by Bob Sullivan
Racism is evil, and it still exists in the United States. Is Critical Race Theory (CRT) a Christian response to racism?
CRT found its start in the 1970s when a group of intellectuals including academics and activists proposed that the civil rights advances of the 1960s had stalled, and the nation was in need of a booster shot. CRT claims that racism is still alive in American hearts and minds, traditions and behaviors, habits and instincts. In fact, racism is sometimes so subtle that everyday phrases, habits and thought patterns are actually unknowingly guided by racism.
According to CRT, racism is like a barely detectable systemic disease which has altered the human person so much, people don’t even know they are thinking and behaving like a racist. They claim that racism has become “systemic,” like a disease which takes over a body. Luckily, you can now be diagnosed with this disease simply by checking the color of your skin. CRT has a remedy for this disease as well.
Proponents of CRT, including some of the intellectuals who helped create CRT, admit that it has its roots in Marxism and a philosophical method called “deconstruction.”
Deconstruction analyzes something in an effort to discover its true meaning or motivation. The true meaning or motivation is often something other than the author or creator intended or thought. This makes the deconstructor seem more enlightened (“woke”) than even the originator.
Dr. Robert George, a professor at Princeton University, is widely respected both in and outside of academia. Dr. George recently prepared a short social media post which helps put some form to CRT. This is no easy task, because just as with most socially liberal progressive ideas, ambiguity is an essential defense mechanism. People who are ignorant and misinformed warrant no trust or respect. Critics of CRT can always be labeled as ignorant or misinformed as long as CRT remains an ambiguous theory. In fact, according to CRT, the only reason you disagree with the theory is because you are a privileged racist. Ambiguity allows proponents of CRT to claim they had never heard of CRT, are not familiar with CRT, or that they are certainly not promoting it. They think the ambiguity cloaks them with plausible deniability.
CRT is being promoted by some of today’s leaders in K-12 education. It is finding its way into grade schools and school libraries, where teachers have a cadre of books and lesson to choose from if they wish to teach CRT. Some want it to be included in all K-12 curriculum.
Dr. George writes that:
“…what is being taught in many schools today is not CRT… In fact, students are not given a formal ‘theory’ of anything at all. But they are encouraged (‘taught’) to view the world in a certain way—they are being taught to be identitarians. And this teaching is justified in the name of ‘anti-racism’. The world is divided up into two categories or classes: persecutors and persecuted—oppressors and victims. You are one or the other depending on your ‘identity’. If you are a ‘white, heterosexual, cisgender’ person, and especially if you are one of those who is also male, then you enjoy ‘privilege’ that makes you, wittingly or unwittingly, at least something of an oppressor—at a minimum, a beneficiary of oppression. If you are BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and People of Color] or LGBTQQA+ or whatever, then you are in the victim class. Everything is racialized or (more broadly) ‘identitized’. So students are taught to think of themselves as ‘privileged’ or victimized. The privileged are infected by ‘whiteness’ which it is their duty to recognize in themselves and society and ameliorate.”
Activists want all K-12 students to learn the evil art of self-loathing which is based in prejudice against one’s self. It isn’t anti-racism, it is an enormous brainwashing and social engineering project which teaches that all oppressors are racist, even the oppressor looking back at you in your mirror. Satan would love that.
You can read Dr. George’s short explanation in its entirety at bsullivan.org.
Activists may be pushing CRT and identityism in K-12 schools because it will make it easier to teach advanced CRT in college. When the activists have to wait until the students get to college before they begin to teach them that they must learn to identify as an oppressor, then loathe themselves for it, they find that some are unwilling to cooperate. This causes all kinds of problems for the activists, and they have to work much harder and sometimes use unpleasant methods to win cooperation. If they can teach kids how to think of themselves (oppressor or oppressed) when they are young, CRT will not only be a success, colleges will produce leaders who are deeply invested in CRT. These leaders will then transform the entire culture into a culture where those who self-identify as victims can use discrimination and prejudice to overthrow those who they identify as oppressors.
This is deeply hostile to the Christian approach to life. As Christians, we identify as beloved sons and daughters of God. We are all part of one family in which each member is also a beloved son or daughter of God. There is no self-loathing or power struggle in Christianity. Because of this CRT is in deep conflict with Christianity, and to say this is not to be racist.
Racism does exist, but you cannot fight racism with racism. It only creates more racism. In my next column, I’ll describe a Christian response to racism and identityism.
