The Woke Revolution, Critical Race Theory, and the Courage to Tell the Truth

In a recent article from Commentary.org, journalist Bari Weiss recounts an alarming number of incidents that have occurred in numerous academic institutions across the country. She writes of,
“David Peterson, an art professor at Skidmore College in upstate New York. He stood accused in the fevered summer of 2020 of “engaging in hateful conduct that threatens Black Skidmore students.”
What was that hateful conduct? David and his wife, Andrea, went to watch a rally for police officers. “Given the painful events that continue to unfold across this nation, I guess we just felt compelled to see first-hand how all of this was playing out in our own community,” he told the Skidmore student newspaper. David and his wife stayed for 20 minutes on the edge of the event. They held no signs, participated in no chants. They just watched. Then they left for dinner.
For the crime of listening, David Peterson’s class was boycotted. A sign appeared on his classroom door: “STOP. By entering this class you are crossing a campus-wide picket line and breaking the boycott against Professor David Peterson. This is not a safe environment for marginalized students.” Then the university opened an investigation into accusations of bias in the classroom.”
In recent years, disturbing incidents like this one Weiss reported have been happening at an alarming rate. Activism across college campuses and in progressive cities has pushed for radical social, political, and societal revolution. The calls to “dismantle the patriarchy”, “redistribute wealth”, “tax the rich”, “defund the police” are all grounded in the understanding that these institutions are by nature irredeemably discriminatory and must be destroyed. The call to be “woke” is to be conscious of these injustices in society and aware of the need for their dismantling. Critical race theory is an approach to these social changes that also calls for the deconstruction of supposedly “racist” institutions, laws, and establishments.
But are these ideas grounded in truth? Are they working, and will they ever work? What is the Christian response to critical race theory? How is a Christian to view being “woke”? And, what if we get “canceled” or “censored” for simply telling the truth?

Jesus Music- Commercialization, Commodification, and Concealment in the Christian Entertainment Business (feat. Zach Simms)

The word “sing” appears in the Bible over 400 times, and at least 50 of those are commands for followers of Jesus to sing. In Colossians 3:16, believers are commanded to, “sing to God with gratitude from the heart” and to sing to each other, teaching and admonishing through “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs”. It’s clear from the Bible that God desires for His people to sing- both to Him and to each other. But what happens when that experience of connecting with God and other believers through music gets commodified and turned into a product to be bought and sold?
Total sales from the Christian music industry are more than a half billion US dollars annually. Christian/Gospel music is considered one of the fastest growing areas in recorded music history, with more than 1,400 radio stations and 80 million listeners. Even mainstream brands such as Pepsi MidAmerica, Cracker Barrel, Allstate, NASCAR and McDonald’s, among others, have aligned with Gospel/Christian artists, releases and festivals and events to promote their brands.
It’s clear that there’s money to be made in Christian music and entertainment. But at what cost to the Christian message? And what about the artists, producers, and writers that help create that music? Are they all, truly “Christian”- or are they simply pandering to a carefully selected demographic through setting clean, positive, nonspecific, and formulaic jargon to modern music?
Is the music promoting an authentic lifestyle of radical surrender to Christ as King, or is it simply giving us a soundtrack to a life of safe, comfortable, consumerism with a little Jesus sprinkled on top?