Among Christian worldview thought leaders today, there are few comparable to Dr. Albert Mohler. One of the ways he engages in worldview discussions is through a program called Ask Anything. He conducts these sessions virtually and, until recently, on university campuses. Because of the increasing control of the cancel culture movement in the college settings, however, he felt compelled to change the venue to local churches.[i] The cancel culture movement has transformed institutions of higher education from venues engaged in seeking truth to venues for cultural ideological indoctrination. With this change came intolerance for anyone with a worldview different from the current ultra-liberal view.
Anecdotally, the first time I recall hearing the phrase “you’re canceled” was about four months after the pandemic shut down the economy of the USA in March 2020. I remember being stunned by the phrase and wondering what it meant. In the ensuing months, the meaning became clear. To cancel someone meant that the one being canceled was to be viewed as irrelevant on some issue or issues. Those who oppose Christianity most radically seemed to use the phrase frequently to at least marginalize (and sometimes incarcerate or kill) anyone who stood for a Christian worldview on any issue, such as, abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, education, marriage, family, parenting, procreation, health care, judicial rulings, economics, or public policy. The cancel culture movement is intolerant of Christianity, its values and principles, and anyone who promotes these.
This type of intolerance toward Christianity is not new. It has been around a long time. For example, when the apostle Paul went to Jerusalem around AD 60, about twenty-five years after his conversion to Christianity, he experienced a cancelation attempt by Jewish religious leaders. Though Paul was a Jew, he converted to Christianity when he encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. After his conversion, his former Jewish friends and colleagues turned against him. He experienced vehement opposition from them in Damascus and Jerusalem. In both places, they tried to cancel him by killing him. Furthermore, he was nearly canceled on numerous occasions during his apostolic journeys—in Iconium (Acts 14:19−20), Thessalonica (Acts 17:5−8), Berea (Acts 17:13−15), and Ephesus (Acts 19:22−41). From the time Paul encountered Christ to his arrival in Rome he was targeted for cancelation many times. There is a long history of cancel culture targeting Christ and his followers.
From the first century to the sixteenth-century Reformation, intolerance of Christianity ebbed and flowed. In the past five hundred years, cancel culture efforts against Christianity have continued and accelerated.
In the seventeenth century, Francis Bacon, an Anglican, proposed a new epistemology based on empiricism rather than divine revelation. He hypothesized that knowledge existed independent of God. His terminology was that knowledge is values neutral. This meant that it is unbiased by divinely defined values. Initially, his theory was not widely embraced, but, though a professing Christian, he sowed the seeds for more cancel culture.
Later in the century, Isaac Newton wrote his famous work Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica in which he postulated that motion could be explained based on natural physical laws instead of the warring of the Greek gods, as was proposed by Aristotle. When Newton’s explanation was finally embraced, this opened the way for scientific discoveries that emerged in the following centuries. Furthermore, Newton’s philosophy of science based on natural law was used by atheists to support Bacon’s epistemology. Philosophically, if everything could be explained by natural laws, there was no need for a God hypothesis. This was called naturalism or materialism. The atheists of the time were small in number but widely endorsed this naturalistic view. As a result, atheism as a worldview gained credibility.
Throughout the nineteenth century, naturalism impacted all aspects of society. Education at all levels, including the seminary level, was disconnected from theology. By the end of the century, most educational institutions proudly called themselves secular. This was a self-defined moniker by the atheist movement. To label education secular is a lie because, from a Christian worldview, education cannot be legitimately separated from God.
The impact of naturalism continued into the twentieth century with the transition from biblical economics to atheistic economics (Keynesian economics). Then judicial rulings and public policy were disconnected from God. And in the latter half of the twentieth century into the twenty-first century, social norms were disconnected from the Bible and the definition of these norms was presumed to be the purview of mankind.
Today, the God hypothesis at the root of Christianity is widely disdained. Instead of theocentric societies, the world has become man centric (humanistic). And, increasingly, those who are humanistic view anyone seeking to be theocentric as an impediment to progress and, therefore, they should be canceled. Consequently, Christ followers are viewed as irrelevant and subject to cancelation.
What is happening with the cancel culture movement is a continuation of what the apostle Paul experienced in the first century. It is an expression of intolerance of Jesus as both Lord and Christ, the Bible, Christianity, and anyone with an associated perspective.
From a Christian worldview, the message of Christianity in its purest form is presented to all without ethnic distinction (Acts 26:28−29). Though not all will receive it, all will ultimately be judged by their Creator based on their actions (Revelation 20). However, no human has the right to presume to be the ultimate judge of any other human. Therefore, the idea of marginalizing humans in the sense of canceling them is not Christian.
All people are created by God to serve his purpose. This means that all people are important and should be valued accordingly. In this sense, the Christian worldview is tolerant of all, even those who oppose Christ.
The spirit of antichrist is, and always has been, intolerant of anyone who stands for Christ. Whether in the first century or the twenty-first century, the spirit of antichrist is the spirit behind the cancel culture movement.
There is nothing new under the sun. Therefore, Christians must be clear on this reality and recognize that the current day cancel culture movement is empowered by the spirit of antichrist who continues to oppose Christ and his followers. The cancel culture movement demands tolerance but does not extend tolerance. Christians must recognize this reality and learn how to live wise as serpents and harmless as doves (Matthew 10:16) in a society increasingly given over to the cancel culture movement controlled by the spirit of antichrist.
