JD Greear is one of the most prominent liberals in the Southern Baptist Convention. He served three consecutive terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2018 to 2021, during which he appointed several liberals to various committees. JD Greear has often been one to lament that Evangelicals are more influenced by Conservative Inc. than their pastors. In what appears to be an interesting plot twist, Big Eva is trying to coopt Conservative Inc. on the issue of wokeness.
Enter Neil Shenvi, a congregant at Summit Church where Greear preaches. In part due to this connection and his ample spare time, Neil Shenvi has been the chosen figure in Big Eva to critique Critical Race Theory, as he coddles the ideology rather than destroys it. This is a textbook example of controlled opposition, of which I write in Winning Not Winsome,
Big Eva is a guild. And if you speak out against the guild, you are cast out. Moreover, you are blacklisted…
Many of the aforementioned pastors, like John MacArthur, Doug Wilson, and Tom Ascol are large enough in their platforms to operate outside of this Big Eva paradigm, even though they are still within the guild, more or less, because of their ability to be widely acknowledged by Big Eva. Or, more cynically, some are allowed to be controlled opposition. This is made evident when apologist Neil Shenvi is the preferred voice of opposition to Critical Race Theory, a man who does not want to destroy it.
Lately, Neil Shenvi has been ingratiating himself with major outlets in conservatism. Prager U posted a video of Neil Shenvi explaining why Critical Race Theory is antithetical to Christianity. Michael Knowles also recorded a podcast with Shenvi to be published. This is despite the fact that Neil Shenvi campaigned against fellow Daily Wire podcaster/reporter Megan Basham and her book Shepherds For Sale which exposed JD Greear’s wokeness.
Why would Prager U and Michael Knowles platform Neil Shenvi? Are they not aware of his extensive track record of being a woke operative.
In 2019, the Southern Baptist Convention endorsed Critical Race Theory as an analytical tool via Resolution 9. Neil Shenvi endorsed Resolution 9 at the time.
In 2020, Neil Shenvi would lie about Resolution 9 not endorsing Critical Race Theory. The resolution endorsed its use as an analytical tool, hitching it to Christianity.
Neil Shenvi entertains Critical Theory’s validity and opposes strong Christian rhetoric against it. Yet his understanding of the concept and solutions to the problem are conduits for further compromise. Consider his article, DEI Done Right: Disentangling Christian Community from Critical Theory. Shenvi openly admits:
My claim is that while most DEI programs are rooted in critical theory, we can think about these concepts in ways that are compatible with Christianity. In other words, we can see our churches, universities, and institutions as places where diversity, equity, and inclusion can be fostered provided that we define these terms in a biblical way and explicitly reject definitions rooted in critical theory. My aim here today is to show you how to do that. [Emphasis his]
Neil Shenvi shows how he wants to incorporate aspects of Critical Theory into Christianity. This article also highlights his inadequate critiques of this liberal ideology in large part due to his underlying or internalized liberalism. Neil Shenvi falls for the equity-equality switch that the liberals made shortly after the “marriage equality” fight. He juxtaposes equality of opportunity with equity of outcome even though neither is necessarily biblical.
Neil Shenvi also demonstrates that he does not know what a struggle session is:
According to AI, a “struggle session” refers to a discussion or an interaction where individuals are encouraged or pressured to confront and acknowledge their own or others’ biases, privileges, or past wrongdoings related to social justice issues. The term is often associated with a somewhat confrontational or uncomfortable atmosphere, where participants are expected to critically examine their own thoughts and actions in order to become more aware of and address societal inequalities.
Even the computers do not come up with ridiculous metrics to judge whether a panel “dialogue” is a struggle session or not.
David Morrill of Protestia pointed out:
Woke evangelicalism believes that it lost influence over the pews to conservative politics. It will attempt to infiltrate conservative politics to get it back.
Additionally, JD Hall wrote a post calling Neil Shenvi controlled opposition also concluding:
The problem is, Shenvi uses his ability to understand and convey the ills of wokeness to absolve all the proponents of woke Christianity he possibly can. He can then say, with a straight face, “I am an expert on wokeness. I know woke. And David French isn’t woke.”
Imagine, if you will, someone like Bill Kristol who uses the same tactic. “I know conservativism,” he can say, “now let me tell you why Republicans should vote for Kamala Harris.”
Controlled. Opposition.
Neil Shenvi is The Lincoln Project of evangelicalism. Pretending as though he is on our side, he will predictably take the wrong side 100% of the time.
Some members of Conservative Inc. were quick to call this out. Sean Davis of the Federalist called out PragerU stating:
Shenvi is a left-wing apparatchik who personally endorsed critical race theory and tried to smuggle it into American churches. He is the last person on earth who should be tasked with “explaining” it to anyone on the Right.
Despite his long history of defending wokeness and those who practice it, Neil Shenvi has a reputation for opposing “wokeness from the very beginning” even by people in Judeo-Christian media like Joel Berry of the Babylon Bee.
Powered by RedCircle
One Response
The slithering serpent entering the Garden disguised as a Christian. Beware of the wolves, they are on the hunt!