Ian Jenkins and his partners, Alan and Jeremy, were recently named the legal parents of two children. The babies were conceived through an egg donor and two surrogate mothers.

The CNN article that tells their story calls them “one extraordinary household” and could not be more upbeat and affirming. It clearly advocates for a culture in which polyamory is normal and any kind of “family” should create and raise children in any way they wish.

If someone claims in response that God made us “male and female” and that “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife,” that person would face charges of being hateful, bigoted, and dangerous to society. Even if that person is Jesus (Matthew 19:4–5). Or someone who follows him as Lord.

How Critical Race Theory views the world 

Yesterday, we discussed censorship in the context of Dr. Seuss’ books and focused on one book being criticized for advocating equality without acknowledging “structural power imbalances” or “encouraging young readers to recognize and take action against injustice.” I then stated my plan to discuss the worldview behind this movement in today’s article. We’ll do so as succinctly as possible, then offer biblical and practical responses.

Postmodernism has taught our secular society that truth claims are personal and subjective. Since, in this view, no one can claim objective or absolute authority for their beliefs, tolerance is now our highest cultural value. To suggest that lost people need Jesus or that the Bible is God’s authoritative word is seen as intolerant and oppressive.

In this context, a worldview called Critical Race Theory (CRT) has gained enormous ascendency in our culture. CRT was influenced by a Marxist ideology that views the world in terms of power dynamics. Social evils such as crime, poverty, and oppression result not from human failures and sin but from Euro-Americans seeking to secure and increase their economic and social power.

CRT is complex and multifaceted, but many of its adherents claim that people experience society either as an oppressed minority or as an oppressing majority. Social structures perpetuate and exacerbate these realities. Some Black evangelicals are using this approach effectively in exposing systemic racism in our culture.

In addition, seeing oppressed people as equals or offering equality of opportunity is not enough, since social structures enacted by oppressors continue to oppress them. As a result, some CRT advocates believe that those who benefit from systems enacted by oppressors should make reparations to victims of these systems, offering not just equality but equity to them. And we should all work proactively to remove systemic injustices that continue to oppress minorities.

The future for evangelicals 

It is beyond the scope of this Daily Article to respond to CRT in depth, but I will offer three biblical observations.

One: Systemic racism exists. 

(For multiple examples, see my paper, “What does the Bible say about racism?“)

It is not enough to seek a color-blind society that does not recognize ongoing inequalities or work for a just society for all. God’s word is still his will: “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24). We should work to end systemic racism wherever we find it and to care for those oppressed by society (cf. Acts 6:1–6; James 1:27).

Two: The gospel is the ultimate solution to our social challenges. 

As I have noted, many Black evangelicals are using CRT to expose systemic racism in our culture. However, because CRT views humans through the prism of race and gender rather than as individuals, some of its other adherents can minimize the biblical responsibility of persons and their sacred value as God’s creation. The fact is, we are all sinners (Romans 3:23) in need of salvation by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9). The ultimate solution to all our social problems lies in transformation by God’s Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Three: We must prepare for a growing threat to religious freedom. 

God cares deeply for the poor and the marginalized (cf. Proverbs 17:5). At the same time, a worldview that views minorities as oppressed and majorities as oppressors can be used to claim that evangelicals who defend biblical morality are oppressing those with whom they disagree. This is not an assertion of CRT per se, but it can be an application of its worldview to “moral minorities.”

As we have noted in recent articles, many claim today that evangelical appeals to religious freedom should be disallowed if they are viewed as harmful to others. The so-called Equality Act is an example with regard to LGBTQ persons. This denial of religious freedom can be extended to abortion, “death with dignity,” and a host of other civil “rights.” In this future world, Christians would not be able to appeal to their faith in refusing to perform an abortion, sex-change surgery, same-sex wedding, or a variety of other services.

Three reminders and a fascinating interview 

We should continue to monitor and engage the cultural trajectory we have discussed today with biblical clarity. To that end, I’ll close today with three biblical reminders.

First, we should live with such integrity, consistency, and compassion that others see the difference Jesus makes in our personal lives (Philippians 4:8; 1 Peter 3:16). Our opponents are not our enemies but people who need the same grace we have experienced and are called to share.

Second, we should show our culture the compelling logic and positive outcomes of the biblical worldview apart from personal religious beliefs (1 Peter 3:15). We seek not the “right to be wrong” but the “right to be right.” I’ll say more about this in the days ahead.

Third, we should pray and work for the spiritual awakening that will change hearts and minds before it is too late (2 Corinthians 3:18). In this context, a recent interview in Christianity Today greatly impressed me.

Michel Abs was selected last fall as the new leader of the Middle East Council of Churches. He discussed the persecution of believers in his part of the world and his vision for the future. He stated, “We are the salt of the earth; we should be everywhere and spread good things. When salt is kept in its jar, it hardens and becomes like a stone, unusable.”

He also noted: “The Muslim is not our enemy. Maybe at times he could be our rival. But he is my neighbor, and Christ told us to love our neighbor.”

