I have made several previous post on how our republic's experience with wokeism, and the Roman experience with Christianity have certain parallels. Anyone interested could probably find those posts. For now let's just say that Roman virtue and what conservatives, especially protestants, call principles are very similar. How much those principles adhere to the eschatological teaching of early Christianity is debatable but also largely irrelevant. Protestantism is reformed Catholicism with a practical twist. I would say that Christianity was a practical alternative to the confrontational theocracy of first century Judaism. The Jews could never defeat the Romans but their religion almost required it. Christianity reformed Judaism to remove a lot of the more secular and ethnocentric elements. In the same way wokeism is trying to remove a lot of the ethnocentric elements of western civilization. It may in some ways even be modeled on some elements of Christian philosophy. Certainly the deem wits who created wokeism would have not idea from where their philosophy evolved.

Wokeism was influenced by the post modernists, the multicuturalists and neo marxists but I would argue that they were all influenced by Christianity more than they realize. It's one of the reasons conservatives have so much trouble confronting it. It's not just white guilt that is a problem but the call for brotherly love of out groups. Our major competitor, China, has no problem with ethnocentrism or outright racism which makes wokeness a real and present danger. Much as Christianity was undermining Roman virture along with the same kind of technocratic gobalism we are facing.

Had Paul not been a staunch believer in Judaism much of the old testament may have been swept aside but the preservation of Jewish beliefs is what made post Roman Christianity possible. The old testament is guide book for making ethnic states practical. By ethnic state do not read racial. Racism as included in the old testament had to be dropped for Europeans to adopt it. The important thing is that protestant work ethic like Roman virtue is the keys to understanding at least part of the story of Western domination. I would argue however that it is as much Greek and Roman as Christian with a small c.

Don't get the idea that I'm hostile to religion because I'm not. During my lifetime I have witness the decline of virtues of every kind. Total absence of sexual virtue, declining work ethic, a loss of respect for proper authority, the emerging preference for networking over competence, the worship of sports and entertainment, no respect for truthfulness, growing careerism, decline of family values, loss of educational standards, widespread drug use, respect for human life, loss of masculine values, parental respect, the list goes on and on. The bottom line is wokeness is a impractical religion that will destroy itself if not reformed.

The role that the academy played in spreading wokeness is paradoxical. To understand that role you have to understand some of the virtues that society has lost. Traditionally careerism was frowned upon. It is now the central force in academia and is perfectly suited for the poor scholars that the left provides in droves. Communism requires no productivity in the tradition of Marx. No competence is required only allegiance to dogma. Because it is half baked ramblings of a degenerate it has no standards or role for competition other than the default of climbing the "party" career ladder. He has not family or sexual virtue because Marx had none. It has no masculine values because Marx had none. It has no parental respect because Marx had none. It has no respect for human life because Marx was a narcissist. But the introduction of Marxist ideas by way of post modernism etc. is only half the story. What made the enlightenment the enlightenment was at least in part was the separation of the humanities from science. The inward looking philosophy that characterized the "dark ages" saw a reawakening of objectivity in the tradition of Aristotle. The same separation however keep objective thinkers in the STEM areas from interfering in the growth of the cult of wokeness until it became impossible for anyone in those fields to push back with career suicide. The humanities are now so corrupted by subjectivity they are unsalvageable. That subjectivity can be seen in modern art which is little more than the same networking obsession we see in the careerists.

More latter if the mode strikes me but I doubt that it will. One final thought is that the same corrupting careerism we see in academia has come to dominate every institution. I offer the incompetence of Dr. Fauci as an example.

the name for it is "Secular Humanism" and it has permeated Western Culture like a cancer. It has crept in to traditional Christian religions and into the greater Culture of Western Civilization itself.