PART III of III

Part I

Part II

The previous two blog posts recounted that Nigel Biggar was scheduled to speak at Regent College on March 6th—but the event was summarily and unilaterally cancelled. After a brouhaha over the reasons and coverage in the National Post, the Board of Regent College issued a mea culpa. What has been learned from this experience?

Biggar has already been through similar culture war battles in the UK. The lessons he learned over the past few years still hold true. The bulk of this blog post was previously posted on August 22, 2024, based on his presentation to the ELO Oxford Leadership Program cohort and turned out to be very prescient. Nigel Biggar has experienced the same treatment in Canada as he experienced in the UK. 

The lessons shared in my original post remain spot on. Here they are with some modifications given the issues of the past weeks covered in the previous blog posts. Biggar originally shared these lessons for leaders in our ELO Oxford Leadership Program:

1. Don’t Be Deterred From Speaking Out - People are deterred from speaking out for fear of social isolation and ostracization and being tarnished as “anti” towards a number of things. Surely, if a person questions the agenda, they are assumed to be colonialist, racist, etc. So, leaders need the courage of their convictions to speak out and encourage others to do so, too—and accept the vitriol that comes with it.
2. Don’t Be Swayed By Faulty Logic - Leaders need to recognize faulty and inadequate thinking. Careful analysis is now trumped by ideology and emotion. From an ideological perspective, people wish certain things to be true—but leaders can’t accept that.
3. Recognize that Others May be Motivated By Ideology Not the Pursuit of Truth - Leaders need to recognize that many people wish to advance an ideological perspective rather than pursue the truth. The weapon of the ideologues is to marginalize others, often (ironically) with a patina of self-righteousness, rather than argue the truth. Not many of Biggar’s adversaries were interested in dialogue, rather they were focused on expressing an opinion grounded in ideology. Biggar notes that he often deals with people who want a fight, not a conversation.
4. Recognize That Unthinking Conformity is the Norm - For leaders, there is an increasing environment of uniformity of thought and thus there is a premium on independent thinkers. The challenge in many contexts, say at work, is that advancing a different opinion will result in immediate censure. Leaders must encourage non-conformist views.
5. There Are Fewer Than You Think - The loudest voices often win—Bigger has witnessed that first-hand. There is a phenomenon of a zealous minority dominating an uncertain, conflict-averse majority. A derivative is the phenomenon of institutional leaders acquiescing to the demands of zealous minorities, without thinking. Ideology and emotion dwarf truth and rationality.
6. Community – Since those who speak up seem to be going against the norm, it’s important to be part of a community of like-minded individuals, at the very least to expose oneself regularly to the truth that the dissident is not in fact alone. A generally hostile environment can make one forget that. 

Further, there are some interesting lessons for Christian leaders.

1. Automatic Discount - “The church” is typically viewed as an accessory of colonialism and thus deserves similar treatment: it assisted in perpetrating the evils of the Empire with no redeeming features. Thus, the voice of someone allied with the church, as a Christian, is immediately suspect and roundly dismissed. Biggar notes, for example, that politically zealous anti-colonialist historians don’t like a Christian ethicist disturbing their moral prejudices [319].
2. Truth Matters - Christians in the woke wars, as at all times, should speak up for the truth. The truth matters—and to have it hijacked should be unacceptable. This is evident as the Christian contributions of the past, whether to society or to individuals, are typically air-brushed out.
3. Lack of Understanding – People increasingly don’t understand a faith perspective. The fact that faith would play a meaningful role in an individual’s life in shaping their approach to meaning is unfathomable to many in today’s woke environment. As a result, people who hold a Christian viewpoint, are marginalized and held suspect.
4. Understanding the Past - Biggar touches on how Christians can view the past in Colonialism: “My (Christian) view is that all human moral perceptions, being creaturely and sinful, falls short and that that should induce a measure of humility and constraint into our judgment of the moral obtuseness of our ancestors” [335].
5. Engagement, Not Isolation - A default position for many equipped to speak up is pristine isolation rather than complicated engagement. But it is not helpful for Christians to bite their tongues and hide what they think. This won’t influence people. Despite the personal attacks/challenges to credibility and reputation by speaking out, it is a useful contribution to the public square. 

In this environment, there is an ever-greater need for leaders, especially Christian leaders, to be independent thinkers, above the ideological fray, and to get involved. Nigel Biggar is one example of a Christian leader doing his part.