Academia, Christendom, and the Question of Censorship

https://www.ironsharpensironradio.com/podcast/may-4-2022-show-with-dr-kevin-clauson-on-reconquering-the-academy-for-christ/

I already knew that I disagreed with the premise of the show. I don't believe that academia is something that can be recaptured because I don't believe it was ever the province of the Church to begin with.

Christ is Lord over all in terms of being Creator, but in this present evil age His Lordship does not extend to all things in terms of Covenant Redeemer. All that is outside the Church is necessarily profane and doomed to be destroyed in eschaton fires – and this would include the academy and most of what it represents. Paul actually gives us some perspective on the academy in his opening commentary of 1 Corinthians.

But I'm certain Mr. Clauson would tell me that all that changed with the arrival of Christendom – an idea he obviously advocates. I found his views to be in keeping with sacralist assumptions but beyond that they were rooted in extra-Scriptural innovation, the baptising of historical narratives, and in other instances historical revisionism and myth. His arguments were unconvincing on multiple levels and I found many of things he said to be appalling.

I was struck though by his approach to maintaining the academy. Assuming his position for the sake of argument, say the Church recaptures academia and takes over the sundry mainstream institutions of higher education – how is this reality maintained?

The Spirit never plays much of a part in the Dominionist mind in terms of how these things are realized and retained. Clauson is quite clear. The means would be by way of inquisition, censorship, and blacklisting. Those aren't the words he uses – as they're loaded terms. But that's what he's getting at if you read between the lines of what he's saying. Basically these institutions would establish their parameters and if professors don't toe the line, they're to be terminated. Or to evoke a more recent cultural context, it's an expansion of McCarthyism.

It's fine if he wants to reject academic freedom but then I find it puzzling that such people want to wave the flag and pretend that the values associated with the founding of this country are somehow commensurate with their views. I'm not commenting at this point on whether free speech or a free press are in fact valid concepts (let alone Christian) but as one who doesn't wave the flag – I don't have to.

And yet for all their flag waving, they clearly reject these principles and believe in censorship on both levels.

And then apart from what we could call the 'Patriotic Problem' and all the narratives associated with it, there is a more immediate question that comes to mind.

Isn't this exactly the sort of thing they (the Right) are complaining about with regard to the current conditions within academia? Aren't they the ones who are upset over being 'canceled' and driven out by the institutions.

So let's be clear. They don't have a problem with 'cancel culture' per se. Not in the least. They're only problem is this – they're the ones being canceled. If they had control of the reins of these institutions – they would do the same thing. It's not a matter of method or ethics, it's a question of ideology and raw political power. It just so happens that a group is in control that they disagree with. Aside from that point they have no issue with what's happening on campuses.

I'd like to hear someone challenge them on this point and expose this. I think people need to understand it and realize just how much they're being manipulated by the Right's activist wing in this regard. I think if more people understood this reality they would find the arguments made by the likes of Clauson to be less than compelling.

See also:

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/645/my-effing-first-amendment

This was a very interesting (even captivating) episode on multiple levels, and one that reveals that the snowflakes aren't always on the Left. And for all their complaining, in certain states and in certain settings, the Right is still able to flex its muscles and dominate their opponents – even within academia.

One need not sympathize with the Left-leaning professor to be put off by what happened and the way the Right manipulated the story. Additionally, the activist college girl and the crowd she runs with are not by any kind of historical or cultural standards conservative. They are Right-wing and Libertarian not conservative, an important distinction that needs to be understood.