THE AUTHORITY OF THE VOICES OF THE “OPPRESSED”

 

 

In Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism's Looming Catastrophe, https://a.co/1CLFiHn, Voddie Baucham, a preacher, professor, cultural apologist, and devoted follower of Christ explains how the social justice movement and Critical Race Theory (CRT)—revealing how it already has infiltrated many Christian institutions and churches, leading to internal denominational conflict, canceled careers, and lost livelihoods.

 

Baucham writes that “the cult of antiracism [CRT] roots every aspect of its worldview in the assertion that everything begins with the creation of whiteness. More specifically, the creation of whiteness with the express purpose of establishing white people as the dominant, hegemonic oppressors and all non-white people as the objects of that oppression”:

 

·       “Without confession to the sin of white racism, white supremacy, white privilege,” contends Sojourners magazine founder Jim Wallis, “people who call themselves white Christians will never be free… from the bondage of a lie, a myth, an ideology, and an idol.” This sentiment is an affront to the Gospel. “For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). And again, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). But this is the gospel of antiracism, where there is no freedom—at least, not for white people.

 

Baucham cites the author and CRT luminary, Robin DiAngelo, who expands the definition of racism in include any white denials of being racist:

 

·       “Given the dominant conceptualization of racism as individual acts of cruelty, it follows that only terrible people who consciously don’t like people of color can enact racism. Though this conceptualization is misinformed, it is not benign. In fact, it functions beautifully to make it nearly impossible to engage in the necessary dialogue and self-reflection that can lead to change. Outrage at the suggestion of racism is often followed by righteous indignation about the manner in which the feedback was given.”

 

Consequently, whites are now damned if they admit being a racist and damned if they deny it. DiAngelo leaves them no way to escape from their “guilt.” It boils down to this:

 

·       All white people benefit from racism, regardless of intentions; intentions are irrelevant.

 

Guilty until proven innocent – an impossibility! What then is relevant? Guilt by skin color and the alleged “white privilege!” However, this is a matter of wrongly accusing the innocent:

·       “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:16)

 

Therefore, the insistence that all whites confess to their sin of racism is not Biblical.

Baucham cites Aaron Preston that there is a more sinister purpose behind such allegations – the incitement to violence:

 

·       “Hurling the damning label ‘racist’ at people and systems that don’t deserve it in order to incite revolutionary outrage is exactly the kind of subversive linguistic manipulation prescribed in [the grievance studies] playbook.”

 

What evidence do CRTs have for their inflammatory allegations? None now that all of the laws supporting segregation have been struck down! Instead, according to Baucham:

 

·       antiracists also cry foul when issues like out-of-wedlock birthrates, criminality, and cultural norms enter into the discussion. Furthermore, as we will see, it also explains why the mere reliance on things like facts, statistics, or the scientific method are actually seen as racist.

 

However, CRTs gladly make use of stats to demonstrate the black/white disparities as evidence for systemic racism. However, Baucham points out that disparities, by themselves, fail to argue in favor of racism, any more than the predominance of blacks in the NBA argues in favor of systematic racism against whites and Asians.

 

What then is authoritative for the CRT “antiracist?” What should form our opinions? It is the stories of the “oppressed.” Baucham cites CRT Thabiti Anyabwile who wrote:

 

·       Don’t “whitesplain.” Do not explain racism to a POC. Do not explain how the microaggression they just experienced was actually just someone being nice. Do not explain how a particular injustice is more about class than race. It’s an easy trap to fall into, but you can avoid it by maintaining a posture of active listening.

 

Listening can serve as an expression of Christian love and caring. Relationships depend on listening. However, for the CRT, listening and learning is a one-way street, a planned role-reversal, where the whites now must learn from the “oppressed.” Whites are not entitled to speak. This means that the “oppressed” are entitled to correct their “white oppressors,” but not the other way around. As one angry POC explained to me, “It’s now time for a role-reversal.” Christian forgiveness has been replaced by paying penance.

 

However, the Bible does require us to correct one another, but it is not according to skin color or belonging those deemed “oppressed”:

 

·       Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)

However, an individual transgressor is to be restored “in a spirit of gentleness,” not in a spirit of moral superiority. Besides, to establish that a transgression has taken place requires witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15).

The Church is now adopting this strategy without realizing or acknowledging its Marxist source:

 

·       “CRT recognizes that the experiential knowledge of People of Color is legitimate, appropriate, and critical to understanding, analyzing and teaching about racial subordination,” wrote University of California scholar Tara J. Yosso in Race Ethnicity and Education. “Of course, the knowledge yielded by the standpoint of the proletariat stands on a higher scientific plane objectively,” wrote Georg Lukács of the [neo-Marxist] Frankfurt School. (Baucham)

 

Certainly, there is much we can learn about oppression from those who have genuinely been oppressed:

 

·       “The voice-of-color thesis,” writes CRT Richard Delgado, “holds that because of their different histories and experiences with oppression, black, American Indian, Asian, and Latino writers and thinkers may be able to communicate to their white counterparts matters that the whites are unlikely to know.” (Baucham)

 

While this is true, CRT proponents will not acknowledge that there is anything that the “oppressed” can learn from whites. However, they are just as subject to sin as their “oppressors” (Romans 3:10-16). Baucham also observes that the CRT’s groupings of “oppressed’ and “oppressors” are far from homogenous, as CRT presupposes:

 

·       it assumes there is a black perspective all black people...Of course, no one will admit this since it is obviously racist...it argues that white people’s only access to this perspective comes from elevating and heeding black voices.

 

According to CRTs Sensoy and DiAngelo, truth is “socially constructed.” In “Is Everyone Really Equal?” They question whether true objectivity is “desirable, or even possible”:

 

·       “When we refer to knowledge as socially constructed, we mean that knowledge is reflective of the values and interests of those who produce it. This term captures the understanding that all content and all means of knowing are connected to a social context.”

 

While they are correct about many values, beliefs, and even laws, there is no way that this can pertain to all values and beliefs. If so, then even the CRT would lack any objective standard to critique what is wrong with this world. From their perspective, Sensoy and DiAngelo are expressing nothing more than their own personal values and preferences. Therefore, Baucham concludes:

 

·       This is why critical theorists believe that the quest for objectivity is tantamount to a quest for white supremacy...

 

How then are racial divisions within the Church to be handled? According to CRT, it takes place by listening to the feelings and experiences of the “oppressed,” who speak from a morally superior position. However, we all must speak the truth in love (Romans 4:15):

·       If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. (James 2:8–9)

 

Consequently, lacking any objective peace-making truth, for CRT, everything is a self-interested struggle for power. This analysis can only lead to counter-struggle to gain supremacy. However, this does not accord to the wisdom of God:

·       Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. (James 3:13–17)

 

We know wisdom by the fruit it bears. The more CRT and antiracism programs have entered into both society and into the Church, the more conflict they have borne – bitterness and division. However, our Biblical answers pertain more than ever:

“The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.” (1 Peter 4:7–9)