In today’s populist, racially-charged “social justice” movement in America, I see the shadows of the Cultural Revolution in Critical Race Theory (CRT), and in the ideology that inspired this movement. For those unfamiliar with CRT, it is the idea that American law, society, and institutions are inherently racist. Whites are born racist because of the cultural domination by White people in furthering their own economic and political power at the expense of “people of color.”—Lili Tang William [i]
Dr. Voddie T. Baucham reveals the sources that first began promoting Critical Race Theory, Social Justice, Intersectionality, and related topics in Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe. In the first 18 pages he writes about events in 1989 and the ideologies leading up to that date that got foothold in the consciousness of Americans. Then, in the 251 numbered pages of the book, with careful documentation and 307 footnotes, he shows how these ideologies are not only incompatible with the Bible, but in some cases diametrically opposed to it. This is a book about two narratives, providing documented proof that one of them is not compatible with the Bible and not based on objective truth.
Under the heading, “Our Problem is Social Justice versus Biblical Justice,” Dr. Baucham writes, “I have pursued justice my entire Christian life. Yet I am about as ‘anti-social justice’ as they come — not because I have abandoned my obligation to ‘strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord’ (Hebrews 12:14), but because I believe the current concept of social justice is incompatible with biblical Christianity” (5).
Dr. E. Calvin Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation goes into greater detail on the conflict between “social” and “Biblical” justice, showing the current emphasis on social justice cannot be carried out without betraying Biblical justice. In his booklet, Social Justice vs. Biblical Justice: How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel, Beisner does an exegetical study of the Bible, not reading his own thoughts into Scripture, but showing how the most common verses used by the social justice warriors to support their movement are made to say something they do not say.[ii] Neither Beisner nor Baucham start with ideas from the Social Justice Movement and move from there to Scripture. Instead, they first understand Scripture as sufficient, authoritative, and clear. Then they use it to evaluate the Social Justice Movement. In that way, they accurately show the difference between Biblical and social justice.
Baucham states at the outset: “The United States is on the verge of a race war, if not a complete cultural meltdown. And the rest of the Western world seems to be following suit” (5).
A number of years ago, a pastor told of how he “had lunch with Billy Graham.” After a pause, he put the greater context on the meal, “… along with about 1000 other pastors.” Well, in early 2021, I was invited by Dr. Voddie Baucham to be a member of the “Launch Team” for his soon to be released book. Joining the team meant I could get a digital copy of the book for evaluation ahead of its April 6, 2021, release date. I have no idea how many people were on the Launch Team; it might have been a thousand or tens of thousands. Still, I felt honored to receive the invitation, joined the team, and read the book. While the team was reading the book, we kept Dr. Baucham in prayer as he needed open heart surgery and a recovery time before he could personally begin promoting it. Dr. Baucham is on his feet again, and his book is now a number one bestseller. It is well deserving of that position on the charts.
A false narrative has been created about Dr. Baucham, some of which will be addressed here. Not to worry, creating a false narrative is standard procedure for those causing the racially prejudiced division in the body of Christ. Just as in the days of slavery, some of the white masters were faithful worshipers in church on Sunday but went back to beating and intimidating their slaves on Monday.[iii] Many of the people creating the false narrative intend to psychologically beat whites and free-thinking blacks into submission to their ideology.[iv] They know they must reinstitute white guilt and regain black moral authority that has diminished after decades since the passing of Civil Rights legislation.[v] Since that time, community organizing has continued, and an African American, Barack Obama, was elected to the presidency.
For me, 1989 was a pivotal year also. I had just finished my first year of studies for pastoral ministry at Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, one of the two seminaries of the conservative Lutheran Church— Missouri Synod (LCMS)—and was sent to inner city Detroit to spend my summer on a Cross Cultural Internship, living in an all-black neighborhood and training at the historic St. Philip Lutheran Church,[vi] the first black Lutheran Church in Michigan.[vii] Detroit is home of the Motown Music I loved so much when growing up in the 1960s. “Motor-Town,” where bumper stickers read, “Detroit, where the weak are killed and eaten” and “I’m so bad I vacation in Detroit.” That summer was when my serious study of black culture and black history began. It has not yet ended, although in recent years I have developed a much greater understanding since I began reading the sound arguments of conservative black scholars who correct the lucrative victim narrative.
