Did Top-Down Religions Lead the West to Wokeism?

What is the meaning of the term, “Woke”? Has Wokeism become a religion in the Western World?

“Wokeism is a term used to describe a progressive political and social ideology focused on systemic inequality, identity politics, and social justice.” (Links: 1, 2, 3,)

Can wokeism be defined as a religion? And how do religious systems where members embrace the opinions or doctrines of leaders, prophets or early founders actually open the door to belief in progressive teachings? What happens when one hears something over and over again without investigating it? Does it become truth, or only truth in the eyes of the one who is subjected to it?  When people willingly give up logic to follow the theories of the masses, they become subservient to ideas that defy logic and demand obedience to a new culture. In the definition of Wokeism, it means sacrificing one’s God-given individuality for the good of society, placing heavy emphasis on the loss of individual rights when confronted with those racially neglected or deprived.

In this article, I want to show that the major religions, to a degree, have led people to  give up their right to follow the logic of their own minds. This has opened the door for acceptance of the new wokeism that abounds everywhere. Wokeism destroys individual boundaries, confuses the identity of the sexes and challenges the family structure. Wokeism has come about because of the vacuum created by society’s abandonment of belief in the Bible and the God of the Bible. It not only puts the needs of the underdog in society above one’s own, it also often elevates animal rights as equal or superior to human rights. Discrimination, social justice, identity politics, all play a role in Wokeism.

Recently I spoke to a woman who stopped by our house about an incident where children camping on the beach at the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) were attacked by jackals. She immediately excused the jackals. “They were here before humans and have a right to the land, she explained.” I didn’t respond vocally but I was dumbfounded. How did people come to think like this?

Animal rights aside, what has set the stage for corporate religions themselves to take part at least to some extent in the woke ideology? And why has Islam and its little-understood people, the Muslims, been elevated to the level of not only public acceptance, but compliance to their culture and forced subservience to Sharia law?

Not only is Western society embracing Muslim culture, it stands aloof at terrorist actions against those who resist it.

So progressive principles have overtaken society to the point that humans of other races who were once disregarded as foreign to the culture of the West, or perhaps even considered as lower class, now because of progressive ideals are allowed to set the rules for society. Why and how did this come about?

Two major religions have dominated the religious elements of the Western world for centuries. We see changes taking place before our eyes. Changes that 50 years ago, few envisioned. What kind of changes? Before we get into the woke element in these religions, let’s look at some details.

We see Islam for the last couple of years surging into Europe, Britain and America. “Moderate” Muslims have settled in the West for a long time, but now their religion is “front and center.” 

Islam dominates around 98 percent of the Middle East, that is, every country but Israel. Some of us wonder why it is necessary to expand to new territories–after all there is plenty of land in the Middle East! And why is it their supreme goal to conquer and subject the country of Israel? This has been the goal of Islam from time immemorial, so why should we be surprised?

Wikipedia: “Muslim-majority nations and governments control the vast majority of land in the Middle East. Out of the roughly 7.3 million square kilometers (7.3 million km²) that make up the region, approximately 97% to 98% of the territory is governed by Muslim-majority states. The remaining 2% to 3% is governed by the State of Israel, which is a Jewish-majority state but also contains a substantial Arab-Muslim and Arab-Christian population.”

Would it be edifying to understand what Islam requires regarding world conquest and forced conversions? Much like Christianity, but in several points very different, the goal of Islam is to convert the entire world population, but the difference seems to lie in the fact that Islam states clearly that the goal is to convert or kill the infidel or at least tax them as Dhiimis (a subservient class.) Christianity at this time, while aiming to convert the world, is no longer killing those who reject conversion, nor is this the goal of the church.

Thus, it is clear that serious Muslims are on a path to govern the world through dominance of their religion. And the world is coming along with them through the woke mentality that has been established little by little through the last century.

Compassion on the underdog. Cruelty to the elite. Hatred of white, so-called “supremacists”, and at the same time, compassion for darker skinned races who are considered more “worthy” because we “owe it to them”. It doesn’t matter if they entered the country illegally, “they were poor and only wanted a better way of life!” It doesn’t matter that they have stolen their way up the food chain, what matters is that the rest of us must be noble and let them have their way. It doesn’t matter if they violate and rape, after all their culture sees it differently! Really?

