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If you had 鈥淎merican Christian nationalist pastor launches pro-smoking campaign because he reckons marijuana is making men gay鈥� on your 2026 bingo card, congratulations I guess! You may now mark off the square and mourn the ridiculousness of the world we live in.

Far-right pastor Joel Webbon is copping widespread ridicule after claiming Christian men should embrace tobacco and nicotine because marijuana makes men 鈥渟piritually gay鈥� and is contributing to the decline of Western civilisation.

In a video posted to X on 31 May, Webbon argued that anti-smoking campaigns have been one of the biggest 鈥減syops鈥� of the last half-century, dismissing decades of factual medical evidence linking tobacco use to cancer and other serious illnesses.

鈥淚 think you know one of the biggest propaganda psyops that we鈥檝e experienced in the last 50-60 years is the war against tobacco and nicotine, that tobacco and nicotine are the worst thing in the world, and they鈥檒l kill you and give you cancer. I don鈥檛 believe that,鈥� he says in the video.

According to Webbon, nicotine creates stronger, more masculine men who are harder for governments to control, while marijuana supposedly turns men into something altogether more sinister. In his words, it makes them 鈥渟piritually gay.鈥� God forbid!

鈥淢arijuana makes you less masculine, more feminine, soft, gay 鈥� at least spiritually gay,鈥� he said, before claiming cannabis users are lazy, unfocused and lacking ambition.

Webbon went on to declare that 鈥渉ard times create nicotine men鈥� while 鈥渨eed boys ruin the world,鈥� suggesting tobacco helped build America and could help restore it.

The comments quickly attracted mockery online, with many pointing out there is nothing particularly masculine about nicotine addiction. Others questioned why a pastor appeared to be auditioning for a 1950s cigarette advertisement.

Does the Bible permit Christians to use Nicotine?

鈥� Joel Webbon (@JoelWebbon)

For years, queer people have heard conservatives quote the Leviticus line in the Bible, that men who lie with men should be put to death, which at the time meant being stoned to death — maybe Webbon’s just confused about which kind of ‘stoned’ the Bible was referring to? 炉\_(銉�)_/炉

Who is Joel Webbon?

For those fortunate enough to have avoided him until now, Webbon is a Texas-based Christian nationalist pastor associated with the far-right movement known as Christian Reconstructionism. He has built a sizeable online following through culture-war commentary, conspiracy theories and attacks on minority groups.

17c起草社区IA+ people have frequently been among his targets.

In 2024, Webbon argued that the death penalty could serve as a deterrent to homosexuality, describing it as the 鈥渕aximum penalty鈥�. During the same discussion, he endorsed a guest’s claim that 17 per cent of gay men regularly eat faeces.

He has also blamed Jewish people for making America 鈥渁 very gay nation鈥� and linked Jewish influence to transgender rights, abortion access and broader social change.

His catalogue of controversial statements extends beyond 17c起草社区IA+ issues. Webbon has claimed civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is in hell while racist Confederate slaveholders are in heaven. He has promoted Christian nationalist ideology, railed against multiculturalism, and regularly presents fringe historical and political theories as fact.

Now, apparently, he has added 鈥渨eed makes you spiritually gay鈥� to the list.

For 17c起草社区IA+ people who have spent decades being blamed for everything from hurricanes to the broad brush ‘decline of society’, it’s almost refreshing to discover we’re now also somehow responsible for people being high. Puts a different spin on getting blazed to hell, I suppose.