State laws and parental demands to keep Marxist ideology, in the form of Critical Race Theory, out of our schools have run into a small but growing movement of teachers and administrators who have signed a public pledge to teach it anyway.

Critical Race Theory views American history through the lens of race, slavery, oppressors and the oppressed. According to Brittanica.com, “Critical race theorists hold that the law and legal institutions in the United States are inherently racist insofar as they function to create and maintain social, economic, and political inequalities between whites and nonwhites, especially African Americans.”

After parental objections at school board meetings in places such as Loudoun County, Virginia, radical teachers unions and proponents of CRT have started denying that they are teaching it. Even our military academies are not exempt from CRT influence.

The left-leaning Zinn Education Project, which is based off of Howard Zinn’s controversial book The People’s History of the United States, is sponsoring the pledge to defy state laws and parental objections and continue teaching CRT anyway. The trick is that they no longer identify it as such but call it the “truth” about American history.

“Lawmakers in at least 26 states are attempting to pass legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and oppression throughout U.S. history,” the webpage explanation of the pledge begins.

“From police violence, to the prison system, to the wealth gap, to maternal mortality rates, to housing, to education and beyond, the major institutions and systems of our country are deeply infected with anti-Blackness and its intersection with other forms of oppression. To not acknowledge this and help students understand the roots of U.S. racism is to deceive them — not educate them.

“This history helps students understand the roots of inequality today and gives them the tools to shape a just future. It is not just a history of oppression, but also a history of how people have organized and created coalitions across race, class, and gender.”

But many African American intellectuals, educators and politicians themselves reject CRT, according to author Bruce Ashford, writing for Public Discourse in an article titled “Critical Race Theory: Plundering the Egyptians or Worshiping Ba’al?”

“Although CRT finds many supporters in the black intellectual community, many prominent black thinkers reject CRT as a flawed theory,” Ashford writes. “In their view, this way of thinking actually perpetuates racism and harms society. Such critics of CRT include economists (Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, and Glenn Loury), political scientists (Carol M. Swain, Wilfred Reilly), political commentators and activists (Derryck Green, Alveda King), professors of linguistics (John McWhorter), professors of divinity (Robert Smith, Jr.), public intellectuals (Coleman Hughes), and elected officials (Tim Scott), among others.”

And from a Christian perspective, Ashford argues, CRT misses the point that sin – in the form of racism – is the result of individuals making choices – which can then affect “systems” within society – whereas CRT teaches that racism comes from society’s systems themselves. Christians need to continue focusing on what the Bible says about sin, without ignoring the racial problems present in society.

“Further, many Christians—including some of the black commentators enumerated above—criticize CRT from a distinctively evangelical point of view. While they often acknowledge that CRT can be a useful tool for analyzing power dynamics, they ultimately reject CRT as being fundamentally incompatible with the Christian faith. Indeed, although CRT offers some valuable insights, it usually functions as an ideology, which is a form of intellectual idolatry. As such, CRT should be rejected.”

The current objections to teaching CRT, in the form of state laws and parental concerns, do not gloss over America’s past concerning slavery and racism. We all need to learn our history and examine our own conscience where racism is concerned.

But the Marxist-based CRT agenda goes beyond that and sets up potential harmful consequences. The teachers and school administrators signing pledges to violate the laws and desires of parents on this issue is deeply concerning and alarming on many levels.

Revelation 7:9 (ESV) serves as a good reminder of our common humanity: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.”

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