According to Shinvi: The term “woke right” is increasingly used by evangelicals who are broadly critical of “Christian nationalism” (there’s another loaded term!). But what is the “woke right”? Is it just a pejorative? Or does it accurately describe a movement with a particular set of beliefs? In this article, I’ll discuss 1) the origins of the term, 2) the question of whether a discernable “woke right” exists, and 3) some of the legitimate topics raised by the “woke right.” Finally, I’ll close by enumerating the serious problems with the “woke right.” My claim is that Christians should reject the ideology of the “woke right” for precisely the same reasons that we rightly reject the ideology of the “woke left.”
The phrase “woke right” has been around for several years. In a 2022 interview, U.S. representative Dan Crenshaw (R) criticized the “woke right,” which he described as a mostly “online phenomenon.” According to Crenshaw, people on the woke right portray themselves as victims, immediately label anyone who disagrees with them as “establishment” or “globalist,” and “resemble the far left more than anything.” More recently, secular cultural commentators like Konstantin Kisin have likewise criticized the “woke right” for its knee-jerk contrarianism and have argued that the “Dissident Right” is “going woke.”
However, the use of the phrase “woke right” in evangelical circles seems to have begun in Nov. 2022 with Kevin DeYoung’s review of Stephen Wolfe’s book The Case for Christian Nationalism. His article was entitled “The Rise of Right-Wing Wokeism” and I’ll quote three relevant paragraphs in full:
Besides trafficking in sweeping and unsubstantiated claims about the totalizing control of the Globalist American Empire and the gynocracy, Wolfe’s apocalyptic vision—for all of its vitriol toward the secular elites—borrows liberally from the playbook of the left. He not only redefines the nature of oppression as psychological oppression (making it easier to justify extreme measures and harder to argue things aren’t as bad as they seem), he also rallies the troops (figuratively, but perhaps also literally?) by reminding them they’re victims. “The world is out to get you, and people out there hate you” is not a message that will ultimately help white men or any other group that considers themselves oppressed.
When Wolfe sarcastically thanks those who “woke many from their dogmatic slumber” and rejoices that “more are awakening each day,” one might be forgiven for seeing his version of Christian Nationalism as a form of right-wing wokeism. What does it mean to be woke if not that we’re awakened to the “reality” that oppression is everywhere, extreme measures are necessary, and the regime must be overthrown?
If critical race theory teaches that America has failed, that the existing order is irredeemable, that Western liberalism was a mistake from the beginning, that the current system is rigged against our tribe, and that we ought to make ethnic consciousness more important—it seems to me that Wolfe’s project is the right-wing version of these same impulses.
