The Critical Race Theory (CRT) Worldview
In this part of the series, I critique the worldview of Critical Race Theory (CRT). For a much more comprehensive treatment (and mostly level-headed analysis), I recommend Voddie Baucham’s Fault Lines. I also wrote on wokeness and CRT in the midst of the 2020 BLM riots here.
Critical Race Theory (CRT) teaches that throughout history, all institutions (social and legal) have been inherently racist, creating a world where white people have been granted an intrinsic advantage over colored people. It calls all who do not follow its philosophy “racist,” not in the historical use (i.e., ethnic enmity, or prejudice against an individual or group because of their skin color), but in the CRT sense, that you may be unwitting, yet guilty perpetrator of this inherently racist society. Those subscribing to CRT are called “woke” or “antiracist.”
Sadly, recently many evangelical Christians have been sucked into this ungodly, unbiblical ideology, even pastors and leaders who ought to know better. I think one primary reason is general ignorance about what CRT truly is. Christians hear “antiracists” using strong, spiritual language—that we should stand against racism and help the weak—and foolishly baptize those words with Christian theology. In fact, CRT is fundamentally opposed to Christianity, and considers the Church to be a racist institution! Below I try to expose CRT for what it is, closely following chapter 4 of Voddie Baucham’s Fault Lines.
First, CRT teaches that “whiteness” (having white skin) imputes “white privilege”, a set of privileges that all white-skinned people have because they are white-skinned in a society that favors white people. This privilege is inherent to every institution and thrives on the exploitation and oppression of colored people. This means that white people are inherent oppressors of all colored people, and that all colored people are inherently oppressed by white people.
In contrast, the Bible teaches that God created man and woman in the image of God (Gen 3:26), and thus all humans have inherent dignity and value. In addition, every person, regardless of ethnicity, has been born under the curse of sin (Rom 3:10-18). No ethnicity is greater or less; in fact, God promises judgement for “every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew and also of the Greek [a non-Jew]… For there is no partiality with God” (Rom 2:9-11). Deeds are the foundation of God’s justice, not skin color. Assuredly, ethnic enmity, colloquially called racism, is evil and condemned by God, for we are commanded to love all our neighbors (Rom 13:10); there is “no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same lord is Lord of all” (Rom 10:12). But the Bible never teaches that a particular ethnicity is inherently racist or inherently oppressed.
Second, CRT teaches “white supremacy,” any belief, act, or institutional system that protects “white privilege.” It is no longer used to refer primarily to KKK members or the like, but to everything and everyone that are not pro-CRT. “White supremacy” is called the corruption that taints all of history. In contrast, Scripture teaches that sin ruined the world (Gen 3:14-19, Rom 8:20-22)—and sin is not restricted to one skin color, but that “the wickedness of man [humanity] was great on the earth” (Gen 6:5). Indeed, in Heaven, God does not eliminate “whiteness” or “white supremacy” to make all things new, but the curse of sin (Rev 22:3).
Third, CRT teaches “white complicity,” namely that white people maintain the systemic racial injustice, sometimes unwittingly, by perpetuating racism. This does not have to be an active pursuit (historical use of “racism”), but merely failing to be an “antiracist”; in fact, silent against “racism” is to be guilty of “racism” yourself because you are contributing to and benefitting from the system of “white privilege.” In contrast, Scripture does not teach there is such a thing as an age-long racism corrupting all things. Scripture does not even call all individual Christians to tackle true systemic issues like poverty or slavery, but instead to be faithful in the spheres of influence God has given (1 Thess 4:10-11, Eph 5:22-6:9). It also does not teach that silence is always complicity. Christians are to be slow to speak (Jas 1:19), which necessarily implies being silent for at least a time. Jesus Himself was silent (Mark 14:61).
Fourth, CRT teaches “white equilibrium,” the comfortable ignorance that white people have that prevents them from seeing their racism, and “white fragility,” the stubborn refusal of white people to admit the influence that their “whiteness” (and all that comes with it). There are parallels to this in the Scripture, but it is the denial of sin and culpability before God (Rom 1:18-22). All unbelievers are dead in their sins and unable to live to God (Eph 2:1-3, Rom 8:2-8). God gives all unbelievers over to lust, degrading passions, and a depraved mind (Rom 1:24, 26, 28), not just one kind of unbeliever. All are guilty before Him (Rom 3:10-12), and yet deny the truth.
Fifth, CRT teaches that the original sin is racism, and that only white people inherit such sin! Even more, CRT teaches that this “racism” is institutional, structural, and systemic, embedded into the very fabric of modern society. But Scripture teaches that Adam’s original sin was rebellion against God, seeking to be God with the authority to decide what was good and evil (Gen 3:5). The Bible says that through “one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom 5:12, emphasis mine), not “in the beginning was racism and it spread to all white people because they’re all racist.”
Sixth, the end goal of CRT is equity. Note that this is different from biblical equality, which is the equal treatment of all persons before the law, regardless of merely superficial factors like socioeconomic status or ethnicity. The judges of Israel were commanded to “do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great” (Lev 19:15). Israel was commanded to treat the “stranger who resides with you...as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself” (Lev 19:34). The CRT idea of equity is that the outcomes for everyone must be the same. Therefore CRT, by definition, seeks to enforce socialism in which there is no difference between individuals—regardless of their deeds. This is the foundation for policies like affirmative action (in which less qualified individuals receive access into institutions and jobs because they are colored people) and reparations (in which groups of people receive payment or benefits from the government because wrong was done to their ancestors). While Christians may debate the actors and means to help the poor and weak (i.e., private or public section, local or national, etc.), it is impermissible for Christians to levy the punishment for the deeds of ancestors upon an individual’s head. God despises the parable, “The fathers eat the sour grapes, / But the children’s teeth are set on edge” (Eze 18:2), i.e., that the children are punished for their father’s sins. Instead, God promises that the individual “soul who sins will die” (Eze 18:3), namely for his own sins, not for another’s. Each receives just desserts for his own deeds.
Seventh, CRT has no salvation for white people, and no freedom for colored people. It adopts the Marxist idea that there will always be oppressor and oppressed, and that history merely shifts from one group in power to another. There is no deliverance, but only damnation— especially for white people. The best that they can do is atone for their own “whiteness” by being
an “antiracist” who campaigns against “racism” and the benefits derived from “racism” in their life and in their ancestors’ lives. In contrast, the Bible teaches salvation for all in Jesus Christ!
Make no mistake, CRT is fundamentally opposed to a biblical worldview. But something that few Christians realize is that CRT is also opposed to the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” CRT “antiracists” say, “We have a dream that we will live in a nation where people are judged by the color of their skin: white people are punished for their ‘racism’ and colored people are favored to make up for the ‘racism’ imbedded in the institutions of society.”
Christians must not bow to the worldview of CRT. The truth of Scripture and the gospel are at stake, and we would do well to oppose its influence as far as the curse is found.
Adapted from an essay written for a seminary course on evangelism and apologetics, Fall 2021.