Rev. Gordon Tubbs
2 min readSep 21, 2022

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Wokism really has become the civil religion of our time, furnished with its own clergy, orthodoxy, and inquisition. I sense that the Woke ethos is motivated by a heightened valuation of the individual person (in terms of giving the individual permission to be their own moral authority, express themselves however they want, etc.). There's nothing wrong with that per se, because one might think that such a valuation would fuel the kind of egalitarianism we need for a (classically) liberal society where inclusivity and diversity can be celebrated. The problem, and the irony you pointed out, is that the Wokists champion exclusivity and conformity.... which is not at all liberal.

On another note, you may want to do some more research with respect to the motivation of the religious pro-life movement. Being an insider (by association) to that movement, characterizing it as "saving babies as to reach eternal salvation" has not been my understanding or experience of what the premises of the pro-life argument are. The first premise has always been about the sanctity of human life, and the second being our duty to protect it (which ironically could be about seeking the common good, which just further complicates the debate). The third premise ("The Prestige" if you will, hahah) - and most contested in my opinion - is when life begins. The fourth and crucial premise is whether or not a mother's individual authority gives them the right to ignore premise 2 (their duty to protect the human life within them). Even the most strident pro-choicer probably would concede that at some point in a mother's pregnancy that mother's individual authority over the life within them has been superseded... and so in my opinion we're all pro-life, it's just a matter of figuring out where and when that line is crossed (which is why the third premise is so crucial). There are exceptions to each of these premises for sure, but none of them (from the perspective of the religious pro-lifer) are about reaching eternal salvation.

Apart from that, your article was very well-written. Looking forward to more content! Thanks.

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Rev. Gordon Tubbs
Rev. Gordon Tubbs

Written by Rev. Gordon Tubbs

Clear and critical thinking-out-loud about philosophical and theological topics from the perspective of an ordained Christian minister.

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