Right now there is a religious movement being enacted in the American public square. It is not theocentric, as God, for all intents and purposes, has been removed from our national discourse and those who take seriously the teachings of the Bible are quickly dismissed. The social commentary that I heard pointed to this religious behavior as the inevitable outcome of trying to fill the “God shaped hole” that exists within every human life.
Having pushed away the message of the church for being too restrictive and controlling, and for being overly exclusive in its boundaries, this current movement of protest and riot and thought-policing is being adhered to with a religious fanaticism the likes of which the American church hasn’t witnessed in many generations. (If only that were not the case.)
The social religion is not being imposed from those at the top, nor are its tenets being systematized by those who push for its adoption. Our nation today is watching as a grass-roots religious movement takes hold, and which ties itself to the very fabric and foundation of our society. There are vices and virtues, transgressions and atonement, along with confession and absolution. It is, as the social commentator has noted, a religion of “wokeness” that has exploded across the country promising a better life. And this is my take on the idea.
The religion of Woke has its evangelists and leaders: those socio-political leftists (and statists) that promote the agenda through American politics and on every level of media. And they will push the narrative at all costs, ignoring a multitude of facts that expose the lies they repeat.
The religion of Woke has its sacred creed: the most fundamental is Black Lives Matter, in which there can be no derivation. Many who have tried to suggest that All Lives Matter have done so at great cost. And we judge anyone on the basis of repeating this creed, and make it an even greater sin to say nothing at all.
The religion of Woke has its atonement: those individuals (and even companies) that stray from the accepted message, even if it is for the purposes of constructive dialogue, find that they must issue their public apology and suffer the consequences of being so terribly sinful as to think for themselves. Atonement comes easier for those who are already members of the Woke, although there is never a lack of penance that must be enacted.
As I look at our current state of affairs as a society I am reminded of the Roman Empire, a complex world with complex socio-political issues entangled one to another. Historians of ancient Rome will often speak about the Imperial Cult that began to appear in the days of Augustus. Interestingly, there is no such identifiable entity that called itself the imperial cult that has ever been found in the ancient world. This is not because such practice did not exist, but rather that there was no official empire-wide systematic organizational structure that promoted a worship to Rome.
The ancient Greco-Roman world was built upon a system of sacrifices, as there were many gods and the typical ancient Roman citizen would have accepted the reality of the gods and human responsibility to act appropriately before them. What arose in this society was a grass-roots admiration and dedication to the ideals of Rome and the greatest benefactor to its citizens, the appointed Caesar. And thus, temples dedicated to the goddess Roma began to appear in the empire, and participation in their activities increasingly seen as one’s level of dedication to the Roman way of life as a whole.
One of the challenges the early Christians experienced in the Roman Empire was a lack of participation in the many temples that filled the urban centers. It wasn’t so much about which gods or goddesses an individual or family emphasized for themselves, as it was that missing out on this very public religious act was a very public statement that one was somehow being subversive to the culture. In other words, in a world that did not separate religious life from other aspects of life, to get off-message with the imperial temple was to be anti-Roman, and therefore subject to intense scrutiny by those with influence and power.
It took a solid commitment for the early church to stand against the social pressures that they faced for being non-participatory in the imperial cult, or any other temple they would have encountered. These were not simply places of worship, but centers of activity that often spread throughout the city in the form of civic benefaction, feasts and festivals, games and events. It would have been much easier for these Christians to synthesize a message promoting social justice and peace than to stand firm in a gospel that gave allegiance to Jesus alone as Lord.
It would have been simpler for the early church to adopt aspects of these temples into the gospel message, especially where similar words and concepts were employed. Asclepius is a goddess of healing? Great, because healing is an important part of Christianity we can see that the two are compatible. Caesar is the one who establishes peace? Well, Jesus is all about peace on earth, so it would probably be irresponsible of the church not to participate in this temple ritual.
There were many who decided to act this way and try to synthesize the gospel message with the surrounding world. But the core of the Christian church held steadfast in its singular devotion to Christ Jesus, knowing that all of the promises of justice and peace and healing and God knows what else were not truly found in these other avenues. To participate in the imperial temple and sacrifice for the sake of peace was to adopt a cheap peace that fell short of what could be found in the gospel.
In this modern religious movement of Wokeness, which I first heard described by social commentator Ben Shapiro, there is a promise of justice being pushed by a program of inequality, and a peace that comes from appeasing those who brought about the violence that we now face, and a healing that will elude us so long as we are unable to speak the truth in our culture. This is leading to a division that is growing wider and cutting deeper than ever before, driven by the leftist and media to the point of our civilization’s chaotic destruction.
There are many proposed solutions to this mess. Mine is simple: every person in this nation needs Jesus. And it is not just a savior that we need Jesus to be, we greatly and desperately need Jesus to be the one true Lord in our lives, our homes, and our communities. And we need this to be Jesus alone, without social additions or cultural adjectives that keep him from being what he is supposed to be.
There are those who will take offense to this statement, that I am somehow claiming that leftists are not being Christian, or that leftists cannot be Christian. This is not the message I wish to convey. I am making the case that every person, regardless of their political or social positions, will come to see Jesus for who he is — and that will always offend everyone at some point.
Furthermore, I am not saying that socio-political conservatives do not distort the message of Scripture in their own way. There is as much correction that Christ could make to conservatives, but I am simply tired of populist voices in the church pretending that leftist Christians are above reproach, because they simply are not.
And then we need a church. We need a church that will hold to the truth of Scripture in all things, and who will find its strength in the power of the Holy Spirit. We need a church that will not follow the whims of our culture, nor will kowtow to the demands of those who push this restrictive agenda. We need a church to demonstrate the unity of the gospel by living together with men and women of all races, even going beyond the overly simplistic message of Wokeness that only sees black and white.
From where I write today, the Black Lives Matter movement has seized control of an entire section of Seattle, self-identifying this space as “CHAZ” (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone). This comes in the wake of cities, like Minneapolis, smashed an smoldering from the riots and looting that we have witnessed. The “CHAZ” has implemented its own policing force, and there is a list of absurd and contradictory demands that have been issued for the government of Washington State to consider. Any logical measurement of this achievement demonstrates the sinister force at work behind what was pushed as a movement of racial justice and peace. In the six square blocks where they have their zone, there is neither justice nor peace to be found.
Perhaps this is why Christians ought to exercise caution before promoting messages and movements that arise from culture without first understanding them. Or, to consider them from a worldview shaped by Scripture and the Spirit, which would have exposed the darkness with the light of truth. Even though the ideals sound similar, one path has led to destruction and chaos, while the other leads to Jesus.
And before those who are trying to salvage some of their social parroting make the claim that what is happening in some areas of the country is not representative of the whole BLM movement, let me point out that it was a cornerstone of this present crisis that the actions of one officer (or even a very few) could be considered representative of the whole police — and even the entire nation. The objection has been raised, and overruled by the mob. The mob therefore has no claim to it now.
Regardless of what you may think of me or my faith, know that my fight for truth has a purpose: that our nation might be released from this present crisis and become the people that God knows we can be, if we live on the foundation of his Word. There are always going to be disagreements and differences among us, but whenever this level of violence rises up there must be those who do not accommodate to the noise and destruction and violence. And I am convinced there are more of these good men and women than we are being led to believe.
I pray for God’s kingdom of peace and justice and righteous would come upon each one of us, and that our nation would be healed.
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