Ideas have consequences and bad or dangerous ideas if left unchecked and unchallenged can have detrimental effects on society. Such was the lesson learned about communism in the 20th century that saw a great overreach by governments such as those like China, Russia, and others that severely restrict freedom of religion, free speech and led to the death of millions. But did we learn our lesson? From some of the news that we are hearing today, you wouldn’t think so. Why are some of these ideas gaining traction and what is so appealing about them?
Partially it is because they are presented in new packaging that sounds positive, that may even sound “Christian” at first glance. Who wouldn’t want to fight injustice and stand against inequality? The other reason is the lack of education in regards to world history, western History and civics. And well of course, for those of us who hold to a Christian worldview we understand that we are fighting against principalities in the spiritual realm that are constantly trying to undermine the gospel message.
Consider for a moment if you wanted to undermine the influence of Christianity on society, how would you do it? in the long run direct persecution is ineffective as it only serves to inspire the church to be more faithful and grow as we have seen throughout history. No, the most effective methods of deconstructing the Christian worldview are usually through subversive ideas that might sound moral on the surface but underneath they are meant to be a replacement for the Christian worldview. This was what Karl Marx had in mind when he wrote the communist manifesto. Perhaps you have heard his famous quote about religion being the opiate of the people. Karl Marx had no room for religion especially for Christianity. He saw it as escapism. He believed in a constant class struggle between an oppressing class of people and the oppressed, the haves and the have nots essentially. The only way to become what we must, according to Marx, was to have a revolution and overthrow the oppressor. The problem with this that those who overthrew their governments ended up becoming the new oppressors. That is an extremely abbreviated description of what has become known as communism.
While communism has mostly focused on economic disparities a new version of communism has replaced economic status with skin color. Guess who the oppressing class is? Yep, if your white your born into an oppressing class and if you’re not white you’re in an oppressed class. On its surface this has so many problems with it. Economic status is not an immutable characteristic but the color of my skin or my ethnicity is. So, what is the solution? Believe it or not segregation has been rearing its ugly head again as schools and corporations have been promoting the creation of “affinity groups” basically saying “Stay with your own kind” a school recently promoted “Safe spaces” where whites are not allowed. How is this happening in 21st century America?
This is not how Martin Luther King Jr Faught against racism. He fought against segregation. He taught that we should come together and reconcile our differences. That we should look to what we have in common. That we should be judged on our character not on the color of our skin. These concepts were codified into law in 1964 and 1965. Now some proponents of Critical Race Theory have tried to say that this is a mischaracterization, that it is simply about helping to make people aware of systemic racism. The reality is that racism and discrimination exists. Whether it is systemic or not is a subject for debate. However, the CRT approach is flawed for several reasons. It teaches children to see differences rather than focus on commonality. Its targets certain people groups as oppressors for something they have no control over and It teaches people to be prejudiced rather than see each other as fellow human beings created in the image of God.
Unfortunately, CRT doesn’t just stop with targeting skin color. It attacks the Christianity as “Privileged” and seeks to tear down the Judea Christian understanding of society. Add to that the Non-binary Movement, gender fluidity, and intersectionality and we have a full-on assault on everything that a Bible believing Christian holds to, namely that there are two genders, that we were created in the image of God, that we are equal in the eyes of God, that marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman. and that rights and freedoms come from God not the state.
Many of these radical ideas are being introduced in schools but thank God some are standing up and fighting back by taking on school boards and lobbying to pass laws banning this material from the classrooms. While I am hopeful that more states will get on board banning this from school classrooms Christians need to awaken from their naiveté about the aggressiveness of these movements Their goal is simple: is no less than a complete deconstructing of the Christian worldview and a remaking of society in their image.