a puzzle. Virtue's thumbnail bio here indicates that, while he claims to attend an Episcopal church in Paoli, PA, his background also includes two years as a Baptist minister. But if his site isn't just critical of The Episcopal Church, but is actively angry at it, why go to church where you're clearly not comfortable? Why punish yourself? Maybe you'd be happier at a Baptist church, huh? I simply can't see going to church every Sunday and finding reasons to rub particular sores, when just down the street, you won't rub them.

Indeed, isn't Matthew 5:23-24 a basic part of Christianity? If you have a conflict with someone, leave your gift at the altar and be reconciled. Matthew 18:15 suggests that if you can't work it out, in the end, you've got to drop it and leave the person alone -- in effect, it seems to me, the verse says get a life, move on. Don't (unlike David) build a 20-year career on a grievance, especially one that doesn't apply directly to you. (I certainly don't intend to maintain this blog for 20 years, and by becoming a Catholic by an alternate route, I'm in the process of moving on, as are many others who were driven out of St Mary of the Angels Hollywood.)

So what's going on here? Based on the internal logic in a great many posts, I'm not sure if David Virtue is all there. We'll be looking at this.