So, yes, I have known well-mannered upstanding Muslims both in America and Israel. I used to work for one. I have had doctors in Israel who are Muslim. But are they really following their core beliefs? What are moderate Muslims, but a smoke screen to keep people unaware of the deeper roots of their mission? Let me share a quote from their holy book:

Surah Ali ‘Imran 3:28: “Let not believers take disbelievers as allies rather than believers. And whoever of you does that has nothing to do with Allah, except when taking precaution against them in defense…”

What it means:

Alliance: Believers are instructed not to form preferential alliances or allegiances with those who disbelieve over the community of believers. [1, 2]
The Exception: If a believer lives among those who oppose their faith and faces imminent harm or tyranny, they are permitted to conceal their true allegiance or outwardly conform for self-preservation. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Divine Warning: The verse warns that true allegiance is to Allah, and all will eventually return to Him for judgment

[1]Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:51: “O you who have believed, do not take the Jews and the Christians as allies. They are [in fact] allies of one another. And whoever is an ally to them among you – then indeed, he is [one] of them…” [1, 2]

So we see that those who are members of Islam can live out a pretext of friendliness with unbelievers in order to guarantee their physical or economic security, but they are never to truly become friends to the extent of giving them their allegiance.

How Islam came about is a topic for further study, but we know that Muslims claim that it is the only true religion.  How does one judge religions? What tools are needed to discern between truth and error? How can we know if it was authored by God or invented by a human prophet, ie, Mohammed? How, indeed, can we know this about any religion?

How do the doctrines of the different religions connect to what the Eternal says and, contrarily,  how much have leading, supposedly “inspired” prophets and sages directed the minds of their followers into the teachings they themselves have elaborated and placed before the people? What are the underlying rules for judging a religion? How does one prove that a religion is about service to God and the betterment of mankind and not service to laws that complicate life for humanity and that build walls between peoples?

Can it be shown that man has either created or expanded upon the original laws of the Bible, the basis for Christianity and Judaism? What about Islam? Islam is not based directly on the Bible or the 10 commandments. Then how is it possible to prove that the Muslim god is not the God who created and established mankind in this world? Is it possible? Is it provable from a logical standpoint? Consider several things:

When did Islam come into being and what was the character of Mohammed who founded the religion?

Wherever Islam has taken hold, how is the life of the people in the country where they dominate? Do they prosper?

How do they treat animals? Is kindness and humane treatment shown?

How do they treat their women and children? Is there abuse and subjugation?

What happens to the land where they inhabit? Is it blessed and abundant or does it become a desert?

Do the leaders exist as a superior class while the population they govern remains in poverty or even actual starvation?

There are universal rules for the survival of mankind–humanity who was created by God (if you are an evolutionist, you may still accept these rules). These are principles that establish life and peace, safety for the family, and success as individuals. They establish boundaries that humanity must respect.

In Islam even a child who innocently does or speaks something his parents feel is out of line with their beliefs, is beaten or worse. Women are often beaten for simple things that displease their husbands. Rape and sexual abuse is blamed on the woman and she can be executed for shaming her father if she is raped. Is this the religion of God or the religion of tyrants?

In the case of the Al Aqsah flood war of October 7, men who lived near Gaza were beheaded, women raped and murdered, and babies burned in ovens. Clearly there was no respect shown for people who were considered “in the way” of Muslim conquest. There was no declaration of war, just a predawn invasion into a music festival and several small peaceful villages surrounding the area. There are laws written about how wars must be conducted. This violent aggression did not follow any ethical code of law.

My original purpose in this article was and is to show that all religions have descended to the guidance of human leadership. Islam shows through its fruits, just how evil a people can become when they follow tyrannical religions.

What about other religions? Roman Catholic Christianity? What was their treatment and attitude toward Jews and later, Protestants, during the dark ages?
What do the majority of Christians believe about supposed Israeli attempts at genocide of the Palestinians? Granted, many are brainwashed by the pro-Muslim media outlets at this time. How did it come about that people never question anything that is produced by the Mainstream Media?

What has happened to open the door to societal belief in news propaganda stories that go along with an agenda that has other goals than telling the truth?

Track the history of how religions have gone from individual study and belief in the Bible to the formation of fellowship groups to the outgrowth of those to hierarchical institutions with belief in God-inspired leadership which must be obeyed. This obedience is required for membership in these groups or there is threatened expulsion, persecution and even punishment by the organization or suggestions that God himself will punish the disobedient ones.

Christianity:
What are the doctrines that may or may not have guided Christians in their beliefs? Who were the founders of their religion? Christians claim that their religion comes from the renewed covenant or New Testament, ie, that Israel and thus the Jewish people were replaced by the Church. They embrace a New Covenant and with that, the belief in Original Sin and that humanity’s only salvation is through belief in the sacrifice of their god incarnate and thus provides complete forgiveness even for sins that they cannot overcome. Original Sin is used as an excuse for human failure. When examined closely, all of Christianity bases its core beliefs on doctrines developed by the Catholic church, especially the doctrine of the incarnation of Jesus Christ in the council of Nicea.

“The Council of Nicaea (325 AD) primarily declared that Jesus Christ is fully divine and “of one substance” (homoousios) with God the Father.” See Reference.

