Cancel Culture & The Church

You can't scroll more than three or four posts without hearing someone bemoan "cancel culture" or that certain voices are being shut out of the public square. And to a certain degree, I have seen some that are concerning, but here's the deal: this culture of cancelling others is not a tool exclusively used by the *radical left* - the evangelical church culture had been proficient in this skill for as long as I can remember. The lists below are people and places that I jotted down in about five minutes, with little thought. They are people and places that I've been instructed and encouraged, within my adult life, to "cancel." I'm guessing that anyone growing up in this same culture could add several others.

• Amy Grant
• Sandi Patty
• Rob Bell
• Eugene Peterson
• Jen Hatmaker
• Colin Kaepernick
• Rachel Held Evans
• Beth Moore
• Russell Moore
• World Vision
• Christianity Today
• Disney
• Teletubbies
• Pokemon
• Harry Potter
• The NFL

Do not buy their music.

Do not buy their books.

Do not attend their conferences.

Do not give them your money.

Keep your children away from them.

Do not watch.

Do not read.

Do not trust.

Some have been uninvited to conferences they'd been booked to speak at, had their books stripped from Christian book store shelves, had droves of Christian people pull sponsorships and subscriptions. And everyone of these people (and a couple of the organizations) are Christ-following Christians or overtly Christian in their ministries. This was primarily Christians cancelling Christians.

And here's what my point is NOT: I'm NOT saying we don't have the right to disagree with any or all of these people, institutions, books, shows, etc. We get to choose who and what to support, who and what gets our time and money. We do. We also get to choose, as Jesus-following people to continue to support and agree with these people and organizations, even as we're told not to.

Here is what my point is: I see a great hypocrisy in decrying it from the left when the right, and specifically here, the Church, have been doing it for decades. To. Each. Other.

We ought not be surprised when we see it used in ways that we may not agree with. We've been experts at this game for a very long time.