Christianity and the Woke Cultural Reformation

An essay by Charles Cunningham London, 2025

Introduction

We are living through a change as great as any in modern history. It is a shift in what we believe, how we live, and how we tell right from wrong. The old moral framework, grounded for centuries in the Christian faith, is giving way to something new.

This new system has come to be called Woke. Though the term is vague and politically charged, it captures something real: a movement that touches every part of Western life, from schools to media to the corridors of power. At its root lies a rejection of the Christian view of truth, justice, and the nature of man.

It would not be wrong to call this moment a Cultural Reformation, that is, a remaking of the moral order as far-reaching as the Protestant Reformation. History may one day call it the Woke Reformation.

At the core of this new worldview are three guiding philosophies:

• Postmodernism, which denies objective truth;

• Critical Theory, which divides the world into the oppressors and the oppressed;

• Radical Environmentalism, which sees man as a plague upon the earth.

These are not just academic theories. They shape the thinking of universities, newsrooms, parliaments, and boardrooms. And all three are openly hostile to the Christian faith.

This paper explains how these ideas rose to power, and why they represent not only a threat to Christian belief but to the future of Western civilization itself.

Why Now?

The great ideas of the West: reason, science, progress all suffered a blow in the last century. Two world wars, the Holocaust, the atom bomb: these were the fruits of modernity. Many thinkers, especially in Europe, turned against the Enlightenment hope that reason would save us. They began to see truth as a mask for power, and science as a tool of oppression.

This disillusionment gave birth to postmodernism and its cousin, critical theory.

At the same time, new political movements were gaining ground: civil rights, feminism, gay rights, anti-colonialism. These causes, each with their own grievances, began to borrow language from the new philosophy: distrust of authority, suspicion of tradition, and the elevation of personal experience above all.

Later, as the world came to fear climate change and ecological collapse, radical environmentalism took root. It carried the same scepticism toward Western values, but added a new enemy: mankind itself.

Together, these ideas now form the creed of the cultural elite and are taking hold of every area of society:  the media, politics, education, business and even organized religion.

Postmodernism: The End of Truth

Postmodernism teaches that there is no truth, only perspectives. What you call truth is really your way of seeing the world and usually a way of keeping power. There are no facts, only interpretations. No moral law, only preferences.

For Christians, this strikes at the heart of faith. If there is nothing that is universally true, that is something that is true for everyone, then the Gospel cannot be true either. If all texts are equal, then the Bible has no special authority. If meaning is made by the reader, not the writer, then Scripture becomes just another story.

Postmodernism makes it hard to speak of sin, because sin assumes a moral standard. It makes it hard to speak of salvation, because salvation assumes there is a god to save us. And what is more,  it makes evangelism nearly impossible: if every culture has its own truth, who are we to say ours is better?

In the end, postmodernism does not free the mind. It disarms it. It replaces conviction with doubt, clarity with confusion, and faith with endless debate.

Critical Theory: A New Gospel

Critical theory began as a branch of Marxist thought. Its aim was not to understand the world, but to change it, by uncovering and overturning the supposed hidden power structures that govern society.

According to this view, people are not first and foremost individuals. They are members of groups: racial, sexual, economic and their identity depends on where their group sits in the hierarchy of power. Morality is not about virtue or sin, but about whether one is oppressed or privileged.

This vision is flatly opposed to the Christian one. Christianity says all people are made in the image of God. Critical theory says people are defined by group struggle. Christianity says sin is personal and universal. Critical theory says sin belongs to the powerful, and innocence to the victim. Christianity says salvation comes through Christ. Critical theory says it comes through revolution.

Critical theory is suspicious of all authority, including biblical authority. It treats the Bible not as revelation, but as a tool of social control. It sees the traditional family as a form of oppression. It encourages division where the Gospel brings unity.

Radical Environmentalism: Worshipping the Earth

The final pillar of the Woke Reformation is radical environmentalism. Unlike earlier environmental movements, which sought balance and stewardship, this new form treats humanity as a blight on the planet. Some of its followers go so far as to suggest the world would be better off without us.

Its worldview is deeply spiritual: but not Christian. It borrows from paganism and pantheism, worshiping nature itself as sacred. It speaks of “Mother Earth” and “Gaia,” and demands not only political change, but a full moral and spiritual conversion.

It is a false religion. It replaces God with the planet, and mankind’s role as steward with guilt and self-hatred. It teaches that to save the world, we must dismantle everything that makes us human: families, economies, even our sense of purpose.

While the Bible asks us to husband and care for the world for the benefit of humanity both now and for future generations, radical environmentalism places the welfare of nature above that of people.

Conclusion

We are not just witnessing a culture war. We are living through a moral revolution. The ideas now reshaping the West: postmodernism, critical theory, radical environmentalism are not just new ways of thinking. They are rival creeds.

They offer new gods, new sins, and new gospels. And they demand our worship.

For Christians, the choice is stark. Either we stand firm in the truth of Scripture or we are swept away by the tide.

The Woke Reformation is here.  We must be clear-eyed, steady, and unafraid to stand by our beliefs.