"Woke" Christians at Odds With Evangelicals.
[opinion=mine]
"Woke" Christians at Odds With Evangelicals
What critics call a "woke" Christian movement is one whose members have not only embraced the language of the left but also its chief goal of defeating Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election. They'll do so if they can convince as little as 2 percent of the evangelicals who voted for Trump in 2016 to vote for Joe Biden in November. Last year, Christianity Today, considered the go-to publication for Evangelicals, boosted its subscribers when it called upon Trump to resign and that it's time for the church to make restitution for racial sin.
Many Christians on the "woke" side are also looking to distance themselves from the religious right -- a.k.a., "Evangelicals" -- a group widely known for its opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, equal rights for minorities and women, socialized medicine, and other causes promoted by progressives. There are obvious undertones of racism in the history and rhetoric of the Evangelical right, as well.
According to Pew Research, 52 percent of Democrats identify as Christians, while 79 percent of Republicans do. Apparently, though, "Evangelical" has become a trigger word associated with the political right and is therefore "un-woke". Hence, a group known since 1973 as Evangelicals for Social Action changed its name in September to Christians for Social Action. The larger society thinks of Evangelicals not as people committed to Jesus Christ and the Biblical Gospel but as classist, racist, sexist, and recidivist pro-Trump political radicals seeking a return to the white male dominated society of the mid-1950s.
I have witnessed this phenomenon in churches and Bible-study groups in and around the Los Angeles area. People who previously identified themselves as "Evangelicals" now downplay or deny that label, and use terms like "Woke" and "Socially Conscious" to describe they way they express their Christian beliefs.
The tide is turning away from The Church as a social club for conservative white Christians, and more toward Christians who see the evil in social injustice and feel motivated to actually do something about it.
Something more effective than "Thoughts and Prayers", I hope.
[/opinion]
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I detest the label Woke, as it appears to be another "buzzword-of-the-week". Hopefully, it too will pass.
That being said, there is certainly a significant distinction between the political views of Evangelical Christians and other religious groups (including 6 other Christian groups) in the US.
These survey results were released earlier this week (N=2538):
Source: https://www.prri.org/research/amid-mult ... he-nation/
Here, Evangelicals stand out due to the following:
1. Except for Evangelicals, All religious groups view the coronavirus pandemic as a top-3 critical issue.
1. Except for Evangelicals, No religious groups view abortion and terrorism as top-3 critical issues.
So a lot of people are apparently at odds with Evangelicals...
Oh, and I'm not fond of the "Woke" label, either; but the "Socially Conscious" label seems to invoke images of Limousine Liberals led by a certain smarmy, condescending woman named "Hillary"...
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