In 1983, six years before my time in Detroit, I read Battle for the Bible, by Harold Lindsell, the second editor of Christianity Today magazine. Lindsell wrote at length about the battle that took place in the late sixties and early seventies over the infallibility and inerrancy of Scripture in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), LCMS, and other churches. Reading that book and agreeing with the stand on Scripture influenced me to join the denomination and enroll in an LCMS college.
A professor at one of the LCMS seminaries, Professor Dean O. Wenthe, said about the infiltration of liberal theology at the seminary,
… the historical-critical method is not a neutral tool, but rather a very special instrument that is inseparable from its own presuppositions, procedures, and results. As one surveys the anti-supernaturalistic presuppositions, the secular procedures and the far-reaching results, it becomes obvious that a wedding between the bride and “Lutheran presuppositions,” is as impossible as the marriage of light and darkness.[viii]
Baucham in Fault Lines proves the same things concerning Critical Race Theory and the Social Justice Movement. They are package deals and as incompatible with Christian Faith as is light with darkness.Lindsell wrote in his chapter on the SBC: “Through the years, the Southern Baptist Convention, like the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, has been numbered among large denominations that have remained faithful to the Scriptures.”[ix] The LCMS and the SBC were two denominations that had fought the good fight and came out with their candles still lit. But the churches are under attack again.
Professor George E. Ladd of Fuller Theological Seminary also spoke to the subject when he said, “the use of the historical-critical method, to be found among Southern Baptists as well as among Missouri Synod Lutherans, is based on presuppositions that destroy historic orthodoxy. Orthodoxy and historical-critical method are deadly enemies that are antithetical and cannot be reconciled without the destruction of one or the other.”[x]
It is disheartening to see a renewed attack on “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). The first guise to undermine the Faith wore the mask of “academic freedom.” The present attack wears the mask of “social justice” and its ideological family. Both the guises of academic freedom and social justice are false fronts for an attack on Holy Scripture and the historic Christian faith. This newest book makes the fault-line clear.
In detail, Baucham explains Critical Race Theory, Critical Social Justice, and Intersectionality, providing 307 footnotes to his source material. He shows the fundamental problems with the ideology, quoting the most popular authors promoting the worldview. He shows that much of the rhetoric is based in false assumptions, misrepresentations, outright lies, or what he calls “Ethnic Gnosticism,”[xi] an ethnic or sociological link to intuitive knowledge outsiders do not possess, and which supplants and seeks to cancel any differing understanding.
Dr. Baucham wades through the misconceptions and misinformation to reveal what we all need to know. Bottom line: “The sufficiency of Scripture in matters of race and justice” (125). Unfortunately, the Christian Scriptures are being challenged, just as they were when Lindsell first wrote The Battle for the Bible in 1976.
Dr. Baucham is not new to the front lines of this battle. He warned about Barack Obama’s “culturally Marxist worldview” (4) way back in 2008, as did many others who did not care as much about skin color as they did about truth and what was best for America and the world from a Christian perspective.
Dr. Baucham himself, although black from before his birth, is now considered a “black body” and is canceled as a “black voice.” Why? It is quite simple! He doesn’t agree with the false narrative and turns on the light to reveal its hostility to the historic Christian Faith.
Voddie tells of his experience living in South Central Los Angeles and surviving the environment largely because of his mother’s loving discipline. The story continues after they moved to Texas. Much as we saw in “Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story,” which stared Cuba Gooding,[xii] Voddie’s mom would not allow him to play the victim and demean his own intelligence. He excelled in football, but his mom “went ballistic” when he got a C in one subject. Voddie humorously tells of his coach’s encounter with his mother.
Coach started out trying to reason with my mother. The conversation went something like this:
Coach Reeves: Ms. Baucham, remember, this was only a progress report.
Mom: I am aware of that, Coach.
Coach Reeves: I assure you, Voddie will bring the grade up by the end of the semester.
Mom: Oh, trust me, I know he will. At least, he’d better.
Coach Reeves: Your son is one of the smartest players I have ever coached.
Mom: This is not about how dumb your other players are, this is about what I expect from my son (18).
Although Voddie had potential to make the NFL, his mother, in no uncertain terms, let the coach know that Voddie’s education was more important than his future in football. He says, looking back on the event, “I was performing below my ability and below my mother’s expectations. And in my house, that was simply unacceptable” (19). Once his mother got his and his coach’s priorities right, Voddie did even better in school.
