CRT has the wrong roots. Beneath the soil are godless ideologies directly opposing our Savior Jesus Christ. CRT scholar Kimberle Crenshaw says,
Critical race theory draws upon several traditions, including poststructuralism, postmodernism, Marxism, feminism, literary criticism, liberalism, and neopragmatism . . . and radical pluralism . . . .Critical race theory goes beyond liberal understandings of race and racism by exploring those of its manifestations that support patriarchy, heterosexism, and class stratification. The normative stance of critical race theory is that massive social transformation is a necessary precondition of racial justice.”1
Postmodernism. Marxism. Feminism. Others. Other CRT scholars mention other traditions that also formed CRT: “Internal Colonialism,” “Cultural Nationalism,” “Neo-Marxism.”2 All these are the roots of CRT and all are intentionally opposed to the Bible. They are Critical Theories and they serve one purpose: to identify and dismantle every form of perceived oppression – including Christianity. This is why all Critical Theories are Marxist in nature: they all adopt the Marxist lens of “oppressed vs oppressor” for viewing the world. Karl Marx’s 1847 Communist Manifesto opens up with the sweeping declaration,
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebeian, lord and serf, guild-master and journeyman, in a word, oppressor and oppressed…”3
Marx reduced all existence to oppressor and oppressed. For him it was the proletariat vs the bourgeois. His oppressor/oppressed paradigm continues on today strong as ever and includes far more than just class: black vs white, men vs women, men vs trans “men,” women vs trans “women,” straight vs gay, able vs disabled, thin vs fat, Christian vs non-Christian…and on and on. CRT sums up our entire existence as a society with the Marxist view that everything is about oppression. All that currently is, is oppressive and must be torn down, cancelled, silenced, de-platformed, de-centered, de-privileged, shouted off the stage, burned (literally & figuratively), mobbed, slandered, dismantled, berated, etc. That’s part of the “massive social transformation” Crenshaw said is demanded by CRT. Proverbs 11:11 says, “By the mouth of the wicked the city is destroyed.” How 2023.
Here’s the point: the root determines the fruit. “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.”4 If I transplant flowers in the early spring I can tell by the roots what flower will grow. It is the same with ideological roots. If Jesus is our root, then Jesus will be our fruit. But if Marxism, Critical Theories, Postmodernism are the root, then the same secular fruit will grow in any syncretized version in the Church.
Or to say it another way: the foundation determines the structure. CRT has a different foundation. Jesus Christ is our foundation. First Corinthians 3:11 says, “No one can lay any other foundation than the one that is already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Since CRT, however, does not have Jesus Christ for a foundation then whatever CRT builds will be against Him because CRT’s true foundation is anti-biblical. CRT’s proper foundation is what Colossians 2:8 says is “hollow and deceptive philosophies, which depend on human traditions and the elemental spiritual forces of this world, rather than on Christ.”
When someone tries to incorporate CRT into their faith it is like inviting cancer into their body. It’s unequally yoking Christ (2 Cor 6:14-18), or pairing a pagan altar up with the Bronze Altar of the Lord (2 Kings 16:10-16). Paul warned, “If anyone builds on this foundation [of Christ]…their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day [judgment] will bring it to light.” (1 Cor. 3:12, 13).
CRT’s roots are unbiblical and anti-biblical, making it incompatible with a true biblical faith.
Crenshaw, K., 1990. A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination law and politics
Tara J. Yosso (2005) Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth, Race Ethnicity and Education, 8:1, p69-70. See also Delgado, R. Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical Race Theory: An Introduction. New York University Press. (4-5)
Matthew 12:33