Critical Debate on Racial Theory Divides Christians: “We All Have Intrinsic Worth”

The debate over critical race theory is taking place in schools and government, but now it is starting to creep in and divide the Christian church.

During a heated school board meeting in Fort. Worth, Texas, recently critical race theory was on trial, but it is God that many speakers have used as a witness.

On the one hand, there are those who oppose the CRT like Danielle Buck, a parent who said, “I believe in what God says in Imago Dei, that we all have intrinsic worth no matter what. color of our skin. We were all created. in the image of God. “

Then there are pastors like Ryan Price who support him.

“In the church, we have a saying, keep your hand on the plow, you plow hard ground,” Price said. “The roots of racism and iniquity run deep… one more reason to hold on and persevere for truth, humanity and unity.

Critical race theory began to cause cracks in evangelical circles. In 2019, the Southern Baptist Convention, one of the more conservative Christian denominations, passed Resolution 9, which accepted some of the CRT’s principles as “a tool for understanding how the race has and continues to function in society” .

But theologian Voddie Baucham, author of the book “Faultlines,” said many efforts like this, while well-intentioned, ignore how the CRT clashes with Christianity on fundamental issues.

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“Critical race theory is at odds with Christianity because it removes the problem of racism from the heart of the individual and puts it somewhere in systems and structures,” said Baucham, who is African American.

And he reminded Christians that, “Christ came to redeem us from our sin and our sin is here, not there.

Baucham said that Resolution 9 the SBC voted on was actually a watered-down version of the original that took a much harsher view of the CRT. As an example, a section of the original resolution read:

“While critical race theory and intersectionality are based on unbiblical presuppositions derived from Marxist theories and categories and therefore are inherently opposed to the Scriptures as the true center of Christian union …”

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The final resolution reads as follows:

“While critical race theory and intersectionality alone are not sufficient to diagnose and correct the root causes of the social ills they identify, which result from sin, but these analytical tools can help assess a variety. of human experiences… ”

In his book, Baucham warns of a looming catastrophe within evangelicalism, as the CRT and other social justice movements often use the language of faith to promote ideology, such as saying that slavery is America’s original sin.

“So when people start talking about original sin, they go down a theological path,” he said. “And if you’re going to talk about original sin, then there has to be an answer to how we are forgiven for that original sin. And the great irony of racial theory and anti-racism is that there is no forgiveness there. You just have to perpetually do the anti-racism work and you never get to a point where that work is done. There is no forgiveness. There is no forgiveness. there is no salvation because there is no savior.

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But one of the reasons Christians are drawn to CRT is that it sounds like the things they believe in. Tom Plumbley, Senior Minister of First Christian Church in Fort. Worth, told school board members how he supported the CRT and said he would continue to teach his grandchildren the truth and “the humanity of all their neighbors.”

“This is not to help them feel bad for being White, but to help them learn how we can all one day overcome all evil with truth, humanity and unity”, a- he declared.

Baucham said the irony is that both sides of the divide are reading the same Bible, seeking divine guidance for the same human problem.