Introduction
Discussions of race and racism have dominated our culture for the past several years. Language focused around race increased sharply in the mid 2010s and many new terms have entered into common usage such as privilege, oppression, whiteness, social justice, equity, and inclusion. What then creates confusion is that these words do not have the traditional meanings of the words used. This becomes a problem for Christians who hear words like oppression, equity, and justice in the bible and from the culture and assume the meaning is the same. Because of this confusion of definitions there are worldly teachings on race and racism that have entered the church. These foreign teachings are advocated for and defended by Christians who have a desire for justice. This desire is good, and it is this desire that is exploited by activists. It is important for Christians to understand the root of these foreign teachings, such as Critical Race Theory, so they can have a bible-based response to racism as we see it today. Without a grounding in scripture we are likely to be pulled into worldly understandings of race which will inevitably lead to worldly solutions to racism.
Racism does exist today, but the social justice movement wants to make you think it exists everywhere. They use real examples of injustice to justify their positions, then pull you into their solutions to those injustices. The problem is many of their injustices are perceived injustices and you must adopt their worldview in order to see the injustice. It becomes easier to adopt their views when you are exposed to real problems first. What many have done in response to the social justice movement is say that no problems exist. This is also an error. We can acknowledge real instances of injustice while not adopting false narratives and false teachings.
A biblical View of Race
In order to have a proper view of race we need to go to what God has said in His scriptures. Race is a concept meant to describe man, but God is the creator and God is the one who defines us. We need to ask ourselves, does the bible give us a category of race? It goes all the way back to creation with God being distinct from us. He is the creator and we are creation. Genesis 1:1 tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Nothing else existed at the time of creation except for God. All things that came into existence were made by Him and for Him. Since God created all things, He is also the one who spoke humanity into existence.
Genesis 1:26-27
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
God created us in His image. This truth is one that many people don’t spend a lot of time dwelling on. What does it mean for God to create us in His image? Many people will point to free will or our ability to reason. These are results of us being in His image, but what it really means is that God has created us in spirit. God Himself is spirit, that is He is immaterial and everlasting. God then created man unique in all of the creation. While the whole of creation is created materially we are made material and immaterial. We are both body and spirit. There is now an eternal aspect to us as well. We still differ from God since we have not always existed, nor do we have His full attributes, but we are created in spirit. This sets us apart from all of creation making us something God has created with a unique purpose.
Since God created us, He is the author of our lives. This means that He is the one who created us exactly as He intended to for His purposes. Psalm 139 tells us that God formed our inward parts and wove us together in our mother’s wombs. God did not only create Adam and Eve and set off a chain of biological creation, but He created each and every one of us, forming us into beings for His purposes. This means that we are His, and we are not our own. God is able to use us as He pleases. We see this throughout the scripture that while we have a will of our own, His will is greater than ours.
Psalm 2:2-4
2 The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, 3 “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!” 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.
Psalm 115:3
3 But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.
God is not only our creator, but He is our sovereign. He rules over our lives even if you do not believe in Him. There is a saying of some evangelists when they present the gospel; they say, “Make Jesus lord of your life.” The problem is Jesus already is Lord. We can rebel against His sovereignty or we can acknowledge and submit to His sovereignty. Either way we will all one day bow before Him and acknowledge that He is Lord, whether it is here on this earth or on the day of judgment. Some might take issue with God being sovereign over them and blame Him for how He created us. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 9 that we don’t have the right to speak against God for His sovereignty.
Romans 9:19-24
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? 21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? 22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
God creates us, shapes us, and uses us as He pleases according to His will because He is the creator of all things, and we are creation. You might ask why I have spent so much time going over this on the topic of race, which is an excellent question. It is important we keep all of this in mind because when we look at mankind, we need to recognize that we don’t define ourselves, God does. The more we know about how God created us and is sovereign over us, the less likely we are to veer off on our own and attempt to define ourselves. You and I don’t get to define the worth of man. You and I don’t get to give and take life at our will. Only God can do those things because He is the potter and we are the clay. As the clay, God gets to inform us on how we are to deal with His creation, including our fellow man.