After Voddie tells of his experiences growing up, the chapter ends with the question, “So What?” What does it have to do with Critical Race Theory? His answer, “EVERYTHING!” (Emphasis his.) He explains, “I grew up poor, without a father, and surrounded by drugs, gangs, violence, and dysfunction in one of the toughest urban environments imaginable. Yet through all of that, I didn’t just survive; I thrived! Not because of government programs or white people ‘doing the work of anti-racism’; I thrived in large part because, by God’s grace, my mother protected me, sacrificed for me, advocated for me, and disciplined me” (19–20). He then points out how that, “advocates of the victim mentality” who attack and accuse him of various evils, “don’t know me,” and he continues, “And, in fact, until you hear everything else I have to say, you don’t know my story either. It took more than a strong mother and a bus ride to South Carolina to save me” (20).
The biggest change in Voddie’s life came after Christians told him about his Savior Jesus Christ and he received the forgiveness of his sins. As he says, “When we come to Christ, our identity is transformed completely. As Paul tells us, ‘From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come’ (2 Corinthians 5:16–17)” (22).
As a new creature in Christ, Voddie found a Black church and identified as an “Afrocentric Christian.” By reading this book you will learn that Voddie cannot be written off as a person who does not understand the difficulties blacks face in life. Dr. Baucham, although he has the background, life experience, and skin color to claim membership in the inner circle of the “woke” crowd with its intuitive knowledge, instead reproves it and proclaims the truth of God in Christ as revealed by Holy Scripture.
Since writing that, he has been under attack. In a Christianity Today published interview,[xiii] D. A. Horton, a professor at the California Baptist University in Riverside who claims Baucham is causing unnecessary division, said, “But the pushback I’m getting is, ‘Well, you should read Fault Lines.’” Horton claims Baucham is creating “a dichotomy between faith and scholarship.” Nothing could be further from the truth! Baucham writes,
Before I address the glaring problems with the idea of an antiracist curriculum for white evangelicals, allow me to be clear about one thing: I do not share the sentiment of those who believe that reading beyond the Bible is unwarranted, unwise, unfruitful, or unfaithful. In fact, I have had many encounters with Christians who find my penchant for broad reading quite troubling (115–116).
In terms of logic, Horton’s argument is a strawman at best. In terms of Biblical Christianity, it is bearing false witness. In terms of CRT, it is simply following the standard procedure of false narrative. Baucham doubles down on his belief that there is no divide between faith and scholarship, including reading the works on the pro-CRT list provided by Christianity Today. “Some of you may be wondering why I commend broad reading on one hand, then offer a warning about this new ‘curriculum’ on the grounds that it will lead people astray. Isn’t that a contradiction? I don’t believe so…. Remember, I reject a narrow approach to literature and culture and am in favor of reading broadly” (124).
D. A. Horton further states in the interview,
And from the very beginning, the conversation is framed that you’re standing on one of two sides of a fault line, and literally the fault line—no pun intended—of the book is framing the side that Voddie is on and then the side that’s the nonbiblical social justice perspective, which starts with the world and then these Christians now are speaking the world’s philosophies and perspectives into the church. And, at the end of the day, he concludes with a call to war against the opposing side.”
The statement is true up until the last sentence when it makes the false claim that Baucham “concludes with a call to war against the opposing side.” Horton’s “narrative” places Baucham as the aggressor. It is on the level of calling the Americans the aggressors after Pearl Harbor was bombed in 1941 and we reluctantly took up arms to enter WWII. It was the Imperial Japanese Navy that sunk our ships and left dead Americans at Pearl Harbor! It is the CRT crowd that is destroying families, falsely accusing the brethren, and causing division in the body of Christ. I went through the whole book again, page by page, to see if Dr. Baucham anywhere “concludes with a call to war,” and it is nowhere found. If you want to know what Dr. Baucham says, you must read his book and after that evaluate the narrative of those seeking to draw away disciples after themselves as Paul the Apostle warned about in Acts 20:29–30, calling them fierce wolves: “I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.”
Attacks on the church and Christians are widespread. Those who know something about Josh McDowell and have been helped in their Christian life by his books on the defense of the faith might find it hard to believe that he is now being attacked as a racist. One blog accuses McDowell of racism and claims, “Church (sic) this is why there’s still racism in white America (sic) churches, it is being taught in their church.”[xiv]
We must realize, the “Accuser of the brethren” does not rest. He came to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10), and false accusation is one of his most powerful tools. At worst, McDowell’s error was that he went outside of his expertise and did not articulate his statement well. He could have defended it with the words of none other than Barack Obama in his 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention Keynote Address, where he said:
Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can’t teach kids to learn. They know that parents have to parent, that children can’t achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.
