Part I: Critical Thought About Critical Race Theory
With oppression being such a huge problem, not only in 3rd world countries but within the borders of our United States, then rectifying it will also be a huge undertaking. The first step in the process is to understand the system within which the problem exists, so let's examine how the system behind it is understood by both the Left and the Right.
The Right views oppression as a single component of a larger social system, a system of relationships between people which is formed from a religious system that defines the nature of man. Our Founding Fathers relied heavily on their understanding of the nature of man as described in the Bible when writing our founding documents. The Biblical view of mankind is that we were created in the image of God Himself, with the capacity to freely choose to follow or not follow His commands. Regardless of our skin color, gender, nationality, age, or other distinguishing characteristics, we are image bearers of God with the capacity to choose or reject relationships both with Him and with others. We are all equally capable of both good and evil, such as selfishness, love, sin, repentance, kindness, intolerance, and others because we are all human beings with a free will of our own to either accept or reject His will, with any rejection of God's will being categorized as sin. Social injustices, like oppression, come from our rejection of God's mandate to love Him and love others, which is an issue of the heart in every individual, an issue that can only be dealt with on an individual basis. But God, who understands His creation, implemented the plan to atone for man's sin through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus because man is imperfect and incapable of paying for this sin on his own.
The Left views oppression as the outcome of a power struggle between two groups. Critical Race Theory doesn't define the problem as an individual problem, but rather as a group problem. It recognizes that individuals with similar characteristics tend to band together, ultimately creating separate and distinct groups, with one group eventually having more power and oppressing the other weaker groups. And while the Left doesn't outwardly identify this theory as a religion, it still defines it using religious terms. For example, salvation for the oppressing group comes through being made more aware (woke) of its oppressive practices and making reparations for those practices. Michael Rectenwald, a former NYU professor and a former Marxist for 15 years, equates Social Justice with "a whole new (god-free) religion, complete with original sin, confession, saints, and martyrs." In his book, "Beyond Woke", Rectenwald states, "Like the saved Christian, the social justice woke becomes penitent about previously unacknowledged sin, sin for which they must atone. Under social justice, sin is having acted carelessly from a position of privilege, without sufficient recognition or concern for those whose lack of privilege makes one’s privilege possible." Under this system, the group must atone for its sin by paying retribution to those that were oppressed, regardless of the amount of time that has passed. Oppression is the only sin in this model, and the only sinners are those who oppress while those who are oppressed are sinless and justified in using any means to stop the oppression.
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