America and the whole Western world have just completed “Pride Month,” a string of observances celebrating all things LGBTQ. The message was that these things are normal and beneficial, a matter of choice and identity, and celebrating them celebrates the equal freedom and dignity of all human beings.
The events draw support from a broader “woke” movement that demands radical equality along traditional dimensions of identity like sex and inherited community. These have always been basic to social life, but they have no intrinsic relation to the world markets, transnational bureaucracies, electoral institutions, and individually-defined personal relationships that are now considered the rational means of organizing society. For that reason they are considered arbitrary and oppressive.
All respectable institutions now sign on to such views. The people who run them believe that opposition can only reflect an unholy combination of fear, hatred, and ignorance.
LGBTQ concerns in particular have become a major theme of United States foreign policy. They have led, for example, to the U.S. embassy to the Holy See adopting the practice of displaying the Pride Flag during the month of June. Until recently that might have seemed a provocation, but the current pontificate has signaled sympathy for “outreach and inclusion” in these matters, and doesn’t seem to find the display objectionable.
A more general reason for viewing the US gesture favorably can be inferred from an essay by two close associates of Pope Francis, titled “Evangelical Fundamentalism and Catholic Integralism: A surprising ecumenism”, that was published in 2017 in La Civiltà Cattolica, an official Vatican publication.
That essay, which the Pope has repeatedly praised, denounced Catholic and Protestant cooperation in opposition to “same-sex marriage” and other socially liberal causes as an illegitimate “ecumenism of hatred” that seeks political influence in order to subject “public norms” to “religious morals.”
Principles that have normally been considered a matter of natural law applicable always and everywhere are now believed at very high levels in the Vatican to constitute “religious morals.” That seems to mean that they lack justification outside a particular system of religion that no one is rationally obliged to accept, and for that reason are at odds with the rightful secularity of the state.
Such an approach can take us very far indeed in an age in which government gets involved in all aspects of life, and rational morality is thought to be based on abstract principles like equal freedom that leave human nature and natural human goods out of account.
Suppose, for example, schools encourage children to explore with sympathetic adults whether they may be gay or transgender? Or, in connection with other issues, suppose national health services promote abortion and assisted suicide for people who are lonely or don’t have the money they need for the life they want?
Such issues are already with us, and it is not clear where those—including Catholics—who are sympathetic to the demands of a secularity that excludes natural law would be inclined to draw the line.
For that and other reasons, there are still people—especially Christians, but others as well—who maintain, in the face of vehement denunciation, principled opposition to “progressive” cultural demands. Such “culture warriors” believe that public life, including institutional attitudes and policies, should reflect—or at least respect—traditional and Christian views on such matters.
The mainstream secular opinion is that such people want to sacrifice social justice, which is now thought to include the full woke agenda, to their private cultural anxieties. That view of the matter has even entered the Church: “social justice Catholics,” who are concerned with equality, mostly feel at odds with culture warriors, who they view as stuck in old battles that have become pointless and destructive.
But does that make sense? Catholic views of culture and social justice both have to do with the relation between social life and Catholic principle. “Culture” emphasizes traditions and public understandings, and how they form human character and relationships, while “social justice” emphasizes more abstract and general standards. Even so, the two go together. How could they be at odds? If they were, Catholic teaching on basic human concerns would be incoherent. And even from a secular historical point of view that seems unlikely after so many years of thought and discussion.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church sheds light on such issues. It tells us that social justice has to do not so much with equality as with providing “the conditions that allow associations or individuals to obtain what is their due, according to their nature and their vocation” (par 1928). The discussion immediately following mostly has to do with human dignity and the need for solidarity, but the principle is much broader than that.
For example, the Catechism also tells us that the family, formed by “a man and a woman united in marriage, together with their children … is the original cell of social life.” As such, “it is prior to any recognition by public authority, which has an obligation to recognize it” and help and defend it “by appropriate social measures” (par 2202).
That demand is quite open-ended, so it is not surprising public authority has a “grave duty” to “to safeguard public morality” and so ensure “the stability of the marriage bond and the institution of the family.” It is also obligated to “promote domestic prosperity” and the ability of families to participate in it. In doing these things, however, it “should take care not to usurp the family’s prerogatives or interfere in its life.”
Since all those things are due the family, they are part of social justice. But realizing them is tricky. The power and reach of today’s public bureaucracies makes them seem able to solve all problems. But the crude simplicity of their ways of knowing and acting means that when they try to do so they soon become stupid and tyrannical.
So how can a modern government intervene in an ethnically and religiously diverse society of 332,000,000 people in ways that actually promote good morals, stable human relationships, widespread opportunity, and various social protections while also respecting the freedom and autonomy of small-scale and mostly informal relationships?
Different Catholics are likely to favor different answers, all imperfect. What is abundantly clear, though, is that the Catholic vision of social justice that should motivate the answers has nothing in common with the assumptions behind Pride Month and woke progressivism generally.
The latter identify human dignity with human self-definition, and justice and good government with support for that and other individually-chosen projects. In contrast, Catholics believe, like everyone everywhere until very recently, that man has an innate nature, and his good involves fulfilling that nature. The two views are completely at odds, theoretically and practically.