How usable is your salt?

Asked differently: How well will you love your neighbors today?

Denison Forum

Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904–91) wrote and illustrated more than sixty books under the pen name Dr. Seuss. By the time of his death, his books had sold more than six hundred million copies and had been translated into more than twenty languages.

Geisel was a graduate of Dartmouth with graduate studies at Oxford. His work received two Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. For decades, Read Across America Day has celebrated his birthday while encouraging children to read. Like millions of others, I read Dr. Seuss’ books as a child and then read them to our children.

Then came recent accusations that some of his books depict characters in racist ways. A school district in Virginia dropped Read Across America Day as a result. While President Obama marked the Day with a proclamation calling Dr. Seuss “one of America’s revered wordsmiths” and President Trump cited his “motivational words,” President Biden omitted any reference to Dr. Seuss in his recent proclamation marking the day.

In response to this controversy, the company that oversees the author’s estate announced that it would no longer publish six of his books, citing what it called “hurtful and wrong” images.

The company did not elaborate, but the New York Times reports that one of the books portrays a “Chinaman” with lines for eyes who is wearing a pointed hat and carrying chopsticks and a bowl of rice. Another book depicts two characters from “the African island of Yerka” as shirtless, shoeless, and resembling monkeys. National Review notes that another Dr. Seuss book seems to have been targeted for a depiction of an Eskimo and still another for an Arab-looking character.

Then eBay joined the controversy, announcing that it would purge all listings for the six books from its site. Notably, the e-commerce giant will still allow you to sell pornography, Mein Kampf, and Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book.

The Sneetches and the United Nations 

I understand the sentiment against cartoons depicting ethnicities in unflattering or discriminatory ways, especially in books that could be influential for children. When the company that owns the formerly branded Aunt Jemima pancake and syrup products changed the brand and dropped a logo known to perpetuate racist stereotypes, I wrote an article supporting their decision.

However, there’s more to the story, a dimension that affects every evangelical Christian in America.

Writing for National Review, Dan McLaughlin focuses on one of the “canceled” books, The Sneetches. He describes the plot: The Sneetches are identical birds, except that some have stars on their bellies while others do not. The star-belly Sneetches look down on the star-less Sneetches. Then a monkey named Sylvester McMonkey McBean offers to add stars to bellies for a fee.

Now that the star-belly Sneetches are no longer superior, McBean talks them into removing their stars so that they can declare star-less bellies to be the new grounds for supremacy. Eventually, everyone loses track of who had what, while McBean makes off with all their money. Poorer but wiser, the Sneetches abandon star-based classification altogether and live in star-blind harmony.

The moral is clear and compelling: we should not discriminate against others based on their appearance. A “star blind” culture is best for all. Everyone deserves the same opportunities as everyone else. The book is so persuasive and its message so positive that in 1998, NATO and the UN distributed copies of the book in Bosnia in the midst of the ethnic conflicts being waged there.

This was essentially the approach of the civil rights movement. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 ensured that all Americans have the equal right and access to vote.

The goal was a culture in which everyone had the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. A “star-blind” society, in other words.

The NEA recommends a book about a cross-dressing prince 

That was then; this is now.

McLaughlin quotes the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) with regard to The Sneetches: “The solution to the story’s conflict is that the Plain-Belly Sneetches and Star-Bellied Sneetches simply get confused as to who is oppressed. As a result, they accept one another. This message of ‘acceptance’ does not acknowledge structural power imbalances. It doesn’t address the idea that historical narratives impact present-day power structures. And instead of encouraging young readers to recognize and take action against injustice, the story promotes a race-neutral approach.”

Here’s the point: it’s no longer enough to seek a world in which all Americans have equal opportunities with regard to voting, education, employment, or other civil rights. Now we must be proactive in “canceling” any oppression as defined by any person considered to be oppressed. We must identify “structural power imbalances” and “take action against injustice” as defined by the SPLC and similar groups.

For example, the National Education Association has provided a list of books to consider as replacements for those by Dr. Seuss that have been canceled. It includes Julián Is a Mermaid, about a boy who wants to be a mermaid, and The Prince and the Dressmaker, about a cross-dressing prince.

Why we must “be strong and courageous” 

Tomorrow, I plan to explain the worldview behind this movement. For today, let’s note its danger for evangelicals. If you disagree with this ideology, you’re among the oppressors. If you defend biblical morality against an LGBTQ agenda, for instance, you’re an oppressor of the persecuted oppressed. This mentality applies to “minority rights” across the age spectrum from abortion to euthanasia.

This ideology is only going to become more pervasive in a culture that is deteriorating from our Judeo-Christian heritage to post-Christian to now anti-Christian worldviews. We must not compromise our biblical convictions or treat our opponents as our enemies. Instead, we must pray now for the courage to stand for biblical truth with biblical grace.

As we do, we can claim Moses’ word to the Jews confronting the dangers they faced as God’s word to us: “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Will you take your Lord at his word today?

Denison Forum