23AR28-35

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AR 28:35 - Wokeism's path of "manipulation, violence, and coercion”

In this issue:

WITCHCRAFT - commercialism, individualism, and fewer covens

WOKE MOVEMENT - "taking partial truths and totalizing them in ways that require manipulation, violence, and coercion"

Apologia Report 28:35 (1,632)
October 7, 2023

WITCHCRAFT

"As witchcraft becomes a multibillion-dollar business, practitioners' connection to the natural world is changing" by Helen A. Berger <www.bit.ly/3RsWwHS> (The Conversation, Jul 26 '23, where Berger is a regular contributor) -- Berger describes herself as "a sociologist who has been researching this religion for more than 30 years."

She makes the unexpected, oddly narrow observation that "Wicca focuses specifically on the practice of the British Isles." (From what we've read, most Wiccan practitioners in the US tend to be fiercely independent in their focus.)

"Groups called covens were the norm when I began my research.... Some of the objects that were cherished, particularly colored stones and crystals, were bought at occult bookstores or shops." She adds: "Many of these objects were inexpensive."

Berger recalls that "Commercialization started in the 1980s with the sale of how-to books on Wicca. ...

"But today most objects can be bought online, and fewer are handmade or handpicked. Additionally, a larger proportion of Pagans are solitary practitioners, who are trained outside of the coven system. ...

"Sociologist Douglas Ezzy [see above link] was one of the first scholars of contemporary Paganism to write about this growing commercialization. ...

"Ezzy and another religion scholar, Chris Miller, note that many of the Witches trained in covens free of charge believe that the marketing of starter kits and sacred items has reduced them to the mundane." <www.bit.ly/4627gS0>

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WOKE MOVEMENT

"The division between orthodoxy and ideology (both within and without the church) has reached a new level of obstinacy. Both sides fear the other poses an existential threat to their core values, and in a way both are correct. Woke ideology is a jealous god and will not coexist with Christ in the heart of man. One or the other will eventually triumph, one through annihilation or the other through redemption." So concludes "Three Dogmas of Wokeism: The Path to Authoritarianism," Noelle Mering's insightful worldview contribution to Christian Research Journal's (46:1-2, 2023) single-themed, final print edition: "The War on Western Civilization: Everything You Need to Know about the Cult of Wokeism." (To be continued hereafter only in digital form, remaining mostly paywall restricted.)

Her essay is summarized: "Citizens of good will who want to understand our current cultural revolution need to start viewing the 'woke movement' as a revolutionary religion with its own dogmas. Unlike orthodox Christianity, which seeks truth through science, reason, and revelation, wokeism is ideological, taking partial truths and totalizing them in ways that require manipulation, violence, and coercion."

Mering (Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center; Washington, DC) finds "the larger goal of a Leftist ideology [is seen in how it] seeks to train citizens to see all systems, institutions, interactions, and relationships as defined by power. ...

"Amidst the general upheaval of the past few years, a quiet ... turmoil has been [revealed in] the rapid wokening of American Christians. ... [M]any Christians find themselves swayed by this movement that has claimed the mantle of compassion. ...

"Because the woke movement on principle rejects the value of debate and free speech, many Christians, wary of missteps, understandably disengage. ... But to acquiesce or remain silent is to not meet the times we are in and the damage being done. Targeting faith and family is intrinsic to woke ideology precisely because of the way both uphold the dignity of the person and serve as a bulwark against political tribalism. ...

"Destabilizing family life effectively undermines society in ways both spiritual and personal. ... With family life increasingly destabilized, the innate hunger to belong is more acute than ever, rendering political tribalism more ferocious.

"It is imperative to grasp what is at the core of the radical movement. The operating principles of woke ideology rest on three fundamental distortions: 1) primacy of the group over the person; 2) an emphasis on will at the expense of reason or nature; and 3) the elevation of human power in rejection of higher authority."

