The Mob

We are called and empowered to be people who love Christ and reflect our love for Him in the situations we encounter each day.  1st Corinthians 2 tells us that we are to have a different mindset
than the world - we can read:
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13 These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

No doubt, each of us has been placed in this world for a purpose.  And, we can consistently examine how much of the world is in us.  We may have an opportunity to inject Godly wisdom into a situation and allow His truth the shape the thinking of others; but we have to guard against the wisdom of the world to affect us and cause us to compromise His principles.  Romans 12 speaks of having our minds renewed, and that can be so helpful when we encounter streams of thought that don't line up wt His truth.

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The Bible shows us how we can demonstrate Godly character, and we can rely on the Spirit to speak
through us when we are in challenging situations. Colossians 4 states:
5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.
6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

Kay Coles James knows what it means to be an outsider.  She is from Richmond, Virginia, an African-American lady who, as a child was, according to The Daily Signal, "one of two dozen black children who integrated a school" there; the article said that she was "braving taunts, shoves, and being stuck with pins."

Well, decades later, James, who is now President of the Heritage Foundation, has faced the taunts of the corporate world because of her deeply held convictions - she has been known as a reliable, determined, Christian voice for years. The Signal says:

Earlier this year, Google invited James to join an artificial intelligence advisory council that would exchange views to help guide Google’s policies in this area.

Almost immediately, a petition was circulated demanding her removal.  Obviously, she - or more specifically, her views - didn't fit in.  The Daily Signal states:

The petition was eventually signed by some 2,500 people, not just at Google, but at dozens of universities in the United States and Canada and woke companies such as Lyft and Vox Media. The company gave in to the mob last week and disbanded the council.

James’ transgression? The petition accused her of being “anti-trans, anti-LGBTQ and anti-immigrant,” and produced as evidence three tweets.

Of course, as the article says, "James is none of those things."  The article, written by Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow Mike Gonzalez, traces this attempted suppression of traditional views, many of which are consistent with a Christian worldview perspective, back to the early 20th Century and philosophers who have attempted to inhibit freedom and instigate socialism.  This involved taking over "institutions" with revolutionary ideas.

One such individual was a Columbia University professor named Herbert Marcuse, who called for "Repressive Tolerance."  Gonzalez writes:

Writing in 1965, he called for “the practice of discriminating tolerance in an inverse direction, as a means of shifting the balance between Right and Left by restraining the liberty of the Right, thus counteracting the pervasive inequality of freedom.”

Now, as he points out, "Having taken over most of the academy, Hollywood, and the media, they have set their sights on the new commanding heights, the internet. Thus, we see this bias not just at Google, but also in Twitter, Facebook, and the others."  He warns against wanting to slap government regulation on the tech companies, but says that people need to continue to speak out.

James has done just that, writing an op-ed in the Washington Post about her plight.  She has been bullied in her life, and she continues to stand firm.  We can be reminded to stand firm in the face of resistance and oppression.

There does seem to be plenty of that to go around these days.  Many don't understand or appreciate the Christian faith, as Jesus taught and lived it.  There are those that redefine Christianity to fit in a more socially acceptable box.  But, our call is not to make Christianity socially acceptable, but to reflect the reality of Jesus in us.  Cultural institutions have been infected with hostility to the Bible as a whole and toward Christians who live it; but the Bible encourages us to not grow weary in obedience and, as Jesus taught, to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world.

The aim of our lives is not to try to craft a personal faith that the world accepts, but for Jesus to live through us in a manner in which people are drawn to Him.  We can be firm in our convictions, while our compassion is very evident.  Tolerance is the order of the day, yet Christians are not afforded that same privilege, it seems.  Even though we are being forced to accept ideas that are inconsistent with the Bible, we don't have to incorporate them into our lives and have to guard against the temptation to do so.