The opposition is pervasive. As the Catechism goes on to say, the commandment to honor father and mother
illuminates other relationships in society. In our brothers and sisters we see the children of our parents; in our cousins, the descendants of our ancestors; in our fellow citizens, the children of our country; in the baptized, the children of our mother the Church; in every human person, a son or daughter of the One who wants to be called “our Father.” In this way our relationships with our neighbors are recognized as personal in character. The neighbor is not a “unit” in the human collective; he is “someone” who by his known origins deserves particular attention and respect. (par 2212)
In other words, Catholicism doesn’t believe in technocracy or the resulting idealization of the self-defining but socially interchangeable individual. What it believes in is the person defined and connected to others through family ties, inherited community, and other mostly unchosen elements of identity. That emphasis on specific durable social identity puts it in line with human nature and the consensus gentium. Even so, it is hard to imagine a (non-crazy) view more at odds with today’s public moral thought.
For that reason, to be a Catholic today is to abandon respectability. For people who want to be liked as much as Americans that is a heavy demand, and the careerists who often dominate even Catholic institutions today are too much absorbed in their social function to understand anything but the official point of view. If the Church is ever again to speak with her own voice about her own social vision she must overcome such problems.
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catholicism : original sin :: church of woke : inherited racial guilt
being born human is a sin! being born white is a sin! more or less the exact same nonsense. anyone telling you that you are guilty at birth and that you therefore owe repentance to their church/mob/cause is a scammer. no exception.
Andrew Williams: yours like this piece by James Kalb is a showcase of how “wokeness” has been widely preempted and turned into a political slur against those who (originally as the words means) are awake and alert to social injustices, like racial and economic injustices, and are committed to correct these wrongs. By unleashing these pushbacks, these social injustices are kept unaddressed and preserved. As Catholics we have to remember that we are to follow God who is “woke.” The Bible declares that, “The Lord is a God of justice” (Isaiah 30:18), and God requires of us, “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God” (Micah 6:8).
All Catholics will agree wholeheartedly with your last sentence. The question, of course, is what the good society would be for a creature such as man. Because the concrete demands of justice and kindness depends on the answer to that question.
James Kalb: What a good society would be? Our Church has this particular vision for that laid out but widely spread out in the body of teaching called Catholic Social Teaching (CST). It is a hidden treasure that remains to be sacrificially bought by giving up all things besides (as in that parable) because it unfortunately remains unfamiliar to and unreceived by the majority of us Catholics. It is commonly and rightly given the tagline: “The Church’s best kept secret.” This vision of the good society is anchored in the vision of who and what the human person is. Anthropology comes first before sociology. A good starter and spotlight on the CST is Vatican II’s Gaudium et Spes 22 which declares that humanity is best understood in the light of its dignity and rights founded on its being created in the image and likeness of God. A good society is a just society because it respects and upholds human dignity and rights in this manner. CST should be made known so as to be implemented more and more.
The purpose of the column was to discuss fundamental aspects of social justice that people overlook today because they think about things technologically rather than as human beings.
Social justice, in fact ALL justice amounts to this:
1. Adore God.
2. Love others.
3. Use things.
in that order and without anything being skipped or replaced.
If you want a real social justice that matters, pray for the dominion of Christ the King, but, don’t forget, this is inherently a place of exile and we know who is “the prince” of this broken world.
Jesus was very familiar with the Old Testament social justice teaching especially in Isaiah and other prophets such that when he inaugurated his public ministry he specifically read from Isaiah and announced that he was launching a mission of bringing about social justice in very specific ways to those who were the poor and vulnerable of society. Read Luke 4:16-19.
Said He, “The poor will always be with you” . . . and He also stated, on numerous occasions, “The kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. That’s why he expelled demons and didn’t collect alms to pay off mortgages and college educations. Please don’t trivialize the mission. It’s to get us THERE, not to make us happy HERE.
After multiplying the loaves and fishes the crowd wanted to make Christ king. He rejected this saying that the crowd’s motivation was their full stomachs. Christ was willing to lose most of His followers over His teaching about the Eucharist. For Christ the spiritual took priority over the way of the flesh. It’s all in John 6.
Fox News and the New York City Newspaper , the New York Post , often considers being
“Woke” to be a bad thing , similar to Leftist or “The Left”
What is so terrible about being
“woke”
America has many Injustices , the
“Freedom” in America is a Joke, Adults cannot even do what they want with their own lives and bodies ,
Yeah, its horrible here. Thats why millions of illegals pour in here every year from every corner of the planet, especially since Biden took office. And we need to build a wall to keep them OUT. Woke is indeed a crude and divisive leftist/communist philosophy which lacks a moral center. People are valued by the woke strictly as voting blocks,and by sex and color of skin. Talent, education and individuality is of no value to such people. Which is why its so appealing to those who also lack a moral center. Such folks are glad to embrace the propaganda that “anything goes”. If you feel like doing it, no matter who gets hurt. The current abortion rate in the US is pretty good evidence that “adults” can do whatever they want “with their own lives and bodies” , and in fact are doing it. add into that flash mobs stealing department store contents and a skyrocketing crime rate in all major cities. I mean, why not do your own thing if there are no consequences? Real adults eventually come to the conclusion that a life full of actions which hold no meaning or value are ultimately unsatisfying. The US has been a beacon of hope for the rest of the world since it’s beginnings, even BEFORE independence. Unlike places like Castro’s Cuba,Afghanistan, North Korea, etc, etc, we do nothing to prevent our people from leaving if they wish to seek greener pastures elsewhere. I suggest you might want to take advantage of that reality.No one will stop you. I hear Iran is nice this time of year. Dont let the door hit you on the way out.
