A few months ago, it was mentioned here that Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality (CRT/I) collectively, was being embraced by many within professing Christianity. At the 2019 SBC Convention, for example, it was insisted that CRT/I was merely a tool alongside biblical Christianity for the purpose of understanding cultural-sociological issues. However, as many proposed, CRT/I has proved far more than a mere tool subservient to biblical Christianity.

These recent days have been sorrowful ones. The curse of the Fall has been three-dimensional in painful ways. Lives have ended that should not have. The great intruder of death has reared its ugly, uninvited head. Equally uninvited, has been financial ruin, physical injury, destruction of property, anxiety, fear, emotional distress, closure of stores and services, not to mention the virus. Truly these last few months have been replete with thorns and thistles. Some have experienced immense pain. Thankfully, our God is the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who gives great hope of Jesus Christ, he who will right all wrongs.

A few months ago, it was mentioned here that Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality (CRT/I) collectively, was being embraced by many within professing Christianity. At the 2019 SBC Convention, for example, it was insisted that CRT/I was merely a tool alongside biblical Christianity for the purpose of understanding cultural-sociological issues. However, as many proposed, CRT/I has proved far more than a mere tool subservient to biblical Christianity. That fact has become more clear in these most recent days. Rising up from the recent sorrowful events, we have seen what many understood, and warned of: Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality is not a tool, but an entirely separate religion. One could argue that it is America’s Newest Religion.

Even Atheist author James Lindsay wrote at length, arguing that CRT/I features the tenets of an independent religion. Mike Nayna writes, “I’ve seen more direct public discussion recently about the religious aspects of anti-racism. This rabbit hole goes much deeper than you would imagine, right down to the reemergence of a new kind of special revelation within certain corners of academia.”

Every religion has common, general features. Each proposes things like an absolute, a view of humanity, the problem of humanity, a corresponding salvation, some community ethic, and more.

To begin, we will look at what CRT/I teaches on humanity and the corresponding problem.

Humanity and the Problem

Every religion holds to a particular idea concerning anthropology and hamartiology. CRT/I proposes an anthropology which categorizes humanity into two primary groups; oppressor and oppressed. This is the anthropological lens through which human beings are viewed.

The oppressors are those whose primary sin is racism. The oppressed are the victims of both direct and indirect sins of racism. Racism could be defined as “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race” (merriam-webster). However, a Harvard essay, “Sociology on Racism,” by Matthew Clair and Jeffrey S. Denis, broadens the definition of racism to “individual- and group-level processes and structures that are implicated in the reproduction of racial inequality.”

CRT/I teaches that the oppressor category is guilty of racism both by nature and action. First, the oppressor category is said to be inherently racist due to whiteness. In other words, the oppressors are guilty of racism by virtue of lighter skin shade. CRT/Is confess to this. Robin DiAngelo says, “The challenge I want to offer my fellow white people is changing the question from ‘if’ to ‘how?’ I want to change the question to, ‘How is racism manifesting in my life?’ None of us can be and none of us are exempt from its forces.”  She continues, “As a result of being raised as a white person in this society, I have a racist worldview. I have a deep racist bias. I have developed deep racist patterns. I have investments in the system of racism because it has served me really well.” Ekemini Uwan, from Sparrow Women, said at the Dallas Evangelical Conference, “The reality is that whiteness is rooted in plunder, in theft, in enslavement of Africans, in genocide of Native Americans.” Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic write, “Many critical race theorists and social scientists hold that racism is pervasive, systemic, and deeply ingrained. If we take this perspective, then no white member of society seems quite so innocent.” Therefore, the original sin of racism is inherent to being white.

Second, there is the original sin of privilege, sometimes expressed as “white privilege.” In a 2002 essay, Francis E. Kendall defines white privilege as:

an institutional (rather than personal) set of benefits granted to those of us who, by race, resemble the people who dominate the powerful positions in our institutions. One of the primary privileges is that of having greater access to power and resources than people of color do; in other words, purely on the basis of our skin color doors are open to us that are not open to other people.

According to CRT/I, whiteness renders an individual inherently in a category of privilege over individuals outside of whiteness. For CRT/I, this is a sin requiring repentance.

Third, the oppressors can be guilty of racism by specific actions.

The idea of Intersectionality creates additional sin. It furthers CRT’s general duality of oppressor and oppressed by claiming that certain oppressed people are more oppressed than others based on their various identities. A black woman who also identifies herself as a lesbian might be more oppressed than a heterosexual black woman. Therefore, a white heterosexual male would be the furthest from righteous, thus possessing the most inherent depravity.

Similarly, CRT/I teaches that the oppressed are victims on multiple grounds. First, they are inherently victims by nature of the innate privilege of the oppressors. Second, they are victims due to the inherent racism of whiteness. Third, they are victims by specific acts of racism by the oppressors.

The Solution/Salvation

Each religion proposes a solution which corresponds to the problem. This is typically referred to as salvation. CRT/I teach a separate salvation for the oppressor and oppressed.

The oppressors need salvation on multiple grounds. First, they need salvation from their sin of racism inherent to whiteness. To be clear, this does not concern acts of racism, but racism by virtue of being white. From that salvation is needed.

Second, oppressors need salvation from their white privilege. They must confess and repent of this sin, of which one is guilty on the grounds of whiteness.

It could be said, further, that non-white individuals who do not ascribe to CRT/I anthropology and hamartiology also need salvation. They need salvation, not from whiteness, but from their ideology. Often these anomalistic individuals are outcasts of the CRT/I community (and there are many).

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