Catholics declare that God made them male and female: the rest is ‘Church of Woke’

The band played The Battle Hymn of the Republic, as the culture wars exploded at  Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington last week. “We will forge a society that is colour blind and merit-based,” the American President declared, as he announced an end to government policies which try to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of life. President Trump also made it official government policy that there are two genders only: male and female.

Tucked in behind the new US President, and cheering him on was an American-born Hindu businessman of Indian immigrant parents, Vivek Ramaswamy. Was he witnessing a new separation of church and state? He is a fierce critic of the church of ‘Wokeism’ – claiming this strange doctrine is in fact a religion, and a false one at that I would add. “Wokeness,” he says, “is the new orthodoxy.”

Woke

In his book Woke Inc, he explains why he thinks Wokeism is in fact a religion.

Wokeism is a love of identity politics which gives meaning to the lives of followers.

Wokeism in fact dictates the thoughts and deeds of its adherents.

Ramaswamy describes  the ‘great awokening’ – and how wokeism has infected government, corporations, academia, the media and even Christian churches.

Since his college days, 20 years ago, he has watched people being persecuted and fired for rejecting this new religion.

So what is wokeism? It depends who you ask. Ramaswamy defines it as a belief system that divides the world into two classes, according to race, sex and sexuality: the oppressed and the oppressor. And, it seeks to ‘right the wrongs’ through all means necessary, particularly political and economic power. Just as Christians see God’s hand in all creation, wokes see the guiding hand of identity-based power in everything.

Wokeism, the faith of the far left, follows the false gospel of manipulating the virtues of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – fighting discrimination, real and imagined with opposing discrimination (which actually just leads to injustice, building barriers and creating resentment). Note the rows between trans activists and feminists.

Wokeism even borrows some of the language of Christianity – mercy, kindness and compassion – but of course contrasts sharply in other ways”

Critics claim woke inclusion is only for those who agree – and that woke diversity excludes diversity of thought.

Georgetown professor Joshua Mitchell claims  that America has “relocated its religion to the realm of politics”. While Christ is the scapegoat for sin in Christianity, he argues that the woke scapegoat is the ordinary  “straight white male” – representing the privileged oppressor who must atone for errors such as racism.

Oppressors must confess their sin, though not all non-whites are viewed as victims “The high priests of diversity decided Asians were privileged or ‘white-adjacent’,” said Ramaswamy, now a wealthy businessman.

Wokeism even borrows some of the language of Christianity – mercy, kindness and compassion – but of course contrasts sharply in other ways:  Christians find their true identity in Christ and believe that ‘God made them male and female’.

Wokes believe that truth is subjective and feelings are paramount.

Ironically, woke has taken root in a way never envisaged by America’s Founding Fathers, conscious of freedom from religious persecution, never envisaged. The US constitution prevents any law establishing a religion.

Yet wokeism, with powerful and wealthy allies, has taken root in US institutions – and has spread to Europe, stifling freedom of expression for fear of being cancelled or losing their jobs. “There are a number of things you just can’t say,” states Ramaswamy, recalling how the President of Harvard resigned in 2007, his fate largely sealed after a controversial speech in which he suggested there might be more men than women in science and engineering because statistically boys did better in maths.

Ramaswamy was on the student advisory committee to find his replacement. “It quickly became clear that the committee’s mandate was to appoint a woman to make up for Larry Summer’s cardinal sin. That’s exactly what we did.”

Application

A friend of mine who works in finance says she keeps her mouth shut in the office while colleagues feel free to express views that offend her own Catholic faith. “You have to be very careful these days,” she says.

Others do not feel they can object when asked to declare their pronouns “she/her”. A few years ago, I heard a story about a man in London who binned the Pride flag from his desk and his door, only to be told by his boss that he would have to go for ‘diversity training’. That is until he explained that he himself was a gay man with a male partner. He was exonerated but would a straight male have been so fortunate and free?

Trump’s attack on wokeism may be turning the tide: Whitehall’s biggest department last week dumped the Stonewall Diversity Scheme.

Woke remains quite a powerful force, which, religion or not, clashes quite profoundly with Catholicism”

But at the same time, the London Telegraph reported that UK tax office employees were being given the equivalent of one day off a week to promote trans ideology, and Stormont politicians in Belfast rejected a call to keep male prisoners who claim ‘trans identity’ out of female prisons.

So woke remains quite a powerful force, which, religion or not, clashes quite profoundly with Catholicism in how it views sex and sexuality.

If we are to spread our faith to the next generation about God, we must be aware of persecution by the church of woke, and prepared to counter it peacefully.

We must be able to declare that God made them male and female.

This is not just a theological position; it is a biological reality and should not be a controversial statement.

A test of any society is the percentage of the population who feel free to speak their mind. “Free at last! Free at last!” a preacher bellowed at Trump’s inauguration ceremony. He and many of the audience watching felt liberated to hear it pronounced by the leader of the free world that there were two genders, male and female.

Do you feel free?

A test of any society is the percentage of the population who feel free to speak their mind”

The importance of perspective

It’s been a while since I listened to the BBC news at 8am and frankly I was taken aback the other morning. Not of course by the news that Thailand now allows ‘gay marriage’. But by the way it was presented by the South East Asian Correspondent Jonathan Head who described the ‘day of celebration  for Thailand’s LGBTQ+ community’. This was the line I found rather disturbing: “Thailand has long been famous for its tolerance of diverse sexual identity and lifestyle…” That’s one way of putting it! The age of consent in Thailand is 15.

Kindness was the chosen  word for 2024, according to a newly published survey of 6,000 children by Oxford University Press, who described this as “encouraging”. I should be encouraged that this fruitful word is being celebrated. But my experience is  that “Be Kind!” is often an attempt to shut down Christian views on wokeism. Speaking the truth with love is a better description.