"Demonic Woke Ideology"
“What happened today was not justice...I do not subscribe to demonic woke ideology.”
Something that has been the most difficult for me to navigate during the last, almost year of racial unrest, is the responses from white evangelicals. Specifically white evangelicals that at one point in time called themselves my friend and sibling in Christ. Actually to say that it has been difficult is an understatement, it has been wholly traumatizing.
Patrick and I watched the reading of the verdict in the Derek Chauvin case live. It’s a moment that I will never forget. I felt numb. I hoped for a guilty verdict but I expected to see a repeat of what we’ve seen in the past. “We find the defendant not guilty.” It’s a moment that I struggled to process. I wanted to feel relief and to a degree relief was certainly present but I also felt such an intense level of grief.
Grief for the ways that we devalue human life and the ways that society devalues God by looking down on those of us who (they forget) also bear God’s image. Mostly I felt grief for George Floyd’s daughter who I believe is only 6 years old. My heart breaks for her and the fact that she has to grow up without her father. I am just devastated over that and there is no verdict that can right that wrong.
Later in the evening I responded to a comment on a friend’s Facebook page. She was celebrating the verdict and also lamenting the loss of life. After I responded a white evangelical “friend” that we have in common, responded to my comment with a laughing emoji. I messaged them to ask why because surely it was a mistake. They responded with, “What happened today was not justice,” they said a few other things that I won’t share but their message ended with “I do not subscribe to demonic woke ideology.”
Church, when did we become the kind of people that laugh in the face of our mourning siblings? When did that become a tenet of our faith? I ended up blocking that person because I refuse to engage with someone who is void of empathy but the interaction only added to my devastation.
What I consider demonic, is responding to pain with laughter. Seeing a person mourning as a chance for you to insert your thoughts on their pain. What’s demonic is to call someone being held accountable for taking a life, “woke theology.” I pray that we always say “No,” to an opportunity to share our perspective when it comes at the expense of us loving our neighbor well. May we always speak in love and in moments where we catch ourselves saying something that only serves us, that we stop and repent.
I wish that the white evangelicals in my life, that I planted a church with and prayed with and stood with in the midst of their pain, would put their politics aside and stand with me in mine. They don’t mourn with me but instead they laugh at me and call my pain demonic.
Travon Free quoted James Baldwin at the Oscars and the quote fit perfectly with this. Baldwin once said “the most despicable thing a person can be is indifferent to other people’s pain.”
Don’t be indifferent to the pain of others especially not in the name of Jesus. We have to do better. If your opinions point to your theology but point away from Jesus then they’re surely not honoring Him. We have to do better.
Until soon,
- N