WHY WOKENESS IS A CHRISTIAN HERESY
By John Stonestreet & Glenn Sunshine
In 416 BC , during the Peloponnesian
War between Athens and Sparta , Athens decided to attack the neutral island of Melos . When the Melians protested they had done Athens no wrong , the Athenians replied , “ The strong do what they can ; the weak suffer what they must .” The Melians were starved into surrender , their men were killed , and their women and children were sold into slavery .
None of this was unusual in the ancient world . The strong , it was supposed , had every right to dominate the weak . Cruelty , rape , torture , and slaughter were ordinary means of enforcing power . Neither the gods nor the moral codes opposed dominations . Atheist historian Tom Holland describes his feelings about the Greco-Roman world this way : “ It was not just the extremes of callousness that unsettled me , but the complete lack of any sense that the poor or the weak might have the slightest intrinsic value .” 1
So what changed ? As Holland notes , the difference was Christianity .
Christians and Jews believed that all persons were made in the image of God . Thus , every person had intrinsic worth and dignity , no matter their race , ethnicity , gender , or strength . On this basis , oppression of the poor and weak was condemned . Neither might nor wealth made right . Christianity further emphasized the spiritual and moral equality of all people . Not only do we all share the same humanity , but we all suffer from the same problem ( sin ) and are in need of the same solution ( salvation through Jesus ).
Because of these ideas , Christianity is the sole historical source of concepts
now taken for granted : human dignity , human equality , and universal human rights . As not only Tom Holland but other prominent atheists such as Jürgen Habermas and Luc Ferry admit , these ideas are at the root of our modern concern for the poor and oppressed .
And this is why it ’ s accurate to call “ wokeness ” a Christian heresy .
“ Heresy ” comes from the Greek verb hairein , which means to choose . The idea is , heresy is the result of choosing one thing that is true and then running with it until it distorts everything else . “ Wokeness ,” a way of seeing the world built on critical theory , fastens onto the Christian idea that oppression is evil but makes it the sole significant fact about humanity and society , while rejecting so much else that Christianity teaches — original sin , forgiveness , and salvation .
It should not be difficult to see why various expressions of critical theory and “ woke ” rhetoric resonates with so many Christians . The appeal is rooted in legitimate biblical concerns about the poor , the marginalized , the oppressed , and the potential misuse of power . However , it fails on many other levels .
First , the anthropology of critical theory misunderstands who we are by assuming that the only relevant fact about us is where we fit within the various categories of oppression . We are the group we belong to , which serves a social role as either oppressor or oppressed . As such , this theory rejects any universals that unite humanity , including the image of God .
Second , the understanding of sin , or what ’ s wrong with the human condition , is limited to oppression . In this view , oppressors are guilty , and the oppressed
24 THE RENEWANATION REVIEW