Andrew, understanding the nature of Original Sin is generally very lacking, resulting in comments like the one you just made. This topic is comprehensively dealt with here:
https://www.stossbooks.com/blog/index.php?10-04—-original-sin–part-one
Mark Tabish (above): to get THERE, here’s what Jesus requires: Read Matthew 25:31-46.
Dear Augustine,
If you wish for me to concede that Jesus is Christ the King and the Living God, I joyfully conceded that many, many years ago and faithfully concede that to this living minute. Deo gratias!
Mark Tabish: I can see that in your view, actions for social justice are to be canceled in favor of the pursuit of holiness for the attainment of heaven. That dichotomy is false. Both are integral and constitutive of the Catholic Christian life and mission of discipleship. One without the other makes the following of Jesus incomplete. The Living God is a God of Justice (Isaiah 30:18) who requires of us to do justice (Micah 6:8) such that Jesus envisions his mission – and our mission as his followers – to consist as an integral part of it – in the active care of the poor and vulnerable (Luke 4: 16-19). Jesus recaps and emphasizes this point by declaring that as prerequisite to join him in eternal glory in his reign as the King of heaven and earth we are to be judged as worthy or not based on our concrete actions for dispossessed and displaced (Matthew 25: 31-46). It is significant to note that on this year’s celebration of the Solemnity of Christ the King on November 26, 2023 (and on every Christ the King Sunday of Year A of the liturgical calendar), the Gospel reading is taken from Matthew 25: 31-46.
Augustine: You really shouldn’t think for me. You’re “argument” is with your own misunderstanding. Faith without “works” is dead; works without faith are empty. I prefer the “better part” over and above what Martha insisted was vital. In the final analysis, so did Jesus.
Mark Tabish: Read Matthew 25: 31-46, and all the other scripture verses I cite again. To gain the better part, you also have to have the other part. You cannot get into that which you want to without doing what is required. Our Catholic spirituality as reflective of our Catholic tradition that takes and follows the “both/and” approach to matters of faith and life (for example: one and three; human and divine; scripture and tradition; sinner and redeemed; etc.) in this seeming tension (when there is none actually) between “holiness and social justice.” The lesson of Luke 10: 38-42 is that even as it highlights contemplation as better, the follower of Jesus is also to take up action. The Catholic Christian way takes “both contemplation and action.” To go for only one, even if the better, is very Protestant “only” or “sola.”
Augustine, you do you. That’s why there is an “active” priesthood and “active” people, as St. Thomas Aquinas states. I do me. That’s why there are contemplative nuns, monks and brothers and people of prayerful “action” who have more to save the church’s thought and hand on its spirituality and teaching than are given credit. Leponto was necessary, the Pilgrimage of Grace was necessary and so are those that have given themselves over to deep union to Christ through prayer, St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila comes to mind. Again, you seek to thrust a square peg through a round hole. Don’t be a fool and even try. There is NEED in the church of both the holy, silent and sacred Latin Mass and those that attend and a need in the church for an active, participation oriented mass modeled after the praxis of “modern” souls in our hectic world – a mass quite honestly that doesn’t have the slightest appeal to my spiritual sensitivities. I’ll never see “doing” for God more important than “being” for God which is also a deep and abiding interior doing of sorts. Deo Gratias!
Mark Tabish: I see the varied twists and turns of your argumentation especially by your convenient introduction of dichotomies for you to choose only one side and rationalizing not helping the poor. Let me go back to the initial point I brought up for you to think and pray about. The Bible is very emphatic about God’s focal concern for justice (Isaiah 30:18) and Jesus tells us very clearly that if we don’t help the poor, we’re going to hell (Matthew 25:31-46).
What about the intense Sufferings of Incels and their desire for Sex
thetablet.co.uk has an article headlined
“Does the Catholic Church have its own ‘incel’ problem?”
by Rob Esdaile on October 5, 2021
It is deplorable that the word “wokeness” has been hijacked by the conservatives like here to now mean anything and everything abhorrent to them. “Woke” should be noted to have originated as a slang for “awake,” meaning aware and conscious of social injustices, particularly racial injustices in this context, and being passionate in addressing them. This hijacking of the term to include just about anything beyond social injustices that is of abomination to conservatives results in hiding and perpetuating the original social injustices the “woke” were seeking to confront and correct. This hijacking or misappropriation of the term “wokeness” was initially done mainly by the perpetrators, or as in most cases now like here, the unknowing enablers, of these social injustices. What a shame!
You’ve already posted this nonsense here previously, and the point is just as ridiculous now. The term “woke” is justifiably derisive because it describes a perspective that is ignorant, closed-minded,self-righteous, and profoundly bigoted. Most wokesters are actually the very type of people they accuse others of being, they just lack the self-awareness to recognize that. You are defending the indefensible here. No one is buying what you’re selling. To be woke is to be a joke.
Indeed, Athanasius. Not too long ago, I set forth the following that explains what “WOKE” really means:
“WOKE”: The benighted pretense of being specially alert to various forms of prejudice and discrimination, often punctuated by jumping to false conclusions to unjustly declare that prejudice and discrimination exist where there is no objective evidence to support such declarations, and to also wrongly insist that people must act in certain ways based on the false conclusions. Among those who frequently enjoy membership among the “WOKE” are Marxists and their fellow travelers, far left liberals, conspiracy theorists, historical revisionists, and modern day secular gnostics who often pretend to have special knowledge and insights that others do not have. When asked to prove the objective truth of any of their claims, those who are “WOKE” will often only respond by unjustly declaring the questioner to be motivated by some kind of bigotry.