We should also note the difference between the biblical story of creation and the world’s story of creation: evolution. The evolutionist teaches that mankind did not come about by divine creation, but that we evolved over millions of years from one species to the next, beginning from the first origins of life in single celled organisms. There is no explanation of how that first life came about, but if God doesn’t exist (which He doesn’t to the evolutionist) then life (something) had to come about from nothing. This is laughable. The atheist accuses the Christian of fantasy, yet believes that all things that exist came from nothing existing. That is fantasy. In this fantasy humanity is simply one species of many, we have not been created but happened to evolve over time. We came about through random process and chance and have no dignity worth of value that is absolute. Any dignity, worth and value we give to anything is subjective. How can the atheist then claim racism is wrong, other than subjectively? They cannot! Anyone who is racist, from an atheistic perspective, has done nothing truly wrong. They have only done wrong from the perspective of some.
The bible teaches that since God has created us all, we all have inherent dignity and value. Not only that, but our dignity and value is equal between all mankind. Because of this God commands us to not murder, steal, commit adultery, covet, or bear false witness. We are to have respect for one another as a way to honor God. These commands are for all people and towards all people. The modern concept of race is a manmade division that does not fit into God’s creation. While hatred for others existed before the modern concept of race, it is no wonder that the atheistic view of evolution fueled hatred and allowed people to discriminate on the evolution based classification of race.
The Roots of Racism
If we want to understand how these divisions and hatreds came about we need to look at our rebellion against God. We are all fallen in Adam; through him sin and death entered into the world. It is this sin that leads to hatred. Humanity is so depraved and rebellious against God that He punished us for our sin against Him. God separated us in our language to slow our rebellion against Him, not allowing us to coordinate our sinful behaviors.
Genesis 11:6-9
6 The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. 7 “Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.
Because we are sinful men we took this division of language and culture and fueled our sinful hatred for one another. Hatred existed before the division of language and culture, we see this when Cain kills his brother Abel. Now that our language and culture is divided we have created more reasons to sinfully hate one another. The way our culture today attempts to address these hatreds is by exposure to other cultures. The problem is not exposure to other cultures but sin. If we look at the wrong root cause of sin we will not be able to rid ourselves of the sin causing the issues. We need to look at why it is that we hate sinfully.
Since we are all fallen in Adam we all sin. Our sin is rebellion to all that God has done. God commands us how to interact with each other and we rebel against God’s word, treating one another in horrible ways. The sinful actions classified under racism must be understood, and they are partiality and hatred. Partiality and hatred in any situation are sins, and in racism those sins are expressed through partiality based on classifications of race or hatred based on classifications of race. This partiality or hatred can be exposed through another sinful action: holding one person accountable for the sins of another. When someone is wronged by another person of another group, they can then classify everyone belonging to the same group as the one responsible for their pain. For example, if someone who is black was bullied by white kids growing up they can grow up to believe all white people will treat them in the same way. This can create hatred towards all white people. The problem is scripture forbids us for holding one person accountable for the sins of another.
Ezekiel 18:20
20 “The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.
When we don’t follow this command we can hold people accountable for wrongdoing they themselves did not commit. This action is holding a group accountable for the misdeeds, or even at times the perceived misdeeds of an individual. This doesn’t just happen with race, but can occur with any sin. For example, some people are abused by clergy members and assume that all clergy members are abusers. Some Women are abused by men in their life and assume all men are abusers. This simply is not true and it is sinful to hold someone accountable for a sin they did not commit. If we want to rid ourselves of racism we each need to stop thinking of others as a member of a homogeneous group and treat each other as individuals who are judged by their own character and actions and not by what group we want to associate them with.
Another cause of racism is covetousness or jealousy. Coveting what someone else has can cause us to hate them even when we have not been wronged. Cain did this with Abel, Abel did no wrong to Cain yet Cain kills Abel out of jealousy.
Genesis 4:6-8
6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” 8 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Cain’s countenance had fallen and sin was at the door. Instead of changing himself he built up a hatred for his brother who had favor from God. Cain allowed his circumstance to influence his thoughts to the point of desiring murder. Abel, who had done no wrong, is the victim of Cain’s own hubris. When we look at what others have and covet their possessions or positions we can be filled with hatred for them. We must resist this sinful state of mind for hatred in the mind leads to mistreatment – even to the point of murder – of others.
