Awake, Not Woke (Part 2)

Welcome to Family Policy Matters, an engaging and informative weekly radio show and podcast produced by the North Carolina Family Policy Council. Hi, this is John Rustin, president of NC Family, and we're grateful to have you with us for this week's program. It's our prayer that you will be informed, encouraged, and inspired by what you hear on this show. On Family Policy Matters, and that you will feel better equipped to be a voice of persuasion for family values in your community, state, and nation.

Today, we bring you part two of a two part program with Noel Mehring, an author and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, DC. The most obvious place to start, I guess, would be the sexual revolution, right? I think that there was this misguided or, you know, malevolent, depending on who you're talking about, effort to utterly do away with any sort of sexual norms, which would be considered oppressive. This was a really key element in one of the three, what I call the three dogmas of the woke movement. And it created this desire to elevate the idea of total sexual autonomy, to being an avenue of our liberation. And the problem is, is that what happens with, you cannot have that sort of freedom without having as a consequence, grave injustice.

Because if you if you have a person who is not, who is not disciplined, without virtue, and in engaging the serial gratification of his will, as a sign of his liberation, then inevitably, his will is going to come up against the will of another. And so this is why we have such an emphasis on consent, right? Because well, we think, well, the one thing we can do is establish consent, that your will cannot trump my will.

But that is a very thin hinge to to establish a sort of healthy dynamics between men and women. And so so what we've done is we've created a virtue out of becoming vicious. And then that viciousness inevitably burns and into the point where it's going to railroad the will of another regardless of how much we give a corporate sermon on consent and talk about it at a Golden Globe show or something. And then and then of course, for children, you know, this is children are direct victim of all of this adult irresponsibility that they they have to become something that has to be disposed of if, you know, a pregnancy comes about because now we have this understanding of sexuality that it should be without any ties or responsibility or duty. It's a very different vision of looking at what a person is traditionally would would claim. I think that the vision that we would want to establish instead, and that has been throughout Christianity, is that we are people who are have responsibilities to one another, we have duties, we have to limit ourselves in order out of deference to another person, that autonomy far from being our highest virtue, is simply just a fact, a reality that we have, we can do certain things, that doesn't mean we ought to do them. And that it's in finding that sort of moral nuance, that we actually learn to become people who can live in harmony with one another, with with regard to one another, and then that that that understanding of living with regard to the other is actually essential to our human freedom, not in hindrance.

So yeah, so I think that that's, you know, more or less, I guess the case I would make, there are other things to be said, too. But I think that's the most basic case of how I think we've harmed so greatly. city in general, and it said gun crimes were up 22%.

This year, versus last year, aggravated assaults up 39%. Over last year, people will blame it on COVID or other things. Do you think some of this, though, can be attributed to this new woke culture?

Yeah, I do. I mean, I think that, you know, obviously, there's the running the risk of coming up with too simplistic of a cause for such a such a complex issue. But fundamentally, I think what the woke movement has done is eradicated any sense of meaning, purpose in our life, meaning in our bodies, meaning in, you know, our human human interconnections, it's created this world where we are, we have tried to limit, create no limits for ourselves.

And by in so doing, we've limited ourselves to this sort of void of meaning. And that's far more of a, of a violent and despairing place to be because people start to feel hopeless, I think, at some point, you know, a lot of the people who lived through, you know, communist regimes have written about how, you know, in, in, in times of suffering, people found great meaning, you know, it's the irony of finding the steps of meaning and all these figures, this great freedom, because they found an interior freedom, they found that they had a purpose beyond this life, and that that it was a purpose that circumstances of oppression could not eradicate from them. And in contrast, you know, they would write about how, you know, in abundance, oftentimes, and with all the options available to you all, you know, license, you know, diminution of the moral law, you see people become very suicidal. And, you know, and that's also, you know, obviously, I don't want to have a simplistic answer for that I, suicide is complicated.

But the idea being that it is in deep meaning that we find our joy and our freedom. And this idea that we can have every option open to us, is actually going to lead to a lot of despair into violence, and that these social pathologies are hard to, they're hard to heal, because the there's a community oftentimes that are raised, you know, in ways that have been have deeply hurt them. And there's been there are real harms there and wounds. But the ideology is not is actually exacerbating those wounds.

It's not meant to heal them. It's meant to exacerbate them. That's the point of the ideology of rage. That is what they write about time and again, is that we need people who are enraged. And we see this this rage turning on even their own, we see examples of people within this more woke culture, that don't toe completely toe the party line, and people will turn on them viciously as well as their rage is not just for those that are conservative or on the other side of the party aisle.

That's right. And that way, it really does mimic a very fundamentalist sort of cool, because it is demands such a purity of the ideology, where you see they will turn on themselves and turn on one another. And this, you know, this is what this happened in Stalinist Russia to that people are quick to turn on the other because you kind of defend your status by finding the guilt and others.

You know, it's really the opposite of what the Christian messages, which is to, you know, excuse the fault of the other. And find and find what you're responsible for what, you know, how you do your mea culpa, mea culpa. And in the woke movement, you really establish and maintain your status by uncovering and unmasking the evil and the other, whether he be on your side on the other side, somewhere in the middle, you know, that's how you maintain your status.