McDowell, when speaking of minorities, said “most of them” instead of “some of them,” and the attacks began. Instead of defending himself by quoting better articulated black scholars, he stepped down from ministry.[xv] It is common knowledge that “some” blacks are told they are “acting white” if they work hard and do well in academics. What McDowell said was not a serious misstatement, but it was enough to get Pavlov’s wolves drooling all over themselves.
Much has been written about “acting white.” Virtually everyone knows about it! Josh McDowell is not a racist person. Instead, he is being attacked for not articulating well the position of Barack Obama, John McWhorter, and others.[xvi]
A group claiming the LCMS as its home promotes a racist view of white people. The group promotes, among other things, a resource featuring a picture of three white people, the “heathen” who need to understand their sinfulness, being instructed by a young black man, a “priest” of the new religion by virtue of his skin color and woke experience. The statement accompanying the picture confirms that the white people, by the guilt of their skin color, must sit at the feet of an enlightened one who can help them see their sin and become penitent bridge-builders with the anti-racists:
When it comes to racial bridge-building for white people, Be the Bridge places a lot of the focus on listening to and learning from people of color. But there’s also some important internal work that white people need to do as well. When white people don’t understand some of the basic tenets of whiteness, it’s hard to fully engage in the work of racial reconciliation.
For this reason, we have created a resource that breaks down the Four W’s:
1. White Supremacy
2. White Fragility
3. White Identity
4. White Privilege[xvii]
In another case, an organization that has been successfully spreading the Gospel of Christ on college campuses around the world for decades, Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ), is under attack from within as some of its members have become Social Justice Warriors. Cru is the very organization that first brought the Gospel of Christ to Voddie Baucham. After sharing the Four Spiritual Laws and conversing with him, a staffer saw that he wasn’t getting it and went to square one, holding up a Bible and saying, “Voddie, this is a Bible” (23). Voddie never left square one! His faith was established on the Word of God and has never left it.
It took 174 pages to tell the whole story of division caused by the CRT family of thought in the 2020 Cru publication Seeking Clarity and Unity.[xviii] The book contains many pages of testimony by those who have been damaged by the ideology addressed in Fault Lines. “The accusations made about white privilege are often nothing more than veiled racism. We are being judged because of the color of our skin. And how can we staff be acquitted of assumed guilt when some of our own leadership is preaching white privilege? With this brand of social justice, I’m just an old white man, which gives me no right to speak out at all. I’m automatically judged as being racist because of my skin color.”[xix]
Dr. Baucham presents an informed, scholarly, and squarely Biblical analysis of Critical Race Theory, Social Justice, and Intersectionality, quoting from the primary and most popular authors of what some call a “new religion.” Fault Lines is written from a conservative perspective by a person who spent much of his youth in Los Angeles gang territory in a single-parent household. It seems apparent that attacks on him must be based in misrepresentation, strawman arguments, and a false narrative, because there are no other grounds to attack him on. On the other hand, he does recognize split churches, racism, and a false narrative that is widening with interviews such as we see published at Christianity Today. He describes the weapons of our warfare as Scripture does. They are not carnal.
Dr. Baucham shows that the fundamental issues are worldview and truth. As you will see, the so-called “Social Justice Movement” is riddled with falsehoods, in a kind of religious fanaticism that seeks to destroy anyone who disagrees. It draws from “narrative” that is often invented in the minds of the narrators and their personal interpretation of events, often disconnected from reality.
Baucham exercises his heart-felt concern and advocacy to help the poor and the fatherless. He is by no means an armchair theologian. You may agree with him or disagree with him, but you cannot legitimately demean him as “only a black body but not a black voice.”
He continues to build his arsenal in the fight for Biblical justice and explains: “at the heart of the current debate over racism lies a false dichotomy that says, ‘Either you are on the side of the oppressed’ (read: an SJW), or you are 1) shutting down the conversation about racial injustice, 2) ignoring minority voices, and 3) upholding (or internalizing) white supremacy” (29).