Partiality is a large culprit of racism. Partiality is giving preferential treatment towards one person over another when it is not justified. The bible tells us to have no partiality under the law, we must apply our laws equally to all people. James warns us about partiality in his letter.
James 2:1-9
1 My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. 2 For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, 3 and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? 5 Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? 7 Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? 8 If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
When we begin to think partially towards others we can justify unfair treatment towards them. Scripture warns us over and over again that partiality is sinful. When people give preferential treatment towards people that look like them they are committing the sin of partiality. This sin doesn’t require hatred towards others, but it sets a separation in how you would treat one person over another.
The real roots of racism is not that we don’t know each other well enough, but that we are sinful by nature. If we want to address racism we have to address the roots of racism which are hatred and partiality. These sins can combine into the examples of racism that we see in our history and up to this day. We also need to address that race itself is a manmade division. God created us all in His image and we all come from one man. If we recognize Jesus Christ as Lord and desire to live in obedience to Him we would flee from those earthly divisions and live according to His law which tells us to not hate and to not be partial. When we don’t approach this subject from a Christian perspective we are going to fall into errors and our solutions will not work.
The World’s View of Race
While there are varied views on race, I want to address what I find to be the most predominant view of race today. The interesting fact is that many Christians and non-Christians agree that race is a social construct with roots in evolutionary thought. Oddly though, I have found that the non-Christian view of race still presses you to think of everything in terms of race. Under the world’s view of race we have a change in the definition of racism. Rather than being hatred or partiality towards someone of another race it adds the requirement that this hatred or partiality must exist alongside a power dynamic. So, if someone does not have power then they cannot be racist. The idea behind this is that their hatred or partiality cannot be expressed because they do not have the power to express it. Racism is then defined as prejudice plus power. If you have heard anyone say that black people cannot be racist, this is why. They claim that institutional power is held by whites so blacks cannot be racist because they have no power. This concept of power is one that we need to pay close attention to; where did it come from? It is rooted in marxist thought!
For Marx there was a struggle between the haves and the have nots. It was oppressor versus oppressed in the economic sense. We now have cultural Marxism that still views everything through the lens of oppression and power dynamics but in many different cultural ways rather than only economically. Our next article will dig deeper into the Marxist roots of modern thought, but for now the important thing to keep in mind is that this lens of oppressor and oppressed plays a big part in talks about racism today. The cultural Marxist theory that has come about as it pertains to race is Critical Race Theory, or CRT. James Lindsay, who has studied CRT and attempts to bring light on what is being taught states the following about CRT in his article What Is Critical Race Theory?:
it’s a particular way of thinking about race and racism that developed first at Harvard Law School from the late 1970s through the early 1990s. Its stated objective is to question whether the Civil Rights Movement and Civil Rights Acts legislation improved the racial situation in Western nations, especially the United States. Its true objective is to re-organize the social, cultural, and legal playing field in a way that claims to reverse “historical injustices” around the issue of race, allegedly without reproducing them.
First, Critical Race Theory views race and racism this way: race is a political construction that was invented by white people to give themselves power while excluding all other races from it, and racism is the ordinary state of affairs in society, present in all interactions, institutions, and phenomena, and effectively permanent in society (short of a full sociocultural revolution that puts them in charge). That is, Critical Race Theory assumes that racism is present in everything under a doctrine known as “systemic racism.” Quoting from Delgado and Stefancic, “What do critical race theorists believe? Probably not every member would subscribe to every tenet set out in this book, but many would agree on the following propositions. First, that racism is ordinary, not aberrational—“normal science,” the usual way society does business, the common, everyday experience of most people of color in this country. Second, most would agree that our system of white-over-color ascendancy serves important purposes, both psychic and material. The first feature, ordinariness, means that racism is difficult to cure or address. … The second feature, sometimes called “interest convergence” or material determinism, adds a further dimension. Because racism advances the interests of both white elites (materially) and working-class people (psychically), large segments of society have little incentive to eradicate it.”
