25AR30-22

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AR 30:22 - "Jesus in a turban"

In this issue:

WOKEISM - some history, and related recent developments

WRIGHT, N.T. - "a go-to expert on American political theology?"

YOGA - What to meditate on the next time you sit down with a hot mug of Yogi Tea

Apologia Report 30:22 (1,711)
June 21, 2025

WOKEISM

Rod Dreher opened his May 30 '25 Substack ("Whose Society Is It Anyway?") with a rousing note of appreciation for the "Grievance Studies Hoax," perpetrated by James A. Lindsay, Peter Boghossian, and Helen Pluckrose, which "humiliated the academy" even as wokeness was capturing higher education. Dreher's summary is worth repeating:

   "... Peter Boghossian, the Red Baron of the Culture War ... is a liberal and an atheist who, along with James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose, humiliated the academy in the brilliant "Grievance Studies Hoax." This, from the Wikipedia entry on the affair, <www.tinyurl.com/mwzehbpc> explains it:

   "Through their series of hoax articles, James A. Lindsay, Peter Boghossian, and Helen Pluckrose intended to expose issues in what they term as 'grievance studies', a subcategory of academic areas where the three believe 'a culture has developed in which only certain conclusions are allowed [...] and put social grievances ahead of objective truth'. The trio referred to several academic fields - postcolonial theory, gender studies, queer theory, critical race theory, intersectional feminism, and fat studies - as 'grievance studies' because, according to Pluckrose, such areas begin 'from the assumption of a grievance' and then bend 'the available theories to confirm it.' Pluckrose argued that all of these fields derive their underlying theoretical perspectives from the postmodern philosophy that developed in the late 1960s. …

   "Pluckrose suggested that fields such as postcolonial theory and queer theory could be called 'applied postmodernism' in that they sprung up largely in the late 1980s as a means of pushing the gains of the civil rights movement, gay rights movement, and liberal feminism from the arena of legislative change and into the territory of reshaping discourse. She argued that these fields adapted postmodernism to suit their activist agendas. …

   "Pluckrose described herself and her collaborators as being 'left-wing liberal skeptics'. She stated that a core reason for why they wanted to carry out the project was to convince other 'leftist academics' that there was a problem with 'corrupted scholarship' in academic fields that were 'based on identity politics and postmodernism.' She argued that in rejecting modernism, much postmodernist-derived scholarship was also rejecting science, reason, and liberal democracy, and thus undermining many important progressive gains…

   "The Grievance Studies hoax was featured in a highly entertaining documentary (watchable on YouTube) by Mike Nayna." <www.tinyurl.com/mwzehbpc>

   In the rest of the issue, Dreher updates his readers on the continuing (and interesting) influence of these three hoaxers. <www.tinyurl.com/mvcw7c3a>

   The Jun 3 '25 edition of Dreher's substack ("Second Thoughts on the 'Woke Right'") begins with him noting that "yesterday, when The Free Press published my essay they titled 'The [Radical] Right Is Coming For Your Sons,' <www.tinyurl.com/mwph4fa4> I had no idea that James Lindsay, who appears to be the originator of the term, and his allies use it to attack the National Conservatism movement, of which I am a supporter. If I had, I would not have used the term, or allowed it to be used in the headline. That's on me."

   Much of this issue of Dreher's Substack summarizes a history of the growing friction between the two. <www.tinyurl.com/ymxh6pkw>

 ---

WRIGHT, N.T. 

"N.T. Wright and The Inner Ring: On the hubris of the Protestant elite" by Bethel McGrew ("Further Up" Substack, Jun 6 '25) -- begins: "I have never been a great fan of N.T. Wright. I wasn't shaped by his theological work and have looked elsewhere for robust scholarship on the resurrection. However, I've always been aware of him as a little 'o' orthodox voice in Church of England spaces, one of the few clergymen willing to say he believed things about things. For decades, that distinction has given him considerable credibility with serious Protestants around the globe. A number of them point to him as instrumental in their own journeys to faith. When friends in turn come to them with questions about Christianity, Wright is a scholar they can pull off the shelf with a sense of security: Here, this guy is the real deal. You can take him to the bank. ...

   "In other words, Wright is a Protestant elite - a phrase now rarely applied in the United States since the collapse of the mainline, but still apt in contexts like the UK.

   "There's been some interesting recent writing about why conservative American Protestants in particular don't have (and whether they need) elites."

   A bit later she adds "there's also something to the argument that the fewer self-styled elites we have, the better, because identifying oneself as an elite makes you vulnerable to corruption and hubris. By way of example, I'm afraid I can't think of a more perfect illustration than N.T. Wright. ...

   "Recently, a couple clips have been going viral from new episodes of the 'Ask N.T. Wright Anything' podcast, <www.tinyurl.com/3ytv3yey> hosted by Australian New Testament scholar Michael Bird. One in particular has drawn intense righteous outrage, an answer to a question from a German woman about abortion. ...

   "Amazingly, in the middle of all this Wright has the chutzpah to invoke ancient Roman infant exposure while emphasizing that Christians can't support at-birth abortion. That's still a bridge too far for the former bishop. ...

