Thread by @lsanger

Maybe the Bible won't be cancelled after Dr. Seuss and "When Harry Became Sally." Progressives mock the idea. OK; I have a question:

Why not?

foxnews.com/media/amazon-c… | via startthis.org/?p=523

I mean, it's a fair question. If companies are pressured to cancel/block content for racially insensitive depictions of people, for criticizing trans ideology, for being by Clarence Thomas during Black History Month, for being a conservative forum, etc., then why *not* cancel...

...the Bible? The Bible advocates against gender equality, says slavery is OK (well, it does, sort of), recommends brutal treatment of adherents of pagan religions, threatens nonbelievers generally with hellfire, and even has God commanding genocide.

Well?

It's not at all unreasonable to suppose that, if they're coming after ordinary conservative, old, outdated stuff, then they're going to come after the Bible.

"That's ridiculous," you scoff.

I ask: Oh? Why is it? What's the difference?

"I mean, it's a whole religion." So?

"If they cancelled the Bible for such reasons, they'd have to cancel the Koran, and that would never happen."

Well, who ever knew the left to be *principled* and *consistent*?

"If you're saying they'll be inconsistent, then yeah, they'll be inconsistent, and not ban the Bible!"

But wait. Now we get to the interesting issues.

The Bible *has* been banned and restricted in many places. Like China, where key verses unpopular with the Chicoms are replaced with the words of Xi. You *can't* have a correct copy of the Bible in China:

thefederalist.com/2020/10/26/chi…

It is also no coincidence that many Western progressives are increasingly supportive of how China is run.

If China can do it, could it happen here?

Well, of course not, you say. It certainly would be harder than a publisher taking down six of Dr. Seuss' many books.

Agreed. Even today, in 2021, religion and speech are both protected by the First Amendment and by the Supreme Court. The Bible is used and supported by many churches, and many people who cling to their Bibles also cling to guns.

But let me point out that in 2019...

...only a handful of people who have said it was conceivable that all businesses all around the world would be shut down for months at a time at the behest of international orgs.

Nobody denies that we are in revolutionary times today. The times, they are a-changin'.

Few could conceive that *churches* would be shut down, when many other institutions (and crowded protests) were not, again for months at a time.

Look at the Jan. 6 Capitol invasion. That was a farce, a bloody farce no one supports, that was made into an excuse...

...to demonize half the country, if that were even possible.

Honest observers already know that, like the Chicoms, the rest of left utterly despises and wants to destroy traditional Christianity. They have at least since Marx and Engels.

Should we expect a crisis?

More later.

Well, we might avoid one. It is still possible that the left will never gain adequate momentum from any crisis to make it politically possible to "cancel" the Bible.

But I doubt it. I think we in the West are *very close* to several things happening:

(1) The Bible, Christianity (especially conservative or traditional takes on it), and any non-critical study—already unpopular on campus—will no longer be tolerated. Most clubs banned, public reading of Bible gone, chapels canceled outside of explicitly religious schools, etc.

(2) Right now it is still acceptable to be a Bible-believing Christian, even if it is in questionable taste. Soon, this will no longer be the case. This means:

(2a) Many Democratic politicians will "come out" as being nonbelievers or as extremely ecumenical (Bible-despising).

(2b) In the corporate and (even more) academic world, it will become a kiss of career death to be known as a fan of the Bible. Being "spiritual" will still be OK (see next item), but aligning yourself with the Bible to any degree will be regarded the same way MAGA is now.

(3) Generic spirtuality, New Age beliefs, and Eastern religion will see a conventional (led by the left) resurgence in *reaction* to the new attack on conservative/traditional/Biblical Christianity. To call yourself a Bible believer will be to announce yourself to be a MAGA type.

(4) In the U.S., mainline and liberal Protestantism and liberal Catholicism will be the only polite, acceptable forms of Christianity, and these will be forced to divide themselves much more sharply from "fundamentalism" (some scarier name will probably be used).

(5) Bible-believing, traditional, evangelical Christians—i.e., the sort who take the Bible really seriously—will be isolated and demonized precisely *because* they take the Bible seriously, and—

(6) The Bible itself will be "canceled" in the sense that it will morph from a more or less respectable symbol of a religious tradition to a hated symbol of bigoted anti-progressive backwardness. So:

(6a) Much Church history will be ignored or rewritten so that traditional, Biblical underpinnings of modern, mainline Christianity are forgotten. The Bible and its adherents will be regarded as crazy and wicked relics.

(6b) Certain editions of the Bible such as KJV study Bibles will no longer be available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or eBay. Apps that contain them might well be delisted since they are misogynistic and racist. Certain modern translations and study Bibles will be pushed hard.

(6c) Traditional Bible books and media will, of course, still be available, but only through specialty outlets.

Now, I'm not saying I *definitely* think all this is on the way. I don't know. But it is a straightforward extrapolation from recent trends to what we seem likely to see within, say, five years. I hope I'm wrong...but I don't think I am.