To sum that up, racism is prevalent in our society. We cannot get rid of it without a revolution to overthrow the current power dynamics. It defines racism as something invented by whites for the purpose of supporting whites while pushing down all minorities. Have you wondered how men like Larry Elder, a black man that ran for governor against Gavin Newsom, could be called a white supremacist? It is because racism is the cultural norm of the day, and Elder supports those norms, therefore he is implicit in white supremacy.
Under Critical Race Theory there are new truths that we can deduce. First, all white people are guilty of racism. It is inherent in their way of life, they are born into it, they cannot escape it! White supremacy can be seen in the cultural norms of society: our laws, holidays, movies, books, schools, churches, and so on. How do we know there is racism there? Because of disparities! If blacks graduate school at a lower rate than whites then schools are racist. Where is the racism? It is in the entire structure of the school, we need to tear it down and start over to try something new. If that system still creates disparities, tear it down and try again. This goes for all areas of culture. This view also includes Christianity under the cultural norm, or at least a historic and biblical Christianity. If you want to be part of an acceptable Christianity then you better be part of a church that has leadership that reflects the culture’s way of thinking.
Second, all people who support the current system are implicit in racism. You can be a black woman and support the white patriarchy if you are a Christian who submits to her husband and is grateful to live in America. You don’t have to have hatred or show any partiality and you can be guilty of racism, including racism against your own race!
Out of CRT we get modern concepts of where racism appears. One area racism appears is under microaggressions. Microaggressions are the idea that you can do small racist things that you aren’t even aware of, but they affect others in a way to oppress them. These microaggressions can be so small that minorities have to also be trained to see them! The goal of microaggressions is to get you to see racism everywhere. You can take tests online to see if you have had microaggressions committed against you. Some of those questions are as follows: “Have you sensed that you were ignored by someone because of your race? Have you been treated in an “overly” friendly way by someone because of your race? How often have you been stared at by strangers due to your status as a minority?” Notice that all of these require your personal interpretation of interactions. Did someone ignore you based on your race? What if they ignored you for another reason? Maybe they were busy and didn’t notice you. Maybe they are generally unfriendly and ignore everyone. It doesn’t matter, you can interpret the interaction as racism. Or maybe they were too friendly! That could also be racism! Microaggressions want you to examine every single interaction with everyone to spot racism. The question is not “did racism occur” but rather it is “where did the racism occur?”
We also get the concept of privilege, or more importantly white privilege. White privilege is the concept that simply by having white skin you have privilege over other people. Some questions on the white privilege test are as follows: “I can arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk with the “person in charge” I will be facing a person of my race.” (You can view a white privilege test given to college students here.) The problem with what is expressed as white privilege is actually majority privilege. The same questions could be answered in the same way by people of any race depending on where they are when you ask the questions. Yet, this is aimed solely at white people. You can also be a white American who goes to France or Germany and be in the minority amongst people who are also white. The entire concept falls flat. It also should not matter to anyone what others look like in authoritative roles, we are all human. White privilege wants you to think of everyone as a member of a group based on skin color.
These views don’t combat racism, but they cause racism. Partiality becomes the goal of the lens of CRT. There is no grace in how you view other people, rather it requires you to be critical of all people and all interactions in order to create resentment between you and your neighbors. CRT has built into its teachings that if you reject CRT it also exposes you as a racist, so you can either admit you are racist or be shown a racist by not admitting it. CRT is also labeled as an analytical tool only meant to help us spot racism where we couldn’t see it before. It is not an analytical tool but a race colored lens that requires you to see racism everywhere. If you don’t spot the racism through CRT you aren’t doing it right. So, racism is no longer a sin committed by some, but a state of being which is standard to all white people. If you want to look at it religiously, it is the original sin, and all are guilty of it. You might ask yourself, “well if it is in the structure, wouldn’t that mean once the cultural revolution takes place that those in power would become the new racists?” The answer is yes, but CRT advocates assure us that under their changed systems they can prevent racism, they are immune to what they call normative. This leads to some very racist responses to racism.
