"Cancel Culture" Strikes at Karen Swallow Prior and "God's Chicken"
While surveying the landscape of the bitter Southern Baptist quarrels, the Christian fallout of Chick-fil-a compromising, and the general state of affairs within the broader evangelical “culture wars,” one thing has become crystal clear to me. The “cancel culture” so commonly condemned and mocked by politically and theologically conservative talking-heads is the very same culture as the Christian “boycott culture.”
Often panned as an unjust attempt at silencing opponents, “cancel culture” is largely seen by conservatives as manipulative and a worldly power move. We regularly hear that “liberal outrage” is either artificially hyped or sometimes just downright manufactured to influence markets and services. This outrage is characterized as a liberal conspiracy to control and manipulate businesses, the media, and effectively, culture.
The #metoo movement and the way in which many men had their illustrious entertainment or business careers affected by sexual harassment and assault allegations are the most well-known example of this so-called cancel culture. Wide-spread public outcries condemning sexual harassment/assault and those accused of such sins, as you can imagine, affected the bottom line of many businesses. Naturally, some of these businesses responded by canceling or changing their financial relationships with some of the accused.
All of this is seen as an awful thing by many of the esteemed conservative talking-heads.
Meanwhile, while the nefarious liberal tweeters are creating a ruckus over sexual assault, a horde of conservatives are calling for a boycott of Chick-fil-a because they have compromised some of their Christian-based principles. For the last several years, Starbucks coffee has been considered Satan’s brew by a particularly dedicated slice of conservative evangelicals. Extensive social media campaigns of “hashtag activism” have been launched to dissuade believers from buying the wrong chicken and coffee.
In the news closer to home, the SBC spat is taking on a similar attitude. One notable example is the hiring of English Professor Karen Swallow Prior at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Hardline culture warriors within the SBC have condemned Prior as “unqualified” for a position at SEBTS due to statement of endorsement she made before the notorious Revoice Conference. While the conference’s initial publicly-stated mission was rather innocuous, the view it taught at the conference is problematic at best. In response to the areas of disagreement Prior has with the Revoice Conference, Prior has withdrawn her support.
Prior sent the following email to her critic and Baptist culture warrior top-dog, Tom Ascol.
“I believe marriage and sexuality are designed by God to be expressed within marriage between one man and one woman, a picture of Christ and his church. I signed the Nashville Statement for this reason. I also support the SBC’s 2019 Resolution on Sexuality and Personal Identity. My statement about Revoice was made in advance of the first conference. At that time, I thought that this conference would prove to be an important contribution to the overall conversation about God’s will for celibate, same-sex attracted. I ended up disagreeing with many of the speakers and many of the views expressed there. I believe some of them were wrong and unbiblical…My disagreements were strong enough that I declined a later invitation for additional affiliation, though I continue to pray for and encourage these brothers and sisters as they strive to adhere to the biblical sexual ethic…I do appreciate how Revoice has responded charitably to constructive criticism and made some changes as a result. We are all learning. “
Even after this email was sent and even after this email was made public, Ascol and other critics are still sensationally critical of Prior and her placement within SEBTS. You may even say these people want her “canceled.”
Ascol and Prior may not be on the exact same page regarding gender and biblical sexuality, but they’re very close. Sadly, nuance is off-limits for some people. Agreeing with the hardliners only 95% of the time will automatically get you labeled as part of the problem, a compromiser, or as one internet commenter put it, “one of the leaders of the progressive movement.”
Even closer to home, last year I and many others called for an excommunicated racist to be removed as a speaker from a local Christian conference. Did we want to “cancel” neo-nazi sympathizing influence over the Bride of Christ? Absolutely and without an ounce of apology.
Both Christians and the world want to limit the influence of certain people from our institutions. Both Christians and “the left” seek to influence business and the market to push for our ideals and virtues. Both Christians and liberals want men and women guilty of severe sin, as each side may respectively see it, to have their influence limited. This is not new, and this is not something that should lead to whining podcast hosts or mocking conservative television news anchors.
Stop whining about individuals using their voice to influence others. We are not dealing with a conspiracy of leftists who somehow just figured out that public outcries and criticisms can affect the world. I think it’s a shame that Chick-fil-a seems to be compromising, I don’t like a lot of Starbucks’ ideals, and I don’t even agree with Karen Swallow Prior on some things, but we need to strive to be honest, consistent, and not sacrifice our integrity for the sake of the culture wars. It won’t do us much good if we keep the gays away while we all become dishonest scoffers.
Here are some key points we should consider when thinking about “cancel/callout/boycott culture,” whether it’s on the left or the right.
If anyone dares to make a false accusation, they should fear the same punishment they would give the accused. This goes for women claiming rape or churchmen claiming excommunication. False accusations should be consistently condemned, whether they are coming from those seeking to “cancel” or whether they are coming from the accused.
Boycotts are perfectly fine, and though they are not demanded by scripture, they are entirely within the liberty of the individual. But we should be honest about these things. Let us not act as if your hashtag activism isn’t taking place on a platform every bit as LGBT-affirming as the organizations you’re boycotting or calling out. One evangelical website I recently visited was calling on a boycott of Chick-fil-a while . . . hosting their website on an LGBT-affirming service.
If Karen Swallow Prior is truly a progressive leader, and if she truly still endorsed the Revoice Conference and everything that comes with it, by all means, engage in the “callout” and “cancel culture” and try to get things changed. The Revoice crowd is a problem. Likewise, if your conference guest talks about Jews and Africans as lower beings, then cancel away. But if you’re a petty, overly dramatic, sensationalist who demands retractions with your preferred amount of vehemence and with your preferred verbiage, then you should cancel that attitude and extend some charity. This “if you’re not 100% with me, you’re 100% against me” tactic reeks of the worst kind of politics. Lack of nuance isn’t a virtue.
Dishonesty and hypocrisy are the things that should be condemned, not “cancel culture.” We all want to influence things in the direction we feel is right.
Mocking the left for calling out sins publicly, as if trying to influence culture is a bad thing, proves way too much and is laughably hypocritical when you podcast or blog about where we should eat our chicken. Being the kind of person who condemns the canceling of perverted and foul comedians as some sort of evil “power play” while criticizing a Reformed English professor getting hired at a Reformed seminary is worse than laughable; it’s disgusting.