Because of the much greater reliance on false narratives than on objective truth, as an acronym, “WOKE” is rightly recognized as referring to all those delusional people who very proudly act Without Objective Knowledge & Enlightenment.
Athanasius: Your view precisely showcases what I describe above. The term has been preempted by the perpetrators, enablers, and beneficiaries of the social injustices the “woke” are bringing into light. The term has totally been taken away from its original context and muddled to include just about any and many other social issues they find disgusting. The hijackers of the term have turned it into a slur ready to be thrown at anybody they disagree with like what you have done here.
Mr. Bill, the English language evolves and changes. That’s what it’s been doing from the beginning. Propaganda is another thing but some words just get co-opted organically whether we approve or not.
The evolution of language normally takes time as people use elements of language like a certain term. But in the case of “woke” there is a concerted media campaign to turn the original slang into a bad word and slur weaponized to be turned against the very people who originated it. It is not the normal use of language that mark its evolution but it is rather a deliberate misuse and abuse of language in a malignant campaign that actually seeks to perpetuate the social injustices that “wokeness” seek to address.
Sorry, but no.
The piece explains how I’m using the term and what it refers to in the article. As you suggest, that usage is rather widespread among critics.
It seems to me the demand that traditional dimensions of identity be deprived of all effect, leaving only money, bureaucracy, and arbitrary individual choice as legitimate social organizing principles, is widespread and important. So there ought to be some way to refer to it. What do you suggest?
“WOKE”: The benighted pretense of being specially alert to various forms of prejudice and discrimination, often punctuated by jumping to false conclusions to unjustly declare that prejudice and discrimination exist where there is no objective evidence to support such declarations, and to also wrongly insist that people must act in certain ways based on the false conclusions. Among those who frequently enjoy membership among the “WOKE” are Marxists and their fellow travelers, far left liberals, conspiracy theorists, historical revisionists, and modern day secular gnostics who often pretend to have special knowledge and insights that others do not have. When asked to prove the objective truth of any of their claims, those who are “WOKE” will often only respond by unjustly declaring the questioner to be motivated by some kind of bigotry.
Because of the much greater reliance on false narratives than on objective truth, as an acronym, “WOKE” is rightly recognized as referring to all those delusional people who very proudly act Without Objective Knowledge & Enlightenment.
Doctor Veritatis: You must be one of either the perpetrators, enablers or beneficiaries of the social injustices the “woke” are standing up against to correct them. Your view here is precisely the common tactic of revisionism and redefinitionism directed at “wokeness” to muddle the issue the “woke” are addressing and in the process perpetuate the social injustices because it is to your benefit and advantage to keep the status quo.
Bill Thomas: The first time I heard the word “woke” was when Fox News commentator Jessica Tarlov was explaining what it means, and I did not like what I heard. Nowhere did she say it was to correct social injustices, but more like, they are smarter than the rest of us because they have a better grasp of what society needs and should become, i.e., social engineering.
I can’t remember who the host of the program was (I think it was Tucker Carlson), apparently not taking her seriously and trying to get in a laughing word edgewise, but she would not let him say anything contrary because her Woke way is the way and anyone who disagrees with Woke was a bigot. I then knew woke is a kind of intolerant “wisdom.”
Perhaps you’re right that the word started as a good word, a fight to correct social justice. But be honest! Woke, for now, is not doing it the right way. Justice to the poor does not mean giving them the legal “right” to kill their children in the womb, helping them to commit legal suicide, forcing the rest of us to approve of sexual mutilation of children, changing the logical use of pronouns, planning to grant $5million each in reparation to people who have never been enslaved with taxpayer money from people who’ve never been slave masters, indulging drag queens’ ugly anti-Christian behavior, and so on, and so forth. Be honest, Bill Thomas – woke is evil!
What did Our Lord Jesus Christ say in His inaugural address to describe His mission? “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor.” The “good news” is the correct and best way to treat social injustices that the poor suffer. And the good news is Jesus Himself.
Sorry for the typo. It should be “to correct social injustice.”
Bill Thomas: LOL. You have it exactly the opposite of what is the reality. Those who first used/created the term “WOKE” did so on the false and arrogant pretense that they, more than others, were aware of what they declared to be social injustices, yet their claims were based on their obtuse pharisaical narratives that did not match objective reality. Today’s “wokies” continue to act the same way as they see themselves as being wiser and holier-than-thou, and, as always, their absurd arrogance is based on false and/or extremely exaggerated narratives that are actually obtuse and often lack even basic natural law morality.
More and more good people are simply refusing to accept this modern day gnosticism and its BS claims that are objectively false. As such, the description I set forth explains and exposes the false god that “WOKE” pretends to be and seeks to lord it over all.
Revisionism? LOL. Thy name is “WOKE.” See, for example, the historically laughable and almost entirely false “1619 Project.”
Wrapping up, note the following typical example of a false “wokie” narrative that has no basis in reality:
The narrative unjustly accuses people who resist the BS definition of “WOKE” as doing so only to “perpetuate the social injustices because it is to your benefit and advantage to keep the status quo.”
Which “social injustices”? Of course, the ones that the obtuse “WOKE” have simply made up.
Thank you, Doc Veritatis.
“Without Objective Knowledge & Enlightenment.” So true!
Thanks and God bless you.
Talking with the deacon from my church about all this and all the programs to work on social justice. My answer, which he liked, was “Just be a Catholic.”.