One of the most well-known critics of the Critical Social Justice movement is James Lindsay. He understands the movement better than most any of its critics and has established a website that addresses these things in detail.[xx] Lindsay used to call himself “an angry atheist.” He says about the Social Justice movement, “If I was still an angry atheist and wanted to destroy the church … I’d make ’em woke!” (205).
In chapter three, “Seeking True Justice,” Voddie addresses the aggressors’ tactics under meaningful subtitles, “Real Justice Requires Truth,” “Exposing the False Narrative,” and “The High Cost of False Narrative.” He compares the George Floyd death in 2020 and its international coverage, with the 2016 death of Tony Timpa, which most people have never even heard about. Timpa called the police for help because he hadn’t taken his medications for schizophrenia. He died in similar fashion as George Floyd. The difference was that he was white and was restrained for 14 minutes with the knee of a police officer on his back and neck. The officer mocked and laughed at him as he died. In the case of Timpa, officers were not arrested or charged, and video footage was withheld for three years (55). Dr. Baucham shows how differently these cases were handled. He also brings out the solid facts of other famous cases used to justify hatred against whites or the police. In some cases, outright lies were told and withdrawn in court when solid evidence about what really happened was presented.
Dr. Baucham shows how this so-called justice movement is essentially a new religion with a tribalistic new priesthood and a new canon of accepted books, films, articles, and children’s resources, some of which were listed in a June 19, 2020, Christianity Today article.
He is not alone in calling this movement a religion. Dr. John McWhorter, author of the New York Times bestseller Losing the Race: Self Sabotage in Black America and other books, wrote a book, Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America, with a release date of October 26, 2021. A prerelease review of the book says,
In Woke Racism, McWhorter reveals the workings of this new religion, from the original sin of “white privilege” and the weaponization of cancel culture to ban heretics, to the evangelical fervor of the “woke mob.” He shows how this religion that claims to “dismantle racist structures” is actually harming his fellow Black Americans by infantilizing Black people, setting Black students up for failure, and passing policies that disproportionately damage Black communities. The new religion might be called “antiracism,” but it features a racial essentialism that’s barely distinguishable from racist arguments of the past.
Former CIA agent Art Keller, in “Critical Race Theory is a Victimization Cult,” disagrees with giving the movement such high status, calling it a religion, when he says, “Religious extremism promotes violence, intolerance, tribalism, and a deliberately confused mental state in its adherents. When that happens, when religion ‘goes to the dark side,’ we stop using the term religion, and start using the word ‘cult.’”[xxi]
There is a fundamental contradiction to Christianity in the ideology because, “The language of oppressor/oppressed and the underlying Marxist worldview are inseparable from the analytical tools of CRT and Intersectionality” (147).
After writing about the election of Barack Obama to the presidency, Dr. Baucham states, “Then, as now, I believed neo-Marxist ideology poses a far greater threat to America than race relations. I also see a connection between the infiltration of woke/antiracist ideology and soft-selling the danger of progressive politics” (195).
On page 176, Dr. Baucham says,
Racism is real, and it is alive and well in America. I have said as much from many pulpits on many occasions. Remember, my target here is the notion that ‘inequity must equal injustice.’ It is this notion that undermines efforts to bring law and the Gospel to bear in the lives of those categorized as oppressed, as well as those categorized as oppressors. I can and do look injustice in the eye and call it what it is. It is my duty as a herald of God’s Word. In this case, however, the injustice I see is the false witness-bearing, Marxist ideology-promoting, Gospel-perverting ideology of Critical Race Theory and its offshoots.
The law-and-Gospel wielding doctor writes for three more chapters before the appendixes. As I read the last chapters, I filled the pages with underlining and exclamation marks for quotable quotes and meaningful statements.
“I have heard a mantra lately that rings hollow in my ears: ‘There can be no reconciliation without justice.’ When I hear that, I want to scream, ‘YES! AND THE DEATH OF CHRIST IS THAT JUSTICE!’” (Emphasis in original) (229).
… the most powerful weapon in our arsenal is not calling for reparations: it is forgiveness. Antiracism knows nothing of forgiveness because it knows nothing of the Gospel. Instead, antiracism offers endless penance, judgment, and fear. What an opportunity we have to shine the light of Christ in the midst of darkness! (229).
I wrote this book because I love God more than life, the truth more than others’ opinion of me, and the Bride of Christ more than my platform. My heart is broken as I watch movements and ideologies against which I have fought and warned for decades become entrenched at the highest and most respected levels of evangelicalism. I want this book to be a clarion call. I want to unmask the ideology of Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Intersectionality in hopes that those who have imbibed it can have the blinders removed from their eyes, and those who have bowed in the face of it can stand up, take courage, and ‘contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3.) (230).
