The Puritanical Nature of Woke Cancel Culture

Growing up in an Asian household, my siblings and I had some of the stereotypical Asian rules put on us, which included the common “no watching TV on a school day” (excluding Friday, which counted as the weekend). My parents, however, allowed a few exceptions: We could watch the news and the odd live sports game here and there, and my mom was even nice enough to allow me 30 minutes of Power Rangers every weekday. The one show they were really supportive of, though, was Jeopardy. I mean, look how educational it is! In fairness, my brother and I actually liked the show (not sure my sister was all that interested), and we even had a very old DOS video game of Jeopardy that we liked to play.

I rarely watched the show as I grew older, but I was of course aware that Alex Trebek continued to host it for many years. Trebek passed away in 2020 due to cancer, and so the search began for Jeopardy’s new full-time host after an impressive 37 years of Trebek. He was actually not Jeopardy’s first host, but he will probably forever be its most iconic, so there are no doubt some big shoes to fill. One would think those “big shoes” simply mean that someone needs to be articulate, fast-speaking, quick-witted, and charming like Trebek was. Instead, what we’re seeing is another instance of out-of-control woke cancel culture trying to enforce ideological purity in a way that bears ironic resemblance to stereotypical, puritanical religious fundamentalism.

Podcast episode 1.10: Experiencing Spiritual Abuse

Check it out at https://interchristianity.wordpress.com/2021/08/16/episode-1-10-experiencing-spiritual-abuse/. There is a special guest interview too.

Edit: Had a brainfart and wrote “sexual abuse” instead of “spiritual abuse” in the title initially.

Avoiding Misrepresentation is Christ-Like

Recently, I was made aware of a speech that Voddie Baucham, Dean of Theology of African Christian University in Zambia, made against critical race theory. Baucham has become a leading evangelical voice against CRT because he is an outspoken black pastor and Christian educator, and he is very conservative theologically and Reformed. However, in this speech, Baucham starts to recite a quote from Richard Delgado, author of works like Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, but then he starts tacking on his own words from his book Fault Lines. It makes it sound he is still using Delgado’s words, but in fact he was using his own to make conclusions that Delgado does not draw.

Now I have been pretty clear about my opinions about CRT: I think it is a very flawed ideology whose problems outweigh its insights, and in the hands of people like DiAngelo and Kendi, it becomes downright ridiculous and dangerous (and despite the protestations of so many defenders of CRT, those two represent its most influential version in the culture). However, that doesn’t change the fact that Baucham made a clear mistake that he should own up to. I have my disagreements with Baucham (for starters, I am not a Calvinist), but I have always found him to be a Gospel-oriented teacher, so I will not ascribe bad motives to him like others have who have called him things like a “grifter.” I can see how he could have put down notes for his speech and unintentionally blurred the lines between Delgado’s quote and his own. Regardless, it’s a mistake, and it’s one he should admit because it is not becoming of Christian dialogue to misrepresent what the other side is saying.

Review of Netflix’s “Pray Away”

I’ve jotted down some thoughts over on InterChristianity: https://interchristianity.wordpress.com/2021/08/05/review-of-netflixs-pray-away-wrestling-with-the-churchs-errors/

New podcast episode: Homosexuality Part 2 – Identity, Singleness, and Community

Check out our new episode where we respond to some feedback to our first episode on homosexuality and address more practical questions.

Episode 1.9: Homosexuality Part 2 – Identity, Singleness, and Community