We don't need to be afraid of CRT

[temporal1]

If the “tiny minority” got FAIR airtime, they would NOT be the minority! The inconvenient truth.
Plus, in our culture, minorities garner tremendous power - as long as they are not labeled conservative.

[Bootstrap]

I liked this:

CRT is merely a secular sociological framework for understanding racism as a form of oppression. CRT, like other explanatory sociological theories, has some valid observations/critiques of society which we can affirm without accepting its proposed solutions. Similarly, Marxism has some fair critiques of capitalism. And capitalism fairly critiques aspects of Marxism. We can acknowledge those valid critiques without embracing the solutions. For instance, Marx’s critique of inequality, while valid, doesn’t mean we embrace his solution of violent revolution. Additionally, Adam Smith’s description of the “invisible hand,” while valid, doesn’t mean that we should just let the misfortunate people suffer. The same with CRT. CRT has brought to the anti-racist discourse valid points that can be acknowledged without undue fear and without buying into anti-Christ solutions. (*It should be noted here that the fight against racism and oppression existed long before CRT was ever codified or written about from a scholastic sociological perspective. Therefore the battle against racism isn’t directly or causally related to CRT.)

Often, I think people denounce one secular philosophy while embracing another, sprinkling holy water on the secular philosophy they prefer.

As Christians, we need to be true to the Bible, and particularly to what Jesus said and taught. When we evaluate other ideologies, we need to hold them to the biblical standard. I think we can learn from a variety of ideologies without pledging allegiance to them. And to some extent, we have to. The Bible does not speak directly about the Internet or what black people experience in modern America, it has a lot to say about whether believers are circumcised or not, how to relate to Samaritans or Gentiles, etc.

We need to understand both our world and the Bible to apply what we learn from the Bible to the world around us. And it's hard to understand our modern world without listening to and evaluating many different voices.

[Bootstrap]

This section seems particularly useful to discuss.

My take: the first two points are hard to escape for a biblical Christian. The Old Testament prophets were particularly clear about the second point.

I don't think the Bible speaks against anything in the third and fourth points. I think some people in the CRT community think primarily in terms of attitudes towards black people. Others think in terms of systems that need to be changed and don't try to focus on attitudes.

Either way, here's something I have noticed - when something happens in the news, I often read about it first on MN, and I can usually tell who is white and who is black from the posts people write here. I don't think we are as color blind as we sometimes claim.

So what then is the essence of some of these “valid points” CRT brings to the anti-racism conversation? Well, they are these (none of which contradict the person Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, his teachings and his witness):

• People are relational and form groups. Because people in their natural, sinful state are faulted, these groups seek to dominate each other for personal gain. Because pride is a present predisposition in all people, people prefer those who think, act, and look, as they do. These selfish and prideful preferences (tribalism) are part of the natural, and sinful, state of humanity. They exist anywhere humans form groups and society...even in rudimentary forms in places as innocent as the school playground. Race-based preferences are one such type of sinful preference. Therefore race-based prejudice, being a part of the natural, and faulted, human condition, must be “died to daily” and warred against as part of the flesh.
• Because humans make up societies, their sins/power is expressed socially in corporate ways. It follows then that race-based prejudice would be expressed corporately by groups of people. We should expect racism, along with other sins such as lust, materialism, selfishness, etc to have to be dealt with, and confronted consistently at a systemic level. Karen Swallow Prior notes here how the sexual revolution created a systemic problem. (What would be truly surprising would be if racism did not functionally exist, or if it was systematically confronted, in a society.)
• Generally in any nation or society, certain groups of people have more access to power and influence (politically, economically, and socially) than do other groups. In a fallen society, these more powerful groups will wield that power, not in suffering love like Jesus, but instead, with violence and coercion in their own self-interest. The USA is one such fallen society. In the USA, white European people have collectively formed a cultural and social identity that has effectively controlled the primary mechanisms of worldly power. That power has been wielded both maliciously (and at times unintentionally and without malice), in a way that benefits people of the same cultural and social identity. Therefore, some people of that “white” identity, that aren’t even directly wielding the power, have still benefited indirectly. Such is what is often referred to with the term “white privilege.”
• While race-based prejudice is part of the human condition equally (by white, black, and brown people), as it is expressed in society (with regard to possible existential harm), race-based prejudice is not equal. Typically, in a society where one racial group controls the means of power, that powerful group's prejudice existentially harms those discriminated against in ways that the weaker group’s prejudice can not existentially harm the more powerful group. The term racism is sometimes used formally to refer to race-based prejudice that includes the capacity to existentially harm another race. In the USA, white society has greater access to power which results in race-based prejudice being existentially more harmful from “white to black” than it is from “black to white” even though it is a natural condition in the fallen nature of both groups.

