By now, you’re aware of the saga surrounding Claudine Gay, the plagiarist Harvard president, whose tenure at one of the world’s most prestigious universities has been marred by a scandal of academic dishonesty. This scandal more than a blight on Harvard’s storied reputation. Similar to the plagiarism scandal surrounding former Southern Baptist Convention president, Ed Litton, and all the seminary presidents who ran cover for him, it’s a glaring indictment of the crumbling ethical standards in higher education.

Gay, caught in the act of plagiarism, has become a symbol of the decay of integrity and moral fortitude that once underpinned our academic institutions. In the wake of this disgraceful episode, the narrative has been twisted and contorted by those with a clear agenda. Instead of focusing on the grave misconduct and its implications, there has been a perverse shift to victimhood and identity politics. And now the progressive feminist preachers start preaching their defense sermons.

The comparison below, drawn by Adriene Thorne, the pastorette of NYC’s Riverside Church, likening Claudine Gay to Simon Peter’s mother-in-law from Mark 1:29-31, is nothing short of absurd. It is a clear example of how Marxist ideologies can infiltrate and distort Christian theology, turning it into a tool for socio-political agendas. This comparison is an assault on the integrity of the biblical text, wrenching it out of its rightful, theologically rich context to serve a narrative that is completely alien to Christian doctrine.

In Mark 1:29-31, the account of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law being healed by Jesus is not a cloak-and-dagger tale of social struggle or political triumph. It is a demonstration of Jesus’ divine authority and compassion. The passage reveals Christ’s power over all things, including sickness and disease, demonstrating his role as the healer and savior, not just of physical ailments but of spiritual death. This passage is foundational to understanding the nature of Jesus’ ministry and the Kingdom of God and it is rather obscene to reduce this miraculous event to a mere metaphor for contemporary political struggles—or especially to elevate a plagiarist to a biblical figure’s status.

The Marxist lens, obsessed with power dynamics and class struggles, when applied to Christianity fails to grasp the core message of the gospel. It replaces the spiritual redemption offered by Christ with a secular narrative of social liberation. This approach not only distorts the gospel but also undermines the profound theological significance of the biblical accounts. By doing so, it hijacks Christian teachings for purposes that are fundamentally at odds with the teachings of Scripture. This is how we end up with Evangelical movements like “racial reconciliation” and cliches like “pro-life from womb to tomb.”