The World’s Response to Racism
Since racism is everywhere and it is a structural thing, how do we address it? You must tear down the whole structure and start over again. Recently here in the United States we have seen parents angry about CRT being taught in schools. Proponents of this ideology assure us that CRT is a complex legal theory and that it is silly to think it is being taught to elementary aged children. While technically correct, CRT in full is not being taught, what they are doing is known as Critical Race Praxis. This is the last step of CRT: make activists. The lens has been used, racism has been found, the structures must be wiped out to be “built back better” and we need the next generation to be on board. There is no need to teach legal theory, just apply what was found to the school, businesses, and all of society. The more activists you get, the more your ideology is spread. Then your revolution can take place! So we have the practice of CRT being taught, which leads to several horrifying books and teachings.
It is important that we can identify what the world is saying about racism. One of the top speakers and writers on this topic is Ibram X. Kendi. Kendi is the author of the best selling book “How to Be an Antiracist.” The title might sound benign-why would I want to be a racist? Antiracism sounds better than racism. However, Kendi teaches that there is a difference between someone who is not racist and someone who is anti-racist. Not racist is a false neutrality for Kendi. If you are not racist, sure you don’t hate or show partiality, but you’re not undoing racism. You have to be an activist to be anti-racist. Kendi says on his website that anti-racism is a work that must be continuously done. Kendi states that “BEING AN ANTIRACIST REQUIRES PERSISTENT SELF-AWARENESS, CONSTANT SELF-CRITICISM, AND REGULAR SELF-EXAMINATION.” In other words, antiracism is a type of works-based salvation from racism. You can’t just not be racist, you have to become an activist, and your activism has to be in line with CRT and Kendi’s view of antiracism. To Kendi, the original sin is racism and you cannot get rid of this sin unless you do the work to get rid of it. You have to continually examine yourself to see if you are doing enough. The correct answer to these examinations, especially if you are white, is that you aren’t doing enough. Kendi’s antiracism is in reality racism. He states as much in his own writing.
“The only remedy to racist discrimination is anti-racist discrimination. The only remedy to past discimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.” – Ibram X. Kendi
Kendi doesn’t want to end discrimination, his solution is discrimination! If we want to stop discrimination, we can all stop discriminating and it is done. Kendi says that is still racist, and we must be anti-racist, which means to discriminate in an antiracist way. This is why companies are creating “pipelines” to hire people based on race. They examined disparities in hiring, and now rather than hiring based on merit, they are looking for people that are minorities in order to make sure they discriminate in an antiracist way. You must remember that the disparities are the example of racism, so discrimination to end disparities is good in Kendi’s view. His teachings go directly against what scripture teaches. God says to show no partiality, Kendi says show partiality, as long as it is in the “right” direction.
Another speaker and writer of note is Robin DiAngelo.DiAngelo is the author of “White Fragility.” This book teaches that all white people are racist, and that it is your white fragility to deny it. You can admit you are a racist and begin to do the work of anti-racism, or you can deny you are racist and prove yourself a racist. There is no escape from the title, to DiAngelo you are racist simply by having white skin. Everything you do with white skin supports white supremacy. James Lindsay reports on DiAngelo in his Article White Fragility Training and Freedom of Belief, DiAngelo states:
Racism is a society-wide dynamic that occurs at the group level. When I say that only whites can be racist, I mean that in the United States, only whites have the collective social and institutional power and privilege over people of color. People of color do not have this power and privilege over white people.
So, everything you do because you are in America is based in racism. She goes on to say:
The system of racism begins with ideology, which refers to the big ideas that are reinforced throughout society. From birth, we are conditioned into accepting and not questioning these ideas. Ideology is reinforced across society, for example, in schools and textbooks, political speeches, movies, advertising, holiday celebrations, and words and phrases. These ideas are also reinforced through social penalties when someone questions an ideology and through the limited availability of alternative ideas. Ideologies are the frameworks through which we are taught to represent, interpret, understand and make sense of social existence. Because these ideas are constantly reinforced, they are very hard to avoid believing and internalizing.
So, according to DiAngelo, every structure and cultural norm in the United States is what she calls “whiteness.” Whiteness is racist, and you won’t be able to spot this racism as a white person unless it is pointed out to you. All white people should acknowledge they are the problem and step aside to allow the solutions to come in. She also redefined racism, not as hating or disliking others, but as a power system that results in privilege. Once again we see this dynamic set in power struggles. Any system that has positions of power and causes any disparity or privilege is racist, the fact that you have privilege is racist. It is interesting to note that DiAngelo is herself a white woman, and while she teaches that white people cannot be a part of the solution due to their whiteness, she still presents herself as an authority on this topic. Hypocrisy aside, we see that DiAngelo also teaches against scripture. She teaches that some are guilty of sin simply by the color of their skin.