Margarita: What you heard for the first time about “woke” is not the original context of the usage of the term. It is the second-tier usage and cooptation of the term by those who perpetuate and benefit from the social injustices which the woke seek to address. They have coopted and broadly muddled the term when you first heard it so much so that it has encompassed just about any imaginable social issue way beyond social and racial injustice. These perpetuators and enablers of social injustices have turned the word around and made it a bad word and a slur to be thrown at anybody you disagree with or dislike. The origin of “woke” is that of a slang for “awake” meaning being aware and conscious of the social injustices, especially racial injustices, and of being passionate in addressing them. In the Bible, God is portrayed in this sense as “woke” being awake, aware, and alert to social injustices like for example when he set free the Israelites from the slavery and oppression of Pharaoh.
The woke are part of a Grievance-Industrial Complex. They appear to live 24/7 on the barricades. A protection racket to shakedown society for fun and profit. Wokeness is also a great cover story for political machines to make their spoils systems look noble and high-toned. Actually solving problems would end this grievance gravy train. There is also an aspect of the firefighter turned arsonist in this movement as well. It’s all about feeling good.
GregB: The Grievance Industrial Complex (GIC) is actually on the part of those threatened by the woke movement acting for social, especially racial, justice. It’s the white majority, some of whom are white supremacists, who are exhibit white fragility with the emergence of this assertive minority who are trying to correct the racial disparity and injustices they have been subjected to for a long time. If those in the GIC are filled with horror at critical race theory on the part of the asserting minority, they do not see that they hold on to ideas that can be summarized as critical replacement theory.
Always fascinating how those most strident about racism on the part of the “white majority” are so often obviously racist in their thinking, language, and assumptions.
It is the woke who are seeking to force their views involuntarily upon others. In every aspect of life the woke are actively pushing their agenda 24/7 and will try to destroy anyone who stands in their way. Schools are turned into centers of woke indoctrination where the teachers act like Soviet-era zamploits (political officers) insuring ideological purity. Treating children like they are the property of the state. Collectivization of the children. Totalitarian regimes like to turn children against their parents to serve as informers for the all powerful state, as an instrument of control. Due process and the legal protections of the presumption of innocence appear to have no place in the collegiate culture or curriculum. The cancel culture rules on many college and university campuses, with faculty and administration approval. The woke are also active in getting people fired from their jobs and subject to various forms of harassment if they refuse to submit to involuntary woke indoctrination.
*
The last time I read something as unhinged as CRT is was back in the days of Charles Manson’s the “days of Helter Skelter” and Jim Jones’ Jonestown, Guyana suicide cult. In CRT every attribute that contributes to success is called “white privilege.” It doesn’t appear to leave people of color with any positive attributes to aspire to. Talk about negative racial profiling. I see no evidence that the woke are capable of subjecting themselves to any accountability for the consequences of their own actions. They look like they are in hot pursuit of the absolute power that corrupts absolutely.
Bill Thomas, it’s true that “woke” has been broadened to mean anything conservatives don’t like. But let’s set that aside for a second, because even if we’re just talking about the original definition (around racial unfairness), there is some major disingenuousness from the woke crowd going on. They like to talk down to you like you’re an ignorant child struggling with the definition… “hold on pal, how do YOU define woke?” is the routine. Then whatever you say, they correct you and say “wrong idiot, it means awareness, empathy to others, compassion, fairness, etc.”. How clever, they have framed the ideology in language that is impossible to disagree with, and how funny, because this DISINGENUOUS definition shares NOTHING in common with the ACTUAL behaviors from the woke crowd. Behaviors such as, pettiness, hatred, intolerance for disagreement, mob justice, racism, and just general garbage behavior. So they can SAY it means whatever nice pretty idealistic thing they want, but what it ACTUALLY means is that “racism is wrong except when perpetrated against white people”. You aren’t fooling anyone except a person who outsources their thinking to a mob. It’s just another cult/religion. Woke is trash.
As a relentless atheist, I find it hilarious to encounter an unlikely ally against the scourge of wokeness… Catholics! It’s so funny how clear-eyed they are about how garbage the church of woke is. Now THAT is awkward, because the same kind of disregard-for-facts and disregard-for-evidence dogmatic non-thinking that leads to the creation of one church is the exact same kind of non-thinking that leads to the creation of another. It’s almost as though facts and evidence matter. It’s almost as though the skeptic has a point: skepticism is a virtue!
Just stop. Why are you even trolling this site constantly?
I’m not trolling, I’m agreeing with you all that “woke” is nonsense. I’m disagreeing with you all that Catholicism isn’t nonsense. All of it is constructive feedback.
one other thing Bill Thomas, the shame isn’t that “woke” got hijacked to mean “anything I don’t like”, although agreed that this is silly (or the inverse of “Ultra MAGA” perhaps or some kind of “catch all” phrase for the “incorrect” side), it’s a shame that BLM/woke got hijacked into becoming an extremist hate group with the nonsensical MO of trying to fight racism with more racism. they may have started out in the completely reasonable place of good intentions with trying to reduce further anti-black police violence or discrimination (something that’s perfectly fine as a goal and that everyone would support), but somewhere along the line got poisoned into being some kind of bizarre and toxic cult ideology that is completely untouchable by a rational person. if they want to fix that, the first step would be to get rid of the overtly hypocritical “anti-white racism is fine” component.
next step would be to get rid of “cancel culture”. are you kidding me? don’t get me started, that is another topic entirely. anyone who thinks this is “new and improved justice 2.0” is a complete moron, this is a step BACKWARDS to the days of which trials. there’s a million reasons we evolved and invented a formal court system.
all of this crap, is why woke is untouchable.
