I had a wake-up call during an interview last week with an English friend who was once a minister in the Church of England. He was also active as a journalist and broadcaster. He told how he was conducting a radio interview on the BBC on the issue of abortion. At the time he had accepted the politically correct opinion that abortion was simply about a woman’s choice. However, his interviewee was opposed to abortion so he took a moment during the interview to look online at the statistics and found that since the legalization of abortion in Britain the lives of some 6 million unborn children had been snuffed out.

He commented spontaneously on air, “Gosh, that’s like the holocaust!” After the broadcast was over he was taken to one side by the editor of the show and told, “Don’t you ever compare the abortion question to the holocaust! If you dare to repeat this you will never work in the BBC again.”

A Reminder of the Increasing Power of “Woke” Bullies

It was a reminder of the increasing power of the woke bullies in our cancel culture. What was more disturbing was that a few days earlier I had spent some time listening to the sermon of an Anglican minister. She proclaimed the politically correct gospel from the pulpit on the issue of human sexuality.

As the forces of woke-ism gear up we should expect an assault on religious freedom. The thought police will be investigating Christian schools, listening to Christian sermons, and monitoring Christian writing for any traces of thoughts and words that do not conform. If the historic Christian faith is deemed to be offensive “hate speech” it will be suppressed.

Committed to The Gospel of “Woke”

What will be most alarming is that the assault on religious freedom will be blessed and enabled by many of our religious leaders themselves. Those in the leadership roles of the established mainline Protestant denominations are already deeply committed to the gospel of woke and they are prepared with their own 21st century version of the Inquisition to seek out the heretics, question them, and burn them at the stake. I don’t suppose we will see literal burnings anytime soon, but the hits will come through pressure to conform, lawsuits, harassment, and “peaceful protests.” Those who dare to stand up against the woke bullies will be hounded from jobs, have their reputations destroyed, and their lives ruined.

Did I accuse the mainstream Protestant establishment? I’m a Catholic, and I have to admit that we have too many priests and prelates who also preach the false gospel of woke-ism. In a grotesque form of ecumenism they will join arms with their Protestant brothers and sisters to attack the religious freedoms of those with whom they disagree.

These religious leaders will preach the gospel of woke and sanction the self-righteous feeding frenzy of the politically correct piranhas. As the inquisitors have always done, they will cloak their aggression in fine words and seemingly good motives — really believing the lie that they are doing God’s work.

Here is the final, cruel irony — once the powers of darkness have finished using those who compromised the gospel and exchanged the truth for a lie, they will turn to devour their lackeys next. History teaches us that the powers from the heart of darkness are never satisfied. The beast is vicious and voracious. His hunger and rage are relentless. He cannot be appeased.

Dwight Longenecker is the pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in Greenville, South Carolina. He is the author of Immortal Combat: Confronting the Heart of Darkness, which explores the roots of rage and violence in our society.