These teachings have not just been taught in schools or to individuals who have bought their books. These teachings have made their way into all aspects of our society. This includes work, school, church, hobby clubs, and, everywhere else you can think of. Both of these authors, and many others that are teaching the same things, are paid to teach their doctrines to corporations and schools. These teachings involve what is known as struggle sessions where you are to sit in a group and acknowledge your racism, privilege, or oppression. If you don’t acknowledge it then more struggle sessions are necessary until you do acknowledge it. This is to coerce you into saying things you don’t believe, which leads you to either adopt the worldview or be too afraid to oppose the worldview, fearing that everyone else believes it.
Entire departments that never existed before have come into every corporation and school. There is now most likely a department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at your company or school. This department has one goal in mind, to push Critical Race Theory. How do you achieve diversity, equity, and inclusion? You force it. Companies adhere to the tenets of white fragility and anti-racism in order to bring about DEI. They begin by acknowledging that so far they have not done enough for DEI and promise to do better in the future. They then implement policies, at the recommendation of the department of DEI, in order to bring about DEI. The name is meant to be deceiving, how could you be against diversity, equity and inclusion? You can’t! So this department pushes equity. So, if you work for a company that has a workforce that doesn’t perfectly match the diversity of the population then inequity exists. You now must implement anti-racist policies (although they won’t be presented as anti-racist) in order to achieve the proper equity.
What of companies that don’t want this department to bring in this nonsense? Why have all of the corporations bought into this? You must follow the money to figure that out. If companies want to get funding they must fall in line with the principles set forth by the ESG scoring system. ESG is the Environmental, Social and Governance score, if you want to get funding you need your score to be high. If your score is low you are less likely to get funding. Companies will then go along with the principles to gain a higher score. In accordance with the Social aspect of ESG scores you get a requirement for things like diversity, equity and inclusion. Once again we have an organization that sounds benign, but is in place to push marxist ideologies. The social tenet of ESG is stated defined as:
Social criteria look at the company’s business relationships. Does it work with suppliers that hold the same values as it claims to hold? Does the company donate a percentage of its profits to the local community or encourage employees to perform volunteer work there? Do the company’s working conditions show high regard for its employees’ health and safety? Are other stakeholders’ interests taken into account?
Each of these criteria have social justice at its root. To accomplish them you need a department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. So every corporation that wants funding needs to improve their ESG scores by adhering to critical race praxis within their company. Even if the leadership doesn’t agree with CRT they are pressured into going along with what it teaches in order to continue to receive investments.
This influence isn’t just inside of institutions. Our culture as a whole is being influenced to adopt CRT principles. The organization Black Lives Matter is one of the organizations that has gained popularity by capitalizing off of public events. Some of these events are presented with false information to make them seem to fit the BLM narrative, but other events, such as George Floyd, are real injustices that took place and are used to promote BLM. The problem is that black lives don’t matter to the BLM organization. The group is led by self-identified marxists who at one point had on their website the goal of ending the nuclear family. This organization twists events to build up support claiming to be for the advancement of blacks while they are truly just a political marxist movement.
All of these teachings and movements are part of critical race praxis. They are full of partiality, they create wrongdoing where wrongdoing does not exist, and they use half truths and human emotion to manipulate you and turn you into an activist for their cultural revolution. We have to ask ourselves, to what end do they do this? There is no salvation in this system, only eternal power struggles. Once the current system is undone the next system will be just as corrupt since it will have power. The power struggle could never really end. This is the marxist trick, only the marxist can end the power struggle and we need to give them the power for them to do it. We cannot fall for these teachings.
Critical Race Theory in the Church
Sadly this ideology has come into the church. Within Christian circles biblical terms are manipulated to convince Christians that it is actually a biblical principle being presented. You will hear the same words we can see in scripture such as justice and equity. We have already shown how these ideologies go against what scripture teaches, yet still many Christians are deceived by Critical Race Theory. There are even very popular reformed teachers who have bought into these lies.