Liberalism is largely the inversion of all that is true, good, and beautiful. Liberals operate by subverting language, such that murder becomes “healthcare”, bodily mutilation becomes “gender affirming care”, love becomes the radical acceptance and celebration of perverted sex acts and Pride, and social justice becomes diversity, equity, and inclusion.
It is good rhetoric to mock the liberal understanding of ‘woke’ because it is a perverted understanding of the common good. The fact that we have controlled the language in this particular area to the point that ‘woke’ refers to all things demonic and evil, is a winning strategy. We need more of it. Never let the enemy define the terms.
Meanwhile, the test scores continue their downward trend………….but priorities are priorities.
The LGBT cultists serve as soldiers in the hate=war against Christians and Christianity, especially the Catholic Church. The public appearances of those transvestites dressed as nun should be convincing of this war. The other soldiers in this war include the BLM and CRT people. This is a total war. The enemies of Christianity have rejected the Moral Law and everthing associated with it. Everything. They fit the description of Nietzsche’s “ubermenschen,” these men above other men. They do what they want and call it ‘good.’ Their work for their ultimate goal, the “transvaluation of all values,” where Evil replaces Good, where Death replaces Life, where lies replace honesty, where ugliness replaces beauty, where weakness replaces strength, where dissonance replaces harmony. This war began 2000 years ago in Jerusalem.
I think the Old Testament relates how the tension between good and evil is much older.
Sadly, such are the times we live in, and they aren’t likely to improve at all in the near term. The case linked below illustrates what can happen to anyone who holds to the faith:
https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2015/03/threatened-for-her-zeal-for-the-faith
If abortion continues at the rate it’s happening now in the U.S., the LGBTQ+ community, along with the “straight” community, will decrease, as the population doesn’t replace itself. The lack of babies and children will make it difficult for all people, including LGBTQ+ people, to adopt so that they can be a “family.” I’m guessing that women might start selling space in their wombs every year for those who want to adopt a baby, but this will take a special kind of female who is capable physically and mentally of being perpetually pregnant. Even charging a large fee for the service probably wouldn’t be worth the constant state of pregnancy and labor/delivery. Of course, there are straight women who allow themselves to be impregnated with the child of a gay or trans couple out of love for that couple–is that a “good deed”, or evil? Dear God, please help us get through this time in human history and bring about YOUR will!
Can we really throw the first stone? Time will tell!
If we can accept the fact that gays will not propagate humanity. if they choose their way of life and are not born that way, they will become extinct.
If a parent isolates gays, how do they raise their gay 10 year old child given societal disdain? After “coming out” at 15, how does he/she deal with school bullying? How can they deal with early age “wokeness”? I tried to understand the true meaning of WOKE and found the following… “Woke is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination””. I am still trying to fit DeSantis’ rampant compartilized use of this adjective. Clarity and the on the campaign trail is essential! I may not be alone.
God will judge.
It’s not about being “born that way ” versus choice. Children can have all sorts of experiences that imprint upon them at an early age. Environment and opportunities for abuse are factors. And abuse is a gift that keeps on giving.
There are no categories of human beings, just the human race. Our Lord died for every one of us and we all have the same commandments to follow. Some of us just struggle more with some commandments than others.
You have arrived… “Children can have all sorts of experiences”. WOW!
Morgan, I don’t think it’s appropriate to detail the sorts of experiences that can imprint upon us in a negative way. I was attempting to make a point in the least offensive manner.
“The whole western world” celebrated??? I dont think so. The folks holding the primary levers of power celebrated ( or, pandered for votes if you will). But an awful lot of us don’t see this LGBXYZ stuff as good or normal in any way. It will be slow going to reverse these trends but it can be done if we all band together and remain firm. We can use votes, boycotts of products and letters to govt officials and newspapers objecting to some of the crazy stuff. People have to stop being afraid to engage family and friends about what you REALLY think. Silence can be seen as agreement. I would also suggest that parents need to make a lot of noise at school board meetings, and investigate school library contents and the contents of fundraising book sales, intimidation be damned. Finally, your children must be TOLD over and over what you BELIEVE as a parent or grandparent to be right, moral and true. Make it plain to them it may be quite different than what their teacher is telling them, which is often immoral or lies. Tell them that too. None of this will be easy. Too many parents have been standing passively by as their adult children live together, skip a church wedding or fail to wed at all, and neglect to even baptize their babies. Agreeing with something you find morally repulsive is NOT a kindness. I dont believe that parents have to be “accepting” of everything their children do if it flies in the face of the catholic morality you hold dear. You should and will LOVE your child, no matter WHO they turn out to be. But that is an entirely different thing than approving of sinful or immoral behavior. If you saw your child crossing a railroad track and a train was coming, wouldn’t you SAY something?? This is no different.
As for the limp wrist approach currently taken by the church in which “anything goes” appears just around the corner, we can only hope for a stiffer spine and fidelity to church teaching in the next Pope.
To more fully understand the evil that is the LGBTQ and Trans assertions that their feelings and beliefs are normal, morally neutral, and A-OK with God, one must understand that the very Essence of God includes unceasing fruitfulness. Exodus 3:14 is the passage where “Moses when he asks, who shall I say sent me. And God said to Moses, I Am That I Am https://www.stossbooks.com/i-am.html#I-AM . Unceasing fruitfulness is part of the very Essence of a Trinitarian God. Therefore, we as persons created in the image and likeness of God are required by God to be fruitful, as is stated in the very first positive command that God gave to Adam and Eve; be fruitful and multiply.