   "Wright has found his thundering political voice, it has reliably not been on behalf of those issues where the Christian position is most obvious. ...

   A few more excerpts of potential interest: "Sociologically, these things are all of a piece. The types of Protestants who tend to oppose abortion most loudly have been the types of Protestants who are generally most suspicious of establishment narratives, political and academic. Accordingly, the types of Protestants who look down on them are those who seek establishment credibility. In the rearview mirror, movements like the Religious Right appear intensely embarrassing to them. ...

   "You can hear this exasperated tone in Christian Smith's new book Why Religion Went Obsolete, a work pitching itself as impartial sociology. But Smith just can't keep the sneer out of his voice when it comes time to talk about the rise of the Moral Majority, which he pegs as 'one of the crucial disturbances' in the culture that eventually made religion obsolete." <www.tinyurl.com/skxasdsd>

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YOGA

Esther Friedman reviews Under the Yoga Mat, by Els Coenen and GuruNishan <www.tinyurl.com/3kdym9pr> for ICSA Reviews (May 5 '25). Friedman summarizes that the authors "tackle the dark underbelly of Yogi Bhajan's Kundalini Yoga, also (and ironically) known as the 3HO, Healthy, Happy, Holy community. In the foreward, GuruNischan writes that the book "leans into the enormous task of illuminating these cultlike characteristics lurking beneath the surface of the Kundalini Yoga community worldwide.

   "This dense read offers a daunting amount of information. That seems appropriate since 3HO morphed from one scam into an enormous yoga conglomerate; subsequently, it's impossible to calculate the number of people Yogi Bhajan (formerly Harbhajan Singh Puri) hurt. ...

   "Former member and once exalted 3HO student and teacher Pamela Saharah Dyson's memoir, "White Bird in a Golden Cage: My Life with Yogi Bhajan," opened the floodgates. <www.tinyurl.com/5bc2pu3z> Bhajan had waltzed her into his inner circle. When she disclosed the abuse she'd endured, a firehose of allegations from other victims followed. The Siri Singh Sahib Corporation (SSSC), an umbrella organization for Kundalini Yoga with the stated mission 'to protect, preserve and cultivate the prosperity of the constituent community and its assets' commissioned a report."

   Later on in the review, Friedman notes that the "Siri Singh Sahib Corporation only conducted an internal investigation after Dyson's memoir went public. It was forced into playing its stated oversight role because so many victims started speaking out. That report uncovered 24 charges of sexual assault and abuse, 30 charges of sexual harassment, 34 charges of unethical behavior (p. 197). It did not include the abuse perpetrated in 3HO schools, worldwide, on children separated from their parents and farmed out to other continents."

   "Additionally, a leading Sikh historian named Trilochan Singh published the book, Sikhism and Tantric Yoga: A Critical Evaluation of Yogi Bhajan's Tantric Yoga in the Light of Mystical Experiences and Doctrine, <www.tinyurl.com/bd8sdceh> after meeting with Bhajan. Trilochan called him a "Mafia Tantric," blasting his exploitation and bastardization of Sikh beliefs and traditions. Media outlets ranging from Time Magazine in 1977 to the 2022 Vice documentary, Inside the 'Abusive' World of Yoga Guru Yogi Bhajan/True Believers, <www.tinyurl.com/3w3vcpwf> exposed Bhajan."

   Friedman explains: "The authors also include the voice of Bhajan, who indicts himself through his cruelty and self-aggrandizing. The Sexual Abuse section describes a video in which he confesses to an audience of followers: 'You think I'm a good teacher …it's a total lie. I'm not a good teacher. I'm not a good man … I don't believe in all this nonsense … these titles and the whole thing is all debauchery…. I live with it because it keeps you going…. It serves me no purpose. But I do believe I have given you identity (p.196).

   "This is typical cult leader and narcissistic behavior: Bhajan claims martyrdom. He speaks as if he didn't want to do the things that he did, but alleges that God ordained him."

   Included is historical detail explaining that Bhajan "was born Harbhajan Singh Puri in Punjab, India, [in] 1929. His father was a doctor and a Sikh. When 18, conflict in the subcontinent forced his family to immigrate to New Delhi, India. As a young adult, he worked up through bureaucratic governmental positions and eventually immigrated west to Canada to offer yoga classes. Seeing opportunity in California, he eventually moved his yoga studio to Los Angeles. In 1969, he established 3HO, completing his evolution from government bureaucrat into fully enlightened being, benevolent humanitarian and guru. ...

   "The authors also provide the cultural backdrop enabling his rise...."

   Nearing her conclusion, Friedman finds: "Today we know that cons take advantage of turbulent times. Bhajan presented [himself] as Jesus in a turban." <www.tinyurl.com/29p6p6eb> 

   Meditate on that the next time you sit down with a hot mug of Yogi Tea. <www.tinyurl.com/yhnfxmh8>

   For more on 3HO, there's also the 2024 documentary miniseries "Breath of Fire." <www.tinyurl.com/3ctz799z>

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