One such teacher is Matt Chandler, who has preached about racial reconciliation for quite some years now. I have been a fan of Matt Chandler for many years, but noticed a change in his messaging a few years back. Aspects of CRT were creeping into his sermons. He even received public scrutiny for some of his statements, and addressed them in a sermon. Chandler was confused why people would call him a marxist when he did not teach or believe in Karl Marx’s economic theories. What Chandler didn’t understand, and if you give him the benefit of the doubt still does not understand, is that Marxism has changed over the past century to be cultural not just economic. In another, more recent sermon Chandler was speaking to his congregation about finding additional elders for a church split they were planning for offsite locations and he stated the following:
If we find an Anglo eight and an African American seven, which one do you want?” I said, “I want the African American seven.” And he said, “What if we find an Anglo eight in an African American six?” And then I said, “Then give me the Anglo eight because the African American six will look and feel to our people like the kind of tokenism that I’m preaching against.” – Matt Chandler View the full video
We can see that Matt Chandler has applied concepts we see within Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. He wants the diverse pick over the qualified pick because in this system your diversity factors into your qualification. If Matt Chandler really cared about his congregation the skin color of the elders he chose would not matter, but under CRT the skin color is most important. This is why he doesn’t want to appear to be hiring with tokenism, even if he does want the minority picked more than anything. Chandler has also made statements about structural racism that reflect the claims made by CRT activists. Of course he adds religious sounding language to make it seem legitimate, but he is still applying CRT to his thinking.
Another popular pastor that has applied CRT to his thinking is Tim Keller. Keller is an author and megachurch pastor in New York and has a massive following around the country. While discussing how churches raise funds for missionaries, Keller called the current practices racist.
-a great example of systemic racism is the the traditional evangelical approach to fundraising in which you ask christian staff workers to raise their own support – Tim Keller
Keller goes on to explain that wealth takes generations to build, so immigrants and African Americans don’t have the wealth to raise funds from. He goes on to say:
so then what happens is in so many of these evangelical organizations…because they can’t do that they never move up and and really become part of the power – Tim Keller View the full video
I hope you noticed the large red flag in what he said. Why is Keller referring to power? Since when have Christians viewed positions in the church as positions of power? Elders and leaders in the church, including missionaries, are meant to work with an authority that comes from God and are held accountable to God for how they lead, but nowhere do we read that elders have power. In fact, there are guidelines for elders that are meant to prevent people seeking power from entering the position. Yet, Keller complains that minorities cannot become part of the power? Also, why do those who don’t have funds seek funding from those who do? This is the model of the church we see in scripture, the church gathers funds for the ministry. Once again, through the lens of CRT we see that racism has been defined where racism doesn’t exist and scripture can give us a clear answer on how to ensure missionaries get their funding.
It is evident all around us when we look at American evangelicalism that CRT has come into the church. We need to combat it and teach Christians how to properly address issues of racism in a way that does not turn us into even worse racists. We can also recognize that old-school racism still exists to this day. There are groups in the United States that are pushing segregation and calling for whites to not mix with other races. One such group is the William Branham cult. William Branham was a charismatic cult leader that taught that he is the next Elijah. He gained a following through the earlier part of the twentieth century and his cult has ties to the KKK. Branham and his following teaches that “hybrids” or mixed race couples are not right. One leader in his church stated, “My God still has nationalities outside the city” meaning that we cannot mix or we will bring an end to ethnicity.
Cultish, a show that looks into different cults and their teachings, interviewed ex-cult member John Collins. Collins now devotes his time to bringing people out of the Branham cult. During his interview he explained that he was simultaneously taught that he was not a racist and that people should not mix. Leaders would explain that keeping blacks with black and whites with whites was loving, and they would point to their “friendship” with blacks as an example that they were not racist. It was not until he left the cult that Collins began to see the contradictions in this teaching. If you ever wonder why “I have a black friend” is not accepted as evidence of you not being a racist, this is why. However, when someone does not accept that excuse, they usually won’t accept any response as evidence you aren’t racist because they believe you are racist anyways. The existence of this teaching today does make it easier to see why people are hesitant to believe whites are not racist.