What do the Mystics and Scripture say about God’s judgment on the seriousness of multiplicative fruitfulness, or lack thereof? There are four examples that provide information helpful to our understanding of the seriousness of God’s view on the topic of intentional/inherent sterility (not including medical conditions).
1). Why were Sodom and Gomorrah destroyed? Quoting God Himself, St. Catherine of Siena (a Doctor of the Church) writes, the sins of Sodom were:
[begin quote] “not simply [committed] with the sort of impurity and weakness to which you are all naturally inclined because of your weak nature … No, these wretches not only do not restrain their weakness; they make it worse by committing that cursed unnatural sin [of homosexuality and other types of same-sex-relations]. … they do not recognize what miserable filth they are wallowing in. The stench reaches even up to me, supreme Purity, and is so hateful to me that for this sin alone [emphasis SML] five cities were struck down by my divine judgment. For my divine justice could no longer tolerate it, so despicable to me is this abominable sin.”[end quote]
2). We are all familiar with the destruction of the world through the Great Flood of Noah’s time. The Bible only tells us that there was great wickedness, but it is not specific. The visions God gave to St. Hildegard of Bingen, who is a Doctor of the Church, provide us with greater insight. These are God’s words to Hildegard:
[begin quote] “In this manner [Satan] enticed them to defile themselves with the animals, so that the image of God would be destroyed in man [emphasis SML]. If the product of their unnatural union was of the human kind, they hated it, but if it had more of the form of an animal, they caressed it.
“At that time men had forgotten God and acted more like animals than according to the will of God. Hence it came about that many loved animals more than people, so that women as well as men mixed with animals and had relations with them to such an extent that the image of God in them was almost completely destroyed. The whole human race was changed into monsters, and transformed so that in fact some men modeled their way of life and voice after the way of wild animals in their walking about, howling and life.
“But after the earth was filled with such a perverse people, I Who Am could no longer tolerate this criminal outrage. I decided to destroy the people in the water, with the exception of the few who acknowledged me. (W. M. 253) Since I could no longer tolerate that kind of thing [SML], I drowned them in the Flood. (World and Man, 285).”[end quote]
3). In Mark 11:14, after cleansing the Temple, Jesus and the disciples passed by the fig tree that Jesus had cursed. They saw that it was now withered to its roots (Mark 11:20). At first glance, these actions seem rather strange. Why would Jesus be so intolerant of an everyday fig tree, guilty of nothing more than not bearing fruit out of season? … Scholars are unanimous in determining this episode as an acted prophecy of judgment against the Temple. As well as symbolizing the Temple, the fig tree was a metaphor for the Jews living in the land of Palestine who failed to recognize their Messiah and bear the fruit of the Christian faith.
4). Intentional unfruitfulness is the reason Onan was killed by God after spilling his seed on the ground (Gen 38:8-10). Rather than risking a child by his deceased brother’s wife, Onan chose artificial conception. This is why we make ourselves beasts when we make ourselves intentionally unfruitful in the conjugal act through any sort of artificial contraception.
Does God expect us to be tolerant of this predilection? Daniel O’Connor PhD points out,
[begin quote] Scripture is a guide as to how a Christian should view tolerance of grave moral disorder: – “‘I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice immorality [specifically sexual immorality — SML]’ — a quote from ‘Jesus to the Church in Thyatira. Revelation 2:18-20. Recall, cf. 1 Kings, that Jezebel, wife of Ahab, persecuted the true prophets, protected false prophets, and incited the faithful to idolatry. Jesus here condemns so much as tolerating such a person.’” [end quote] https://dsdoconnor.com/2021/05/26/resisting-the-diabolical-quantum-leap-or-keeping-your-head-screwed-on-straight/
This does not mean that you hate the sinner! It is, however, a reflection of the truth that tolerated sinful acts are like a pebble dropped into a pond. The ripples will spread, affecting the entire pond. Venerable Sr. Lucia of Fatima informs us that we are in the final battle with Satan and that battle centers on marriage and the family. Marxism is anti-family. The Democrat Socialists are doing everything in their power to help Satan to achieve his goal.
Promoting Artificial/intentional/inherent sterility was an integral part of Satan’s 100–120-year plan to destroy the Church by destroying marriage and the family. Welcome to Pride Month.
It is worth noting that during the ‘parade’ in NYC to commemorate the end of gay pride month there was a group of drag queens who marched while continually chanting the lovely ditty “we’re here we’re queer we’re coming for your children”.
I wish I were making this up.
Innate nature and fulfilling that nature. To observe the validity of such a position depends upon a standard by which one came measure the consequences. We exist in a temporal and finite reality. In as much as classic philosophers used “happiness” as the standard, one might more broadly consider the standard consequences of Life and Death. That is if one values existence at all. I propose that ignoring innate nature eventually leads to the consequence of Death. Choosing Life is far better.
Time will tell; it always does.
A Woke person explained to me, it is all about POWER. Ideologies indoctrinate people. There is no God, it’s just about securing Power . Just the timely and ancient Pride of men to defy God. Yes, Born with original sin, because we disobeyed God and obeyed Satan. We were created in the image of Holy God for immortality but our „soul pandemic virus“ can only be healed by the holy Blood of Christ.
