In Part One we got a very rough outline of this ideology as a child of both Marxism and postmodernism. The pursuit of social justice surely sounds like a good thing until we investigate more closely.

Some may argue that we can gain insights from Critical Theory’s analysis of social problems without embracing the revolutionary and deeply problematic ‘solutions’ it proposes. But since the analysis is rooted in postmodernism and Marxism, it defies the Christian worldview from the very start. If its analysis of the problem is false, it will be looking in the wrong place for solutions.

Counterfeit movement

Critical Theory is radically opposed to the Christian worldview with its four stages of Creation, Fall, Redemption and Final Restoration. Yet it has several features which are parallel with true Christianity, just as a counterfeit banknote must look like the real thing. If humanity has ‘fallen’, it has done so not by rejecting God, but by allowing groups to dominate society. The idea of ‘repentance’ as part of personal ‘redemption’ involves the people in the dominant groups ‘confessing’ their whiteness, maleness, heterosexuality, thinness, Christian faith and so on. However, no ending is envisaged of the ‘repentance’. You cannot become un-white, un-male and so on.

No ending is envisaged of the ‘repentance’. You cannot become unwhite, unmale and so on.

This emotional blackmail to silence opposing voices becomes especially effective when those who do speak up to question the Social Justice movement are publicly savaged on social media by the most vindictive personal attacks. It is now almost impossible to state obvious, common-sense facts like ‘a person with male genitalia is a man’ without inciting a riot of vitriol.

False religion

All this points to the conclusion that the Social Justice movement now has all the features of a fundamentalist religion: a prescribed theology, holy books, apostles and prophets, fanatical ‘puritans’, an inquisition, a demand for ‘repentance’ and the ritual of the public shaming of offenders.

The ‘gospel’ of Social Justice steals Christianity’s genuine call for social justice and care for the poor. It appeals not just to those in minority groups, but also to idealistic young people in the so-called oppressive social groups – whites in the West, young women, the ‘straight’, the able-bodied and the thin – who all have a conscience about social inequalities. Thus, it captures both the ‘victims’ of oppression and also those who somehow feel guilty about injustices.

The ‘gospel’ of Social Justice steals Christianity’s genuine call for social justice and care for the poor.

It’s bad enough that the Social Justice message is a false gospel, offering an illusory ‘salvation’ – a promised Utopia for victims and some kind of atonement for the guilty. It cannot deliver on either promise, but criticism of it is becoming unsayable. Fear works to create silence. Once unsayable, the Truth can become literally unthinkable.

Worse still, whole churches are falling for this distortion of their own mission. Instead of seeking to follow Jesus, to draw guidance from the Bible and the presence of God through the Holy Spirit; instead of seeking to build a multiracial, all-age counter-cultural community of faith in Jesus; they are signing up for the new religion. It promises to bring heaven on earth – but without the agency of God, the good news of Jesus, or his Holy Spirit. It will certainly end in disappointment, to put it mildly.

Trojan horse

One of the most alarming developments in recent years has been the buckling of universities under pressure from the purveyors of Critical Theory. In fact, most humanities faculties are no longer teaching students how to think: they are teaching them what to think – and it’s a Critical Theory analysis of society with its emphasis on activism.

So, the Social Justice movement seeks to overtake and silence the true Gospel, and also the hard-won freedoms of conscience, speech and religion which have characterised Western civilisation. It’s sad to hear of Christian celebrities ‘deconstructing’ their faith and leaving the Church, usually under the influence of Critical Theory. But what’s worse is when they stay and become a Trojan Horse within the body of Christ.

Becoming Bereans

How are we to grab this slippery ideology by the tail and help our church family to stay free of the bondage it seeks to impose on us? How are we to educate our kids and grandkids to discern and resist this 21st century heresy?

I suggest that we need to find out more about this ‘hollow and deceptive philosophy’ so that we can spot it in the messaging of movies, hear it in the stories selected for the daily news, and watch for it in Christian circles. How did the apostles of the Early Church keep itself free of the influence of the Judaisers and the false prophets and the Gnostics? They listened, studied and went back to the Scriptures and debated until they found the boundaries between biblical truth and its counterfeits. Can we expect to do any less today?

Biblical truth

Secondly, how can we educate our kids, grandkids, and other children we may be able to influence? We must teach more than the exciting Bible stories. We must teach the biblical worldview with Scripture and with evidence, encouraging the kids to question constructively. Much more than us, they will need to be able to prayerfully reason their way to the truth. Their world is already more awash with ‘hollow and deceptive philosophies’ than ours was as children. The gender agenda is already entering British schools and we can be sure that much more is to come.

Christian truth includes a superbly accurate description of reality. The ‘pretensions which raise themselves up against’ it must ultimately fail.

Moving beyond alarmism into learning and responsible action, we need to remember the huge advantage we have in this fight: Christian truth includes a superbly accurate description of reality. The ‘pretensions which raise themselves up against’ it must ultimately fail. Wherever you look the evidence is on our side. It’s time we developed a proper command of it. The faith of the Church’s children will probably depend on our command of that evidence.

Andy Fraser is a retired pastor and university lecturer with concerns for the generation of his seven grandkids. (He can be contacted by clicking here)

Further research

These resources may prove helpful:

• Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender and Identity – and Why This Harms Everybody by Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay. (The definitive explanation of this topic, written by two liberal secular humanists. Even they can see the damage it’s doing)
• Christianity and Wokeness: How the Social Justice Movement Is Hijacking the Gospel – and the Way to Stop it by Owen Strachan. (The title says it all)
• Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism’s Looming Catastrophe by Voddie T. Baucham Jnr. (This wonderful black Christian scholar unmasks Social Justice in the churches)

Here also are 3 important videos:

• Critical Race Theory (18 mins). Christopher F. Rufo presents a compelling challenge to Americans to stand against CRT before all freedoms are lost.
• Critical Theory as a philosophy of research (4 mins) A secular view.
• Critical Race Theory: The Fault Lines of Social Justice with Dr. Voddie Baucham (43 mins). A Christian view.