Although Baucham writes with a pastor’s heart to the average lay person and quotes the works of the most popular members of the new priesthood, including Derrick Bell, Kimberly Crenshaw, Robin DiAngelo, Michelle Alexander, Richard Delgado, Ibram X. Kendi, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Jim Wallis, Latasha Morrison, Jemar Tisby, John Onwuckekwa, Patrisse Khan-Cullors, and others, he also addresses pastors responsible to protect their flocks from wolves.
Pastors, I beg you to consider what I have written here. I believe the church— your church— is under attack. As shepherds, we must defend the sheep. We must repel the wolves. And yes, the wolves are many. However, this one is within the gates and has the worst of intentions. He desires to use your genuine love for the brethren as leverage. Don’t let him! Recognize the difference between the voice of the Good Shepherd who calls you to love all the sheep and the voice of the enemy that tells you some of them are guilty, blind, ignorant oppressors and that others are oppressed – all based in their melanin. Reject cries that take principles and stories of individual restitution (Numbers 5:7; Luke 19) and eisegetically twist them into calls for multi-generational reparations. Reject the cries of those who twist the repentance of Daniel and Ezra 1) on behalf of theocratic Israel and 2) for sin that took place during their lifetime, in an effort to promote multi-generational, ethnic guilt that rests upon all white people by virtue of their whiteness” (231–232).
Fault Lines finishes by showing the relevant Bible passages that apply to the current situation. Baucham already quoted the woke authorities and evaluated their narrative, now he goes to the final authority, the Holy Scriptures, to make his message clear. He provides instructive and helpful words and includes valuable appendixes: “The Dallas Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel,” the original ”Resolution on Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality,” from the SBC gathering in 2019, and the edited version that still contained the original authors’ names but had been highly edited in committee. In a taped speech, Dr. Baucham explains exactly what happened there, saying, “I’m not here to give you my opinion of these things, but to let these things speak for themselves”[xxii] (at 28:48). After this event, which can be described as scandalous, a new website was created to counter the drifting of the largest Protestant denomination in America. The website contains a lot of information and video presentations affirming strong faith in Christ and the Holy Scriptures. It also contains a clear statement against racism:
The Network strongly believes in a just society for all based on biblical truth, opposing racism and sexism in all forms, and therefore rejects worldly ideologies infiltrating the Southern Baptist Convention, including Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and other unbiblical agendas deceptively labeled as “Social Justice.”[xxiii] Replace the “Southern Baptist Convention” with the name of any Christian denomination and the statement is quite fitting and relevant to the present environment with secular, racist, and unbiblical ideologies infiltrating and dividing our churches.
Replace the “Southern Baptist Convention” with the name of any Christian denomination and the statement is quite fitting and relevant to the present environment with secular, racist, and unbiblical ideologies infiltrating and dividing our churches.
[i] From “A Chinese Immigrant’s Personal Warning on Critical Race Theory,” by Lili Tang William. Lily grew up under the reign of Mao Zedong and the cultural revolution in Communist China. https://www.thestandardsc.org/lily-tang-williams/a-chinese-immigrants-personal-warning-on-critical-race-theory/
[ii] E. Calvin Beisner’s Social Justice vs. Biblical Justice: How Good Intentions Undermine Justice and Gospel (USA: Goodtrees Press, 2018, 2020) is excellent on this topic. Beisner writes about the biblical view of justice and analyzes some of the arguments the Social Justice Warriors make by taking the Bible out of context. https://cornwallalliance.org/2021/09/social-justice-vs-biblical-justice-a-timely-book-on-a-perennial-topic/
[iii] Frederick Douglass writes about his better treatment under a non-Christian master than what he received under churchgoing Christian masters in My Bondage and My Freedom. Ironically, this same thing is happening today as many identifying as “Christian” are the most racist and bigoted accusers of all. James Lindsay, on the other hand, who identifies as an atheist, wrote together with Helen Pluckrose what is probably the most widely read book exposing this divisive ideology. See Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity (Durham, North Carolina: Pitchstone Publishing, 2020).
