8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well;
9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
America today is a far different country than the one where King led the Civil Rights Movement.
The language that King used to lead and animate his movement was the language of the Bible. He spoke as a pastor.
But in 1965, according to Gallup, 70% of Americans said religion is "very important" in their life.
In 2023, 45% of Americans say religion is "very important" in their life.
In this column, which can be found at Creators.com, Parker notes:
Over these 60 years since the Civil Rights Act became law, courts took the Bible and prayer out of public schools, legalized abortion and changed our legal understanding of what defines marriage.She relates: "A movement informed by good and evil and personal responsibility has been replaced by politics, interest groups and victimhood."
The godless socialism of DEI — diversity, equity, inclusion — has replaced good and evil as our perspective on social justice.
As we have purged religion and replaced it with politics, we have lost the core of a religious world view. There is good and evil, and the Creator gave free choice and personal responsibility to choose to each individual.
Without this, the freedom we allegedly care so much about has little meaning.
Unfortunately, rather than following through with the true biblical spirit of the Civil Rights Movement, the nation took the path of politics to implement justice, making our country less free, rather than turning to King's appeal to the Bible to improve our freedom, in the spirit in which the Constitution was written.
We might consider that moment, when politics took over, the birth of today's woke movement.
The result has been a vast politicization of our country and our culture.
Owen Strachan is the author of a book called, Christianity and Wokeness: How the Social Justice Movement Is Hijacking the Gospel - and the Way to Stop It. John MacArthur wrote the foreword to it. Strachan is Senior Director of the Dobson Culture Center, an arm of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute. Recently, in a commentary that can be found at the Institute's website, stated:
It’s one of the best deals out there: a McDonald’s value meal. You get a burger, some fries, and a drink for only a few bucks. (The astronomical sodium comes free.)
For several years now, McDonald’s has been offering a combo of a different kind: woke DEI policy. DEI stands for “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” In summary form, it represents the policy of social justice. When embraced by companies and institutions, DEI means that “race,” not merit, matters in hiring, pagan sexuality gets major support, and various quotas get installed in administrative leadership.
But, that combo has been reduced, according to Strachan, pointing out the company "...joins a rushing tidal wave of companies repealing woke policies. Wal-Mart, Ford, Boeing, and many other major American corporations have canceled or altered their backing of 'social justice." He writes that "this commendable shift", reported in piece at Forbes magazine, includes:
- Retiring “aspirational representation goals”- Pausing survey submissions to third-party groups, like the controversial Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index
- Ending its required DEI pledge for suppliers
- Changing the name of its Global DEI Center of Excellence to the Global Inclusion Team...
Strachan notes a reversal of trends, a "vibe shift," as it is called on social media. He states:
DEI is out; athletes continue to eloquently praise God on national outlets; Joe Rogan is hosting conversations about the gospel on his podcast; believers are running for public office. Something is happening in America—something big.
We Christians have no idea what will play out in the days ahead. But we know this: A holy backlash is rising against woke leftism. It turns out that speaking up, voting, and holding companies to account still matter. As believers, we should recommit ourselves to such “salt-and-light” activities (Matthew 5:13-16).
Robby Starbuck, who is a Christian and has been conducting an effective effort to persuade companies to change these policies, noted this on X:
We’ve now changed policy at companies worth well over $2.3 Trillion dollars, with many millions of employees who have better workplace environments as a result.Our campaigns are so effective that we’re getting the biggest companies on earth to change their policies without me even posting a story exposing their woke policies first. Companies can see that America wants sanity back. The era of wokeness is dying right in front of our eyes. The landscape of corporate America is quickly shifting to sanity and neutrality. We are the trend, not the anomaly anymore.
So, today, as America celebrates the birthday of the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., we have a unique opportunity - for Americans to see one another not as stereotypes or statistics, based on their racial or ethnic identity, but as people created in the image of God. The Bible teaches against looking at outward appearance and to eschew partiality. Christians are directed and empowered to put others first, and to view them not according to demographic identity, but through the eyes of the Spirit of God.
Star Parker, who heads the organization, CURE, has a "cure" for virtue signaling - to exalt Biblical wisdom rather than political folly. Rev. Dr. King used the language of the Scripture, as she noted; yet, you have politicians steeped in worldly wisdom who want to use the language of the world. Man's wisdom cannot bring about the fulfillment of the promises of God. We should not be held victim to wokeness, but set free and awakened to the light of Christ.
No comments:
Post a Comment