Sadly, these teachings are not only in cults. There are more orthodox believers who teach the same thing. A pastor who writes on a blog called Iron Ink writes this:
“Scripture may not explicitly forbid us from inter-racial marriages but neither does it explicitly forbid us from doing any number of unwise things” Read the article
This “pastor” (I put that in quotes because I don’t know this individual, but that is how they identify themselves) teaches that races should not mix. He justifies his teaching by saying that God has intended for there to be many different nations and ethnicities, so even though we need to evangelize to the whole world we are to send the gospel to people and remain separate. How you can mix scripture and a division of people like this, I cannot understand.
While these examples exist, it should be noted they are few and far between. Gallup did a poll this past September that asked people’s opinion on interracial marriage, and it stated that 94% of people approve. This is good news, especially since that number was around 4% in 1958. We have made great progress in the United States of ridding ourselves of racist thought. However, there are still racists both in the traditional sense and in the new anti-racist sense. We need to know how to respond to this racism in a way that glorifies and honors God.
The Biblical Response to Racism
When we understand not only that racism is sin, but it is specific sins that God addresses in His word, we can better understand how to address the problems that arise from it. First, if it is a sin issue, then we must address it similarly to all other sin issues. Only Christ can take away our sins.
Colossians 3:5-11
5 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, 10 and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— 11 a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.
In Colossians chapter 3 we can see the effect of Christ’s redemptive work. We are cleaned by the blood of Christ and saved by faith. We receive the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us, making us holy as God is holy. Due to this sanctification process we are dying to ourselves and putting off the sins of the past. We no longer walk in immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, or idolatry. We are no longer filled with anger, malice, slander, abusive speech, and lies. With all of these gone, God is also going to remove the sins that lead to racism. God cleanses our old self so we can put on the righteousness of Christ. We should no longer be marked by the sins that once ruled us and caused us to sin continually.
Once this takes place, and we are putting on the new self, we can have unity in Christ. This unity is something that can only be found in Christ, all other forms of unity are false and will fall apart. Because of this unity we are to put off all distinctions that we once held between one another. These distinctions are ones we have made ourselves, and that includes race and racism. Colossians tells us there is no longer Greek or Jew. These groups hated each other and if Greeks converted to Judaism they were still not allowed into the inner courts to worship God. Those distinctions are gone now. There is also no longer circumcised and uncircumcised, there are no religious rights and practices necessary to become unified in Christ. There is no longer Barbarian and Scythian. These two groups were likely at war not long before, yet now at the table of the Lord they are together. Old hatreds are buried for a new unity. There is no longer slave or free. Masters and slaves also sat together at the table of the Lord and are unified in Christ. So, why should we let skin color divide us if all of these other categories don’t?
Paul preaches this same message in his letters, urging believers to be united in Christ.
Galatians 3:26-29
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
Not only are we one in Christ, but we are the true descendants of Abraham. Not by blood, but by Spirit. We are co-heirs with Christ!
Ephesians 2: 14;19-22
14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, … 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
We are all citizens in Christ’s kingdom, and we are being built into the holy temple of God, which is built on the cornerstone of Christ. This is all possible because God is bringing us back to His design for us. We are not meant to have these earthly divisions we have created. We are meant to work together to the glory of God. In Acts 17 Paul teaches that God has made all of us, and it is Him who breathes life into us. We all come from one man, made in God’s image. Paul rebukes Peter for going back to old divisions.
Galatians 2:11-14
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. 13 The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?
Paul rebukes Peter for creating divisions in the church. Peter went back to eating only with those who believed you had to be circumcised before you could be a Christian, even after teaching that this was not true. Paul confronts Peter’s hypocrisy, those old divisions are no longer to divide us.
Conclusion
We must understand how to respond properly to our culture’s ideas. One reason CRT has entered the church is because the church has failed to address the cultural issues. Christians have left the public realm to secularists and privatized faith. God did not intend for us to do this. The gospel is for all people, and we are commanded to preach the gospel to all the nations, teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded. When we fail to do this and abandon the culture it is no wonder secular ideologies take over. We must be willing to preach the whole counsel of God to all people because Christ is Lord of all. If we fail to address race and racism in a biblical way we will only make the problems worse.