Though Christianity is at the current time considered a peaceful religion, its doctrines are based on the teachings of human leaders, and worse yet, many stem from the teachings of the pagan Roman empire at the time of the emperor Constantine. What the early Christians, historically called Nazarenes or Ebionites) believed, has mostly evolved from a simple gospel (that did not claim divinity for their Messiah figure) into what the different churches of Christianity believe today–all of which was heavily impacted by Roman influence. Indeed, Christianity today has little resemblance to the early Jewish Christians who were followers or disciples of Jesus.

And how does the doctrine of loving one’s neighbor evolve into kindness to those who threaten to kill you. This is taught by Christianity and it makes them vulnerable to compassion for terrorists. Where does one draw the line between going to war to wipe out evil and the belief that all people can be saved by accepting their gospel?

Judaism
This religion claims that the Jews are “the people of the book.” Persecuted, martyred, suffering pogroms and Holocaust for 2000 years, Jews have had their share of human leaders and sages who have guided and formed what today is called Judaism.

A hard look at Judaism shows many things which were added to the simple commands of the Bible. For many Jews, tradition is their religion. Practices such as the lighting of Sabbath Candles, kissing of Mezuzot, and other things which do not stem from any scriptural command. There is a teaching that the name of God must not be mentioned. This has been around so long that no one really knows how the Tetragrammaton (the 4 letter Hebrew name) is pronounced. It is interesting to note that the complete ban on the pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton came about in the late second temple period. (Reference). Apparently it was used before this time by the people of Israel.

“In the post-70 CE (Rabbinic Period), Following the destruction of the Temple, the precise, original pronunciation of the name fell out of use outside of specific priestly blessings in the Temple itself. Rabbinic texts like the Mishnah explicitly declared that anyone who pronounced the divine name as it is spelled would lose their portion in the World to Come.” (Reference).

So basically the common people were now controlled by the leadership and could not call out to their God individually!  Where else have we seen this control over the common people?

Catholicism needs priests to intercede for the people, Imams direct their people to fulfill the aims of Islam. Rabbis teach their congregants to follow the laws of the “Oral Torah.” If we cannot use the name of God in prayer, who will know whom we are addressing? Will Heaven know?

There are many many fences that were created by the sages of Judaism, supposedly to protect the Torah. Additions and loopholes are abundant, but we will leave those for another time.

One thing is clear. Judaism as it is known today has serious blockage to the inclusion of other peoples. Conversions are based on obedience to rabbinic doctrines, not simple obedience to the Bible. Walls have been created so that gentiles are considered outsiders. How then can Israel be a light to the nations?

And how, going back to my original question, do these religions brainwash, so to speak, their members into obeying things that a logical mind could never accept?

Does religion of this type then open a door to those who want to consider something else?– Something like Progressivism? According to my research, about 50 percent of American Jews consider themselves Liberal or Progressive. (Link)

So in what context do these major religions deviate from the Biblical mandate to know and serve God individually? All three religions have leaders who have usurped the power that belongs to the Eternal alone. Leadership usurps the position of mediator between the people and God. Does this relate to wokeism? Has it prepared the way? And when people become “woke” enough they reach out for something else.

Wokeism is a condition where people no longer think for themselves and gladly submit to leadership. Why are throngs of Christians, and college students reaching out to Islam, putting on the hijab, chanting: “from the River to the Sea” when they have no idea what this is all about? And in the midst of all this Jews are clinging to tradition to save them. The news in Israel says that many secular Israelis are becoming more religious? I say, how? By lighting Shabbat Candles and washing hands between drinking wine and eating challah? By tying Tefillin in a way taught by their sages? By repeating lengthy after meal blessings, many of which are not even Biblical? What about paying a kosher sofer to write the words inside the mezuzah? (By the way it is a command of the Shema in Deuteronomy to do the writing INDIVIDUALLY).

What would happen if people read the Bible? What about drawing the base line at the 10 commandments? Are many Jews also in the woke crowd? Or are we all heading down that road?

Jeremiah 2:13: “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, to hew them out cisterns, broken cisterns that hold no water.”

Fortunately there is a remnant, not seen everywhere, not meeting in groups, just one here and one there who follow the great YHVH, God of the Universe whom they know personally. Many feel they are like Elijah the prophet who cried out that he was all alone in the service of the Great YAH.

But he was assured:

1Ki 19:”18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel–all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”

Are there people on this planet who actually talk to God and follow his written Word exclusively? I am still looking for them!

One day soon a branch will blossom in the land of Israel and then the light will go to the nations!

May we all shake free of the overwhelming urge to conform!

“Sound the alarm in my Holy Mountain!” (Joel 2:1)

But there is hope:

Hosea 14:4-7 (Speaking of Israel):


“4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him. 5 I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. 6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon. 7 They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the grain, and blossom as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.”