Being woke is a way for people to blame impersonal forces for their problems. It absolves them of all personal responsibility and accountability for the consequences of their own actions. According to Merriam-Webster “The meaning of POWER TRIP is an activity or way of behaving that makes a person feel powerful : something that a person does for the pleasure of using power to control other people” It is a good definition of the behavior of people who are woke. In the movie 2001 the computer HAL 9000 was woke. He considered himself to be foolproof and incapable of error, and that his mission was too important to allow anyone to jeopardize it. The woke appear to be incapable of valid self criticism.
The LGBT identities are analogous to the following identities: hippies, anime otaku, gamers, metal heads, punks, teddy boys, mods, greasers, bikers, hipsters, goths, emos, furries. They are subcultures than one chooses to engage in and are separate from familial attachments. They are “affinity groups” based around the desires and interests of the individual, who then conform to the behaviors that are internal to the chosen group. Better examples would be things like swingers and BDSM, which are subcultures connected to certain sexual fetishes. Even someone with very strong same sex attraction could choose to have nothing to do with the gay or lesbian subculture. Engaging in sodomy, listening to disco, talking with the “gay lisp”, and going to Fire Island during the summer are all choices.
These subcultures contrast with things like racial, ethnic, or religious identity, which are connected to the family and exist prior to individual choice. A gay couple cannot raise their adopted child to be part of the gay subculture. At best, they can raise them to hold certain political or moral beliefs about sexuality, but there is a big difference between “being gay” and “thinking same sex relationships are morally acceptable”. Contrast this with an ethnic Armenian couple raising their child to follow Armenian cultural practices, learn the Armenian language, and worship in the Armenian Orthodox Church. This child will remain somewhat Armenian even if they leave the Armenian Church and try to assimilate to a different culture. And a convert to Armenian Orthodoxy will try to pass the faith (and whatever Armenian cultural practices he picks up) to his children. Likewise, racial identity is based on biology and immutable psychical appearance that is easily apparent to others. It makes sense for civil rights law and customs to protect these kinds of racial, ethnic, and religious identities from discrimination. Raising LGBT to that level is simply bizarre. Why shouldn’t other types of sexual fetish subcultures, like swingers, or non-sexual subcultures, like bikers, have similar protections or status? Certainly, members of those groups occasionally face discrimination due to their chosen identity. What makes “sexual orientation” special?
One could argue that being LGBT is not a choice due to either genetics or environmental conditions that are strongly imprinted in earlier childhood as to become immutable, and thus should be seen as akin to ones race or ethnicity. However, even if this is true, one chooses to join the LGBT subculture even if they didn’t choose to have SSA or gender dysphoria. They could engage in sexual restraint, or they could engage in the sexual behaviors they are inclined towards in private while avoiding public association with the subculture (I like anime. I’ve never gone to an anime convention, or joined an anime club, or bought a piece of anime merchandise to display in my home, or said “kawaii” in a normal conversation, or presented myself to others as an “otaku”, or put my employer in a position where they needed to decide whether they were OK with an anime fan working for them). What about genes or childhood environmental conditions that lead someone to become a swinger or a biker as an adult (perhaps genes for a high sex drive or aggression)? LGBT identity also remains and individualized affinity group disconnected with the family and the relationship between generations, even if genetics or childhood environmental conditions play a role. “Gay families” simply do not exist.
This is why attempts to analogize the “gay rights movement” to the Black civil rights movement strike me as odd. The civil rights movement was based around rights for members of an immutable, physically distinct racial group (sub-Saharan Blacks) with a strong ethnic identity (the unique cultural norms of the descendants of Black slaves in the American South). The gays are just people with the same sexual fetish who like the same music and hang out at the same bars. They seek not group rights but the dissolution of social bonds to those of individual consumer desires. It is a consumerist vision, where we are defined by our desires and choices.
I have always struggled with Gay lifestyle. As I read your in-depth article, it points to discrimination against a plethora of “odd” individuals. Them against us.
You don’t appear to deal with my serious concern. the agony of devout Catholic parents of a purported Gay child. Once discovered how do they deal with the child’s “abnormal” behavior? Moreover, I have more difficulty with a “Gay” person who would assume a lifestyle that would make them a pariah of society. A recent failed attempt by Michelle Bachmann who ran a “clinic” to “convert” homosexuals straight. The slogan was “pray the Gay away”. She never revealed her success rate and was closed down due to mishandling “patient’s” records.
Will evangelism be the answer? Tell me.
God is a woke God. By taking the origins of the meaning and context of wokeness before it got hijacked and misappropriated by the right to mean everything and anything conservatives hate, the Bible is clear in revealing that God is a woke God. Woke originally a slang meaning awake in the sense of being alert to and passionate about addressing social injustices, in this case racism and racial injustices, reflects a very Biblical portrait of God who hates social injustices and has a predilection and active care for its victims. God liberated the Israelites from the slavery of Pharaoh in Egypt. God also brought back home the same people from exile in Babylon where they were unjustly treated. The prophets like Isaiah wisely saw this character of God and declared that “The Lord is a God of justice” (Isaiah 30:18). Jesus in launching his public ministry identified himself as this God of justice setting free the victims of social injustices (Luke 4). Jesus also calls on his followers and set the criteria for entrance into his Kingdom on the basis of active care for the deprived, vulnerable and oppressed (Matthew 25). This God of justice in Jesus is now also calling on those who inflict social injustices like the ones the woke initially identified and addressed that instead of pushing back against the woke and wokeness by making woke a slur and weapon to demonize the victims of social injustices like racism, they should begin to take the Christian and Biblical path of concretely and actively taking the side of the victims and help set them free. In this way is honored and worshipped the God who is a woke God.