CRT does not publish a “doctrinal statement” where we can read their beliefs about “sin.” But we know what CRT thinks is sin by things they obsess over. These are the things they claim are the problems with society and mankind. We can read it in their books, hear it in their lectures, and be indoctrinated through their DEI curriculum and workshops.
What we need to know is that the sins they judge everyone else for are not sins that anyone is going to be judged by God for. For instance:
No one will be judged for having privilege. CRT believes privilege is something those in the majority have and must repent of. Which makes sense in the CRT worldview where social structures allocate advantages and benefits (privilege) to whites but not blacks.1 By refusing those undeserved systemic benefits whites show repentance for their privilege and allow the marginalized to receive them instead. Now certainly privilege can be abused and people can sin with the privilege they have. But CRT is wrong because privilege in and of itself is not sinful. Many in the Bible had privilege: The Patriarchs were privileged by God; Joseph was privileged in Egypt (Gen 41:39-45) and eventually he privileged his younger brother Benjamin (Gen 43:34); the disciple John was the beloved disciple (John 13:23); the Apostle Paul used his duel citizenship (Acts 22:25-29); and the rules for the Temple of the Lord gave various kinds of privilege: ethnic privilege is seen in the Gentiles having less access than Jews; gender privilege is given to men who had more access than women; and class privilege was prescribed as only the Levites could enter into the Holy Place. Privilege in itself is not sin in the Bible. But under CRT, we are falsely told privilege must be repented of.
God will not judge anyone for belonging to a supposed “oppressor” group. Having white skin, being a man, being heterosexual, being a Christian, etc. are not sins. (Clearly). CRT may judge people for these things - and they do - but God won’t.
No one will be judged by God for what someone in their group did in the past. CRT charges the past sins of one group to the future generations of that group. Typical of the CRT-Christian, Kyle Howard says “There’s a reason they don’t want racial history taught in schools. Maintaining their power is dependent on their descendents [sic] never embracing the shame & guilt which could lead to sincere repentance and divesting of Whiteness.”2 Opposing such a view, John McWhorter says, “To be proper Elect [a woke disciple] is to embrace a self-flagellational guilt for things you did not do.”3 What Howard advocates and McWhorter criticizes grows out of a core CRT doctrine that says history needs to be retold. But this is not simply to have accurate or complete history - its so history can continually be weaponized against white people in the future. The obsessive focus on history is not to prevent it from being forgotten, but to prevent it from ever being forgiven.4 A lot of political gain rides on the ability to manipulate successive generations of white people into feeling guilty for sins they “did not do.”
But all this contradicts the teachings of God’s word, which says “his blood will be on his own head.” (Ezekiel 18:13). As though the words were meant for today’s CRT activist, God says
“Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.” (Ezekiel 18:19-20)
We are not guilty for what other people do (see also John 19:11). We are guilty for what we do, “each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.”5
Unequal outcomes between social groups is not in and of itself a sin that God is going to judge. CRT’s first and fundamental teaching is that the system is racist, which means the system is set up to produce different outcomes between social groups.6 And CRT says that is the only explanation allowed for explaining those differences. But different group outcomes is not in and of itself a sin. Nor is it proof that sin is the reason for the differences. Certainly sin can be the cause of different outcomes between groups,7 but that does not mean it is always the case.
No one will be judged for supposedly committing any microaggressions. Microaggressions are anything someone says or does that a minority feels was offensive. It doesn’t matter if someone was completely kind, innocent and had no ill intent. If the POC was offended then it was offensive.8 Of course we should be courteous how we talk and not want to give offense. Scriptures teach us to “let our conversation be always full of grace” and to speak “only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs.”9 But this concept of microaggressions is absurdly extreme and elevates being offended to a doctrine. Antiracist, CRT scholar Ijeoma Olua says “If a person of color tells you something is racist…then it was.”10 The point is that the doctrine of microaggressions creates micro-tyrants hunting for ways to feel offended when they should be practicing Colossians 3:13, “Forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”11 CRT may judge microaggressions, but God won't.
Not joining in the work of antiracism is not a sin and no one will be punished or lose reward for not “doing the work” of dismantling systems of oppression.12
God will not judge anyone for any supposed implicit bias. It is unsupported by science,13 but something CRT activists use to manipulate and gain power.
When “Christians” start adopting CRT views their view of what sin is will shift. It will no longer be “missing the mark” of God’s righteousness (Rom 3:23), “lawlessness” (1 Jn 3:4), “breaking God’s commands” (James 2:10), or disobedience and rebellion against God (Ps. 25:7). These concepts and language become increasingly absent the further into CRT a person goes. Their new doctrine of sin will include the factors they believe perpetuate inequity. It will no longer be those things about us personally that don’t conform to God’s moral law. A CRT-Christian will no longer look at every individual human being as being in their sin, alienated from God due to their personal sin, and that their greatest need is to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ so that they can personally, as an individual, be forgiven, and reconciled to God.
CRT has the wrong sin. And as we’ll see in the next article, it has the wrong salvation.
REFERENCES
“In this factsheet we….provide a theoretical model for understanding the matrix of privilege and oppression.” Thus to have privilege is to participate in and perpetuate oppression of the marginalized of society. “Oppression is the systematic devaluing, undermining, marginalizing, and disadvantaging of certain social identity groups in contrast to a privileged norm. Oppression exists when some people are denied something of value (such as access to resources, opportunities, and networks; legal protections and rights; inclusion and acceptance, etc.) based on their social group memberships.” https://socwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/fact_3-2010-oppression.pdf
Howard, Kyle J. (@KyleJamesHoward). Twitter. March 24 2023. 6:24pm.
https://twitter.com/KyleJamesHoward/status/1637943171203334146
McWhorter, John. Woke Racism. Penguin, 2021, page 68.
Michael Emerson in Divided By Faith, a book full of CRT views, says on page 55 that the third step for racial reconciliation is “whites, as the main creators and benefactors of the racialized society, must repent of their personal, historical, and social sins. If historical and social sins are not confessed and overcome, they are passed onto future generations, perpetuating the racialized system, and perpetuating sin.” Whites today have to accept guilt for what whites did in the past.
Rom 14:12; Ezekiel 18:1-32; Revelation 22:13
Delgado, R. Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical Race Theory: An Introduction. New York University Press. (12-13); Diangelo, Robin (2018). White Fragility. Boston, Beacon Press. (22-23)
Nehemiah 5
Latasha Morrison’s Be The Bridge “Conversation Tips For White Bridge Builders” lists 12 “missteps” to avoid when talking to BIPOC’s about race. Those 12 are essentially “sins” to avoid. The list is manipulative, vindictive and adolescent. Number 4 says: “Don’t ‘Whitesplain.’ Do not explain racism to a POC. Do not explain how the microaggression they just experienced was not what they think it was.” Number 10 says, “Don’t get defensive when you’re called out for any of the above. When BIPOC tells you that your words, tone, behavior are racist, oppressive, triggering, you stop.”
Colossians 4:6; Ephesians 4:29
Oluo, Ijeoma. 2019. So You Want to Talk about Race. Seattle, WA: Seal Press.
See also Ephesians 4:31-32
“Interrupting forces of racism is ongoing, lifelong work…our learning will never be finished.” Also, “It [naming white supremacy] also points us in the direction of the lifelong work that is uniquely ours [whites].” Diangelo, Robin. (2018). White Fragility. Boston, Beacon Press. (9, 33)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-false-science-of-implicit-bias-1507590908; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8167921/; https://nupoliticalreview.org/2021/03/30/move-on-from-implicit-bias/