Critical race theory, intersectionality, and wokeness are unbiblical, and they are components of the equally unbiblical social justice movement.
Critical race theory is rooted in Cultural Marxism. Karl Marx viewed society as the working class pitted against the elites. He said that eventually and inevitably, working classes would overthrow elites everywhere. When observers waiting for this to happen widely didn’t see it happen, they began to ask why. Leftist European intellectuals reasoned that Marxism doesn’t have just an economic application, but a cultural application as well, one they needed to utilize. Their movement, which took place mainly between the two World Wars, was known as the Frankfort School. It “sought (among many other things) to apply the ideas of Marx in a social context. What developed from this school was Critical Theory [CT], which is ultimately a re-envisioning of the way the world is seen.” Critical Race Theory [CRT], an ideology that emphasizes various ways racial groups pit themselves against one another, emerged from CT. Both CT and CRT stress the importance of groups rather than individuals in the social structure.
Actually, CRT itself pits racial groups against one another. It sees whites as benefactors of a society that is embedded with systemic racism and racist policies. Blacks and other minorities, according to CRT, have been and are oppressed because of these same policies and practices. The recommended “remedy” is to transfer power, influence, and wealth from those who supposedly have benefited from “the system” to those whom CRT says have been abused by it. One manifestation of this is the call for reparations for slavery.
Calling CRT a “theory” is absolutely absurd. Many of its advocates treat it as if it were an absolute, infallible lens through which one can at last see the world as it is. CRT’s “Solutions” also are promoted with religious fervor. Contrary to Resolution 9, which was adopted at the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) in Birmingham, Alabama in June of 2019, CRT is not merely an analytical tool for evaluating human relationships. It is at minimum a worldview, and it even has become a religion to some of its proponents.
It doesn’t matter if you’re an African-American who has succeeded in business because you’ve climbed the ladder of success through discipline and hard work. No—those things count for nothing. If you’re black, you’re oppressed. Also, if you’re white, even if you you’ve had difficulty moving ahead in your career for any number of reasons and you struggle to make ends meet every month, you’re still an oppressor. Why? Because the system favors you and other whites! You are guilty, and you need to repent of your “whiteness.” But there’s really no forgiveness available to you, because CRT is unforgiving. So are its advocates.
I’m not kidding about this. We’re hearing these ideas from an alarming number of evangelical leaders. They cite slavery, Jim Crow laws, lynchings, and racist incidents of the past to make their point. And ironically, they claim to be promoting racial reconciliation, even as they speak.
While I won’t deny that racism still exists and must be opposed whenever and wherever it occurs, America, by and large, is not a racist country. Thankfully, slavery has been eliminated. Lynchings no longer occur. Jim Crow laws have been overruled. And significantly, white Americans’ attitude toward blacks and other minorities, overall, no longer is racist. Being racist and practicing racism, according to the classical definition of the term racism, means prejudging someone’s character on the basis of skin color, an external, inherent characteristic that does not, and indeed cannot, determine character.
Even so, there is an orchestrated effort within society, and within the evangelical church, to pin the sin of racism on whites, even to the absurd point of making them feel perpetually guilty for sins they didn’t commit. Here’s how we put it in a previous post.
Some SJWs [social justice warriors, many of whom are advocates of CRT] constantly berate white Christians for racist acts, including, broadly speaking, participating in the institution of slavery. Then they malign them again, saying they try to excuse themselves by saying they never owned slaves. Rather than encouraging believers to work diligently and give generously to those in need, as Paul did, the narrative of the SJM [social justice movement] instead shames white believers by saying the poor and underprivileged have a “right” to their resources as a matter of “justice.”
This is inherently unjust, according to the classical and biblical definition of the term justice.
Additional Word Foundations articles on social justice and its components are available here.
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Copyright © 2019 by B. Nathaniel Sullivan. All rights reserved.
Helpful videos:
In this video from the Colson Center for Christian worldview, Joseph Backholm explores the question, Is Critical Theory Biblical?
In this PragerU video, Larry Elder discusses the progress Americans have made in race relations over the past several decades.