And so that creates a very perverse incentive of rupture and, you know, and toxicity, I think, in the culture. You're listening to Family Policy Matters, a weekly radio show and podcast of the North Carolina Family Policy Council. This is just one of the many ways NC Family works to educate and inform citizens across North Carolina about policy issues that impact North Carolina families. Our vision is to create a state and nation where God is honored, religious freedom flourishes, families thrive, and life is cherished. For more information about NC Family and how you can help us to achieve this incredible vision for our state and nation, visit our website at ncfamily.org. Again, that's ncfamily.org. And be sure to sign up to receive our email updates, action alerts, and of course, our flagship publication, Family North Carolina magazine.

We'd also love for you to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. It's hard to know what comes first. But it this either could lead to or has been a result of the disrespect for institutions. I hear people say horrible things about the President of the United States. And I'm like, he's still our president, you know, it's like, can we not have respect for the institution? The police is another institution that I feel like has really taken a horrible rap. Is there any way of knowing which which came first? Or is that just part of the whole devolution?

I think they probably feed into another. But you know, the book, I really talked about the collapsing of the concept of authority into the concept of power. And that's really always been a key part of the ideology. And every time this sort of thing is implemented, it always is a rejection of authority.

So now it's China, also. And the idea being that that authority is something that's grounded in something higher. It's something that references something. Power is just human power, just a fact of power. But if you say that there if there's an effort to attack authority, so as you say, the institutions, the police, the presidency, the office, you know, also even in such things that well, fatherhood, but also in such things as the objective truth, like so for example, two plus two equals four, that's that's there was famously question by the woke movement, because any sort of objective measure points to something higher points to something to reference.

And that takes away from the power that which is the only filter through which they can see the world. So yeah, I think that's certainly connected to the rejection of the concept of authority. And you know, it's easy, it's easy to do, because authority can be abused. And so you can point to real instances of abuse of authority, and say, Well, look, you know, this is clearly bad.

And I think that that narrative carries the day a lot and persuades a lot of people. And so you know, we I think we have to have real clarity about making those distinctions. Yes, the abuse of authorities is an evil, but that doesn't mean that there's not such thing as authority and actually look at the world without a concept of authority. It's a world that's utterly irreverent, it cannot reverence anything.

And that's a dangerous place to go. How do we tackle some of these injustices without going to the extreme of feeling like we have to either partner with or adopt some of the strategies that this woke culture are espousing? Yeah, that's such an important question, because I think there can be a real temptation to just react, and to meet ideology with ideology, another ideology of another stripe, you know, sort of meet the tribalism with another unhealthy tribalism.

And that's not going to be the answer. The answer is also not simple, because it's not we can have the right answers, we can say, Well, we have to, we have to give importance to the family, and well, we have to, you know, reestablish a sense of authority or whatever. But this can't be fought just on the level of a proposition either. I think we actually have to embody what what is truth, you know, so, you know, that's a, it's, it's maybe the most basic answer may be a boring one. But all this is fundamentally a spiritual battle. And I think we have to wage it on that level. So we have to, we have to draw so closely to Christ that that that he is what we are able to reflect in our own imperfect, faulty ways.

Because it really is the attraction of what is good, beautiful, true, holy, that I think can pull someone out of this sort of ideological possession. You know, it's not just gonna be an argument, although arguments are important. It's not just going to be beauty of a beauty is important.

I think it has to be the whole scope of all of those things. You know, because it's it's confusing, and it's it's compelling. And so it takes a lot to it takes a lot to to change the narrative.

We're just about out of time for this week. But before we go, Noel Marring, author of the new book, Awake, Not Woke, a Christian response to the cult of progressive ideology. Where can our listeners go to follow up with you learn more about getting your book and possibly follow your work? Sure, I've got a website, just my name, noelmarring.com. You can subscribe there and I try to update it when I write something new. I also edit the website, theologyofhome.com. And we have a subscribe subscription there as well as an Instagram and a Facebook. And I'm on Twitter at Noel M. Well, I'll give you a chance to give us a quick plug on your theology of home website, just because that's such a provocative name.

What is that all about? Yeah, so my co author, Carrie Gress and I, we wrote, we've written a couple of theology of home books, and we started the website. It's a free service, we just send, we wanted to create daily content for mostly for women, although we actually have a lot of men that subscribe to our website, too. And it's got, you know, we send eight links a day, just in one email of anything from the faith, spiritual food to something in the news to, you know, organization of the home to a recipe. We also have a shop there where we have all domestically made, beautifully crafted products, trying to reestablish a sense of beauty and craftsmanship in our homes. And it also helps support our ministry.

So yeah, then we have a blog, we bring original content to that website as well. I feel like you a true Proverbs 31 woman. I mean, just listening to the wide range of the kinds of things you do and how intelligently you speak on this very important and complicated issue. I just wonder if there's anything you cannot do? Is there anything that you're bad at? Yeah, I am not good at cooking. I you know, I love decorating my home, but I could be disorganized. I struggle with order. You know, sometimes I stay up too late. And then if I'm looking around in my bedroom right now, that's quite a mess.

So there's so many things I'm not great at. Noel Mehring, thank you so much for being with us today on Family Policy Matters. You've been listening to Family Policy Matters. We hope you enjoyed the program and plan to tune in again next week. To listen to the show online and to learn more about NC families work to inform, encourage and inspire families across North Carolina, go to our website at ncfamily.org. That's ncfamily.org. Thanks again for listening and may God bless you and your family. Thank you.