Mering then expands the descriptions of each of the three dogmas. With the first, she explains that, in contrast to biblical Christianity, "we are not to understand ourselves in proximity to the goodness of God, but in proximity to society's evils." *(Having read this, we reflected on the history of Marxism's influence and its familiarity with failure in all of its experiments over history.)*

Concluding this first dogma, she observes: "One effect of this redefinition of personhood is that we begin to find our moral stature in our victimhood. Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt <www.bit.ly/3EGiL5n> comments, 'The key idea is that the new moral culture of victimhood fosters "moral dependence" and an atrophying of the ability to handle small interpersonal matters of one's own. While it weakens individuals, it creates a society of constant and intense moral conflict as people compete for status as victims or as defenders of victims.'"

The second dogma (more obscure than the first) is "will over reason" which requires that "the person ... be liberated from his very body and the internalized repression of self, due to the taboos of an arbitrary moral law. ... The more unconventional the sexual desire, the more potential a person has for liberation." *(Note that this also leaves its victim with no escape.)*

Mering also finds that "Foundational to any totalitarian system is the rejection of a stable human nature." She gives this example: "The straight man who rejects a transgender person as a candidate for intimacy based on that biology must ... be bigoted."

The consequences of the second dogma are described by "the insatiable nature of sin. What is transgressive today becomes boring tomorrow, and so the trajectory, if left on its course, ends in increasingly sinister places." *(Chapter 5, on Angela Davis, in Christopher Rufo’s new book, America’s Cultural Revolution, provides a good example of this.)* <www.bit.ly/3RaR503>

Describing the third dogma, "Power Over Authority," Mering begins: "Innocence is a threat to the ideology because it points to a measure, to an objective good by which our desires might be evaluated. Innocence also points us to authority." *(Wokeism is no environment for subtlety.)* Further, "most people sense what ought to have been. Most can reason if pressed about what good fatherhood ought to be, and by implication what authority more generally ought to be. ... In contrast, a tyrannical father uses discipline to manipulate and control, keeping his children incompetent, afraid, and overly dependent.

"The revolutionaries from Marx to Marcuse [the father of the New Left] wrote about the need to depose the father by undermining his moral authority through sexual licentiousness. In cutting off the head, the whole is destabilized." *(A favorite tactic of our souls' greatest enemy.)*

"In the attack on authority, it is [God's] fatherhood that is reimagined as our ultimate oppressor. But in reality.... A good leader is in service to something beyond himself, or else he is corrupt. ...

"True authority is grounded in reverence and accountability."

In reviewing the consequences of the third dogma, Mering notes that "The un-fathered, deprived of real authority in their lives, are the first to yield to the control of authoritarianism. ...

"[T]his behavior makes perfect sense if we understand that there is a chasm of difference between authority and authoritarianism. ... The ironic consequence of the smashing-authority ethos is the irrational compliance with authoritarianism."

Overall, Mering observes: "What is rejected - the person, reason, and authority - are the three characteristics of the Logos Himself. The Logos is the mind of God, communicated in the person of Jesus Christ, who is the author of and authority over all. It is He who is the ultimate target of the woke revolt. It is a war of words against the Word. Once the internal logic of the movement is understood, it becomes impossible not to see how such ideas have eventually played out time and again - Maoist China, Pol Pot's Cambodia, Stalinist Russia. ...

"This is a religious struggle. ... Unlike orthodox Christianty, which seeks truth through science, reason and revelation, wokeism is ideological, taking partial truths and totalizing them in ways that require manipulation, violence, and coercion." *(No wonder that early on in their cyclic history the despots of Marxism have exterminated academics.)*

"The three dogmas of the woke redefine both God and man. God becomes our oppressor, as well as our subordinate, and man becomes an isolated deity. ...

"Rather than a power contest of political identities and individual wills seeking self-expression, [God invites] every person ... to the cooperation reflected in a vision of family life that is both ennobling and humbling because it is a vision grounded in reality and reverence.

"Our response, as Christians, should be neither to contradict the times so as to become merely a mirror version of a politicized identity, nor to accommodate the times so as to be absorbed by them. Our duty to love the person is not in tension with the need to fight this dehumanizing revolution. The former requires the latter. We need to see the stakes in the battle...." <www.bit.ly/3LmSBIA> Well done!

For a book-length treatment, consider Mering's 2021 release: Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology <www.bit.ly/46aqCnt>

(One last item for your reflection: Imagine the many possible correlations between the Woke Movement's advance and the "Denominational Decline" described in the previous issue of AR.)

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