We are commanded to hide His Word in our hearts.

In 2020, the Smithsonian Institution declared that an “emphasis on [the] scientific method” and “objective, rational linear thinking” are “aspects and assumptions of whiteness and white culture.” In 2022, Christena Cleveland—formerly a professing Christian who’d been platformed by numerous prominent evangelical organizations—published God Is a Black Woman, in which she wrote, “We must eradicate the transphobia within ourselves and our communities. For if God is a Black woman, then She’s a Black trans woman. Obviously.” In 2025, a USA Today op-ed announced, “There is no scientific evidence that transgender women athletes have a physical advantage over cisgender women athletes.” These cultural artifacts are manifestations of what’s popularly termed “wokeness,” the outward expression of an ideology known as critical theory. Contemporary critical theory claims that 1. society is divided between oppressor and oppressed groups along lines of race, class, gender, and sexuality; 2. the ruling class, via its hegemonic power and influence, imposes their norms and values on everyone else; 3. oppressors are blind to social reality, but oppressed people have a special understanding of it through their lived experience; and 4. social justice will be achieved only when the systems and structures propping up these oppressive norms and values are deconstructed. Several works by evangelicals have effectively challenged critical theory at an academic level. Yet few people become captive to wokeness through studying scholars like Judith Butler or Kimberlé Crenshaw; instead, they’ve simply embraced a culturally ubiquitous, false narrative of oppression and liberation. To combat this narrative, Christians must tell a better story, one rooted in a biblical view of identity and community, objectivity and knowledge, and sin and salvation. Who Am I? To contemporary critical theorists, our identity is primarily horizontal; it’s found in membership in various demographic groups. Relative to these groups, critical theory compels us to internalize our status as either an oppressor or an oppressed person. Christians must tell a better story, one rooted in a biblical view of identity and community, objectivity and knowledge, and sin and salvation. For example, feminist scholar Peggy McIntosh, who coined the term “white privilege,” laments that—as a white woman—she was “taught to see [herself] as an individual whose moral state depended on her individual moral will” instead of “seeing [herself] as an oppressor.” In the same way, critical theory teaches people of color to see themselves as an unjust society’s victims who must support the grievances of all other oppressed groups. This intersectional solidarity explains why organizations like Black Lives Matter officially embraced LGBT+ advocacy and why their Chicago chapter tweeted out support for Hamas after the terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. In contrast, Christianity teaches that our primary identity is vertical. We’re all creatures made in the image of a holy, loving God. We’re all fallen in Adam. And, as Christians, we’re all united in Christ. At a fundamental level, we have an identity bigger than race, class, and gender. These two views of identity will profoundly affect community. Critical theory promotes what psychologist Jonathan Haidt calls “common enemy” politics. “We” are the good people standing on the right side of history, while “they” are the unrighteous: the bigots, the haters, the robbers, evildoers, and tax collectors. In comparison, Christianity promotes “common humanity” politics, not only abstractly in the culture but also concretely in the church. Although critical theorists pride themselves on being inclusive, their views inevitably produce people and communities driven by anger, enmity, anxiety, and paranoia. The gospel, by contrast, forms people and communities marked by love, forgiveness, peace, and patience. What Is Truth? Through its appeal to lived experience, critical theory makes the pronouncements of oppressed people nearly unchallengeable. Privileged people (along with “unwoke” members of oppressed groups such as pro-life women and black conservatives) are dismissed as victims of false consciousness, while the claims of marginalized people are valorized. This dynamic is most clearly seen within the transgender movement, where “gender identity” is wholly subjective and where any appeal to biology is described as bigoted and “transphobic.” Critical theory’s approach to truth inevitably produces a race to the bottom, as adherents strive to claim the authoritative status that comes with being maximally oppressed. Some detransitioners have even written about how embracing a trans identity was a way for them to escape the “oppressor” label forced onto them as “privileged” middle-class white teenagers. In contrast to critical theory, Christianity insists all of us are fallible sinners who need to look outside, not inside, to find knowledge and wisdom. God reveals himself in Scripture and in nature, and we must submit to his truth. This view of knowledge should produce in us a sense of humility, curiosity, and openness, as we all acknowledge we have blind spots that should be challenged by Scripture and by other believers in Jesus. What’s Wrong with the World? Ultimately, contemporary critical theory sees humanity’s fundamental problem as external: Certain groups have seized cultural power and have imposed their values on the rest of us. Conversely, the fundamental solution is internal. Those of us who are privileged need to “do the work:” divest ourselves of power, stop taking up space, and center marginalized voices. Critical theory argues that those of us who are oppressed need to speak up, act up, live our truth, and radically transform society. Christianity turns this view inside out. According to the Bible, our fundamental problem is internal: We’re sinners. We’ve all rebelled against God, from the least to the greatest. We all deserve his wrath. We’ve all fallen short of his glory. And the fundamental solution is external: God had to send his Son, Jesus, to die in our place and rise from the dead to rescue us. Critical theory shackles us to the treadmill of works righteousness. Instead of kissing cathedral steps and purchasing indulgences, we put up yard signs and buy Robin DiAngelo books. But the motivation is the same. Apart from Christ, we all feel the inescapable human need to justify ourselves; critical theory offers us a socially acceptable way to do it. The Bible tells a better and truer story. The bad news is that we can’t save ourselves; like Lady Macbeth, we’ll never be able to wash out that “damned spot.” The good news is that what we were powerless to do, God did for us in Christ so we could be forgiven and cleansed. New Atheism’s Cautionary Tale The early 2010s witnessed the zenith of New Atheism. Led by authors like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett, the “Brights” were going to destroy religion and usher in a new era of reason, logic, and science. A decade later, their movement is all but defunct. What happened? According to atheists like Scott Alexander and Peter Boghossian, the coalition was largely swallowed up by wokeness. Critical theory shackles us to the treadmill of works righteousness. What the New Atheists failed to realize is that man doesn’t live by logic alone. Human beings are storytellers and story followers. We crave beauty and meaning and purpose. Trying to replace epic religious narratives with dry scientific facts is like trying to replace The Lord of the Rings with a washing-machine instructional manual. Wokeness is popular in part because it tells a compelling story. It tells us we’re part of a war between good and evil. We’ve been trapped in the Matrix, unaware of the battle raging around us. But now we’re awake and can join the revolution to usher in an age of love, progress, and equity. Christians mustn’t make the same mistake as the New Atheists. We need to show not only that the Bible is fundamentally opposed to critical theory but that it tells a better story. Yes, we’re part of a cosmic struggle between good and evil, but we were fighting on the wrong side. We were wicked rebels, justly condemned and without hope. At great cost to himself, our great Creator came in the flesh to conquer our enemy and rescue us. Now, we’re welcomed into his kingdom where we can join hands with brothers and sisters from every tribe, nation, and tongue until he comes again and makes all things new (Rev. 7:9; 21:5). Christianity’s story is the true story of reality. It has the power to displace whatever false narratives have captured our hearts and minds, including the ones promulgated by critical theory.

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