The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World

by Andrew Doyle

I have argued that the claim of victimhood as a means to bludgeon others is a hallmark of the new puritans. When Selina Todd, a History professor at the University of Oxford, was assigned security guards in order to attend lectures, is it feasible to suggest that those who felt ‘unsafe’ as a result of her views on feminism were the real victims here? Similarly, after Philosophy professor Kathleen Stock resigned from the University of Sussex following a campaign of abuse and harassment from student activists, who claimed that her very presence ‘excludes and endangers trans people’, there can be few left in any doubt as to which party qualifies as the aggressor. And what of Jo Phoenix, a Criminology professor who was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after a similarly vitriolic campaign while she was working at the Open University? That such activists have been so indulged for so long should be a grave cause for concern. The vice principal of Edinburgh University, Sarah Smith, has recently drawn attention to this trend, admitting that students ‘increasingly want to challenge what is taught and how it is taught’. This is not a sustainable situation, and it explains why institutions committed to freedom of inquiry and speech – such as Ralston College in Savannah and the University of Texas at Austin – have recently been established. While the older institutions allow themselves to depreciate further under the influence of Critical Social Justice, these new institut...