None of the above propositions is particularly objectionable with regard to Jesus Christ and his good news or the scriptures. In fact, in some ways these particular components dovetail well with a biblical understanding of the human condition. Further, it provides an effective interpretive lens for the prophecy from Isaiah that Emmanuel, as part of his work, would come to raise valleys, lower mountains, make the rough places plain, etc. (It should be noted that he doesn’t do this with the violence of the earthly nation-state.) Clearly, Jesus came for the down and out. The meek. The lowly. He came for the captives and the refugees. He came for those despised by middle-class society. He himself had no “real job” with no place to “lay his head.” Jesus himself preached against the selfish politically empowered groups, Herod’s government, the Sanhedrin, etc. The scriptures warn us against selfishness and favoritism as well as the danger of economic power.

[Bootstrap]

I agree with this:

First, the above portions of CRT have provided oppressed groups with a framework to understand their hardship. It isn’t fundamentally, in fact, true that oppressed groups have a tougher time in society because they are inherently less smart, more wicked, more lazy, etc than are the groups in power. That supposition is a hideous lie that must be fought both by the oppressed group and by the members of the group in power. The truth is the oppressed groups are made of the same stuff that everyone is but social structures and the culture of power are not set up to benefit their group.

In fact, in most threads that touch on race in any way, you can expect to see these same talking points when talking about black people, but not white people. If someone started a thread to suggest that white people who are not doing well in America have themselves to blame because they are less smart, more wicked, more lazy, more prone to addictions than others, I think we would see some heated discussions.

Often, discussions seem to imply that white people have others to blame for their problems because the system works against them, but black people have only themselves to blame. To me, that seems like a dominant narrative for the way some people understand the world. I think it is a false narrative.

[Robert]

I am not afraid of critical race theory, I just do not agree with it.

By making everything oppressed or oppressors really minimizes humanity. We are much more complex and dynamic then that.

Even the oppressed can and are oppressors in places.

I reject the theory as it is not accurate.

[temporal1]

Boot,
Thomas Sowell, Voddie Baucham and plenty of other black leaders address these matters very well. I find them credible and interesting, they are not in denial about anything, they’ve walked the talk. First person.

Voddie B has some interesting things to say about how he knows he began as a racist! And his path away from it.

I recommend open minded study.

I agree with Robert above.
The subject line about fear is a false premise.
Believers have nothing to fear, knowing Jesus offers His way out of every pit.

Believing without fear does not mean there is blindness to errors.

[joshuabgood]

I am not afraid of critical race theory, I just do not agree with it.

By making everything oppressed or oppressors really minimizes humanity. We are much more complex and dynamic then that.

Even the oppressed can and are oppressors in places.

I reject the theory as it is not accurate.

Sure. But humans make up societies. And societies have social structures. And social groups, parties, or tribes in their worldly state vie for worldly power. I really dont see what the objection is to analyzing them. Only if one embraces strong individualism can one perhaps not agree...or so it seems to me. Sociological analysis always involves examining group dynamics. Group theory and culture are studied all the time.

[joshuabgood]

Boot,
Thomas Sowell, Voddie Baucham and plenty of other black leaders address these matters very well. I find them credible and interesting, they are not in denial about anything, they’ve walked the talk. First person.

Voddie B has some interesting things to say about how he knows he began as a racist! And his path away from it.

I recommend open minded study.

I agree with Robert above.
The subject line about fear is a false premise.
Believers have nothing to fear, knowing Jesus offers His way out of every pit.

Believing without fear does not mean there is blindness to errors.

Well if you look at what is going on in school boards you will see some levels of fear.

[temporal1]

Well if you look at what is going on in school boards you will see some levels of fear.

I don’t doubt this, but from what I’ve seen, the fear seems more on the public school (system) which doesn’t want to be bothered by parents (and other taxpayers).

They want a big blank check to do as they please.

Parents have no need to be alone and made to feel helpless. Everyone who pays taxes has a vested interest. There should be accountability.

I implore those who sacrifice to home school or private school to NOT forget about public schools. Taxes are paid, AND, the products of public Ed will eventually be interacting with your children in the world.

Not parents alone.
Most people should be quite interested in what’s going on in public Ed.

[Josh]

Boot,
Thomas Sowell, Voddie Baucham and plenty of other black leaders address these matters very well. I find them credible and interesting, they are not in denial about anything, they’ve walked the talk. First person.

Voddie B has some interesting things to say about how he knows he began as a racist! And his path away from it.

I recommend open minded study.

I agree with Robert above.
The subject line about fear is a false premise.
Believers have nothing to fear, knowing Jesus offers His way out of every pit.

Believing without fear does not mean there is blindness to errors.

Well if you look at what is going on in school boards you will see some levels of fear.

Is it wrong to fear bad things?