[iv] Conservative blacks or any who disagree with or question the narrative of the Social Justice Warriors are demeaned, ridiculed, and insulted. Free-thinking blacks are called sell-outs, coons, lapdogs to the GOP, Uncle Toms, or even white supremacists. The “white supremacist” tag is the most effective “whip” in use by the contemporary masters. Conservative radio talk show host, Larry Elder, was called “the face of white supremacy” in the Los Angeles Times when he ran to replace Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom in the California recall effort of 2021. See https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-08-20/recall-candidate-larry-elder-is-a-threat-to-black-californians. The Washington Times published an article, “How Larry Elder became the new ‘black face’ of white supremacy” at https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/sep/2/how-larry-elder-became-the-new-black-face-of-white/. Without consequence, a white woman in a gorilla mask threw an egg at Elder as he was on his way to visit a California homeless encampment. She then assaulted an older white man who tried to stop her from further attack. No arrests were made!
[v] See Shelby Steele, White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites Together Destroyed the Promise of the Civil Rights Era (New York: Harper Perennial, 2006).
[vi] https://stphilipslutherandet.org/
[vii] https://wwrn.org/articles/32746/
[viii] Quoted in Harold Lindsell, Battle for the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 14th printing, August 1981), 81. Although the LCMS remained faithful to Scripture, the breakaway group eventually joined with other more liberal Lutheran denominations and became the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The LCMS is now being infiltrated by Lutherans for Racial Justice and others who promote books by Tisby, Alexander, and others in their school of thought.
[ix] Lindsell, Battle, 89.
[x] Lindsell, Battle, 82.
[xi] Baucham writes at length about Ethnic Gnosticism in the Fault Lines chapter, “A New Priesthood,” beginning on page 91. He taught on the subject in March 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip3nV6S_fYU
[xii] https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Gifted-Hands-The-Ben-Carson-Story/710160
[xiii] “Critical Race Theory: What Christians Need to Know, Let’s talk about the issue tearing the American church and country apart,” by Morgan Lee. Accessed September 6, 2021, at https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts/quick-to-listen/critical-race-theory-racism-evangelicals-divided-podcast.html
[xiv] https://theoldblackchurch.blogspot.com/2021/09/racist-christian-author-josh-mcdowell.html
[xv] https://www.christianpost.com/news/josh-mcdowell-steps-back-from-ministry-over-racial-remarks.html Accessed September 30, 2021.
[xvi] The recent publication of John McWhorter’s Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America (2021) contains a few pages explaining how he believes the “acting white” cultural meme developed, showing that it ironically began as a result of desegregation (see pages 125-129). McWhorter mentions the book by Stuart Buck, Acting White: The Ironic Legacy of Desegregation.There is some disagreement with this analysis, although agreement that it is a problem is universal among scholars whether black or white. See Roland G. Fryer in his short article, “Acting White,” or his more lengthy research “An Empirical Analysis of ‘Acting White.’” Also, see McWhorter in his Atlantic article “The Origins of the ‘Acting White’ Charge” (2019). On the other side of the argument is an article by Jamelle Bouie in 2010, “’Acting White’ Just Standard Bullying, Racialized.” A distinction is to be made between “acting white” in various social settings. Accusations that the straightening of hair and using creams to lighten the complexion is acting white are different than what we see in academics. In the academic world, the acting white “cultural meme” sees desegregation as an influence. Proving causation in complex human situations is not always easy. “Acting white” finger-pointing focused on academically oriented minorities is proved by the existence of different positions as to why it exists.
[xvii] https://bethebridge.com/btb101/ Jemar Tisby materials promoted at Lutherans for Racial Justice website. https://lutheransforracialjustice.com/resources Accessed October 10, 2021.
[xviii] https://languagendreligion.files.wordpress.com/2021/05/seeking-clarity-and-unity.pdf
[xix] Seeking Clarity and Unity, p. 40.
[xx] https://newdiscourses.com/
[xxi] https://newdiscourses.com/?s=victimization+cult Accessed October 3, 2021. Keller, a former CIA officer, explains why he calls CRT a cult with the acronym BITE: “Behavior Control, Information Control, Thought Control, and Emotional Control.” The progression for new recruits is from initiation, to indoctrination, to reprogramming.
[xxii] In this clip of just over 35 minutes, Dr. Baucham explains what happened at the 2019 SBC gathering and details the origins and meaning of Critical Race Theory. “The Cover Up Story Every Christian Should Know About—Voddie Baucham Explains What Really Happened,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaH4DLR2i0I
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