I have been reading everything that I can get my hands on to help me understand the concepts and philosophies that are clearly sending our country down a very dark path. So I have been studying Critical Theory especially in regard to critical race theory and critical queer theory.

It has been about as easy as peering into a vat of dark chocolate to try and see what is at the bottom.

Critical Theory divides everyone into oppressor and the oppressed. In critical race theory, all white people are oppressor’s no matter their station in life. But is also systematic, that is baked into every aspect of communal life and institution.

Carl Truman explains:

Critical theory, whatever form it takes, relies on the concept of false consciousness—the notion that the oppressors control society so completely that the oppressed believe their own interests are served by the status quo. This is a wonderful idea. It allows every piece of evidence that might refute one’s ­theory to be transformed into further evidence of how deep and comprehensive the problem of oppression is. If factory workers buy houses in the suburbs and vote for Republicans, that’s not a fact that requires rethinking Marx’s theories; it’s a sign of how all-­powerful bourgeois ideology has become.

Erich Fromm and company thought in terms of class and economics. Ibram X. Kendi and his allies think in terms of race and discourses of power. But the postmodern twist does not change the basic logic. As a former colleague used to quip: same horse, different jockey. Critical race theory is the Marxist horse, ridden by the jockey of identity politics rather than the jockey of class warfare.

I don’t see how any of this is compatible with orthodox Christianity. It really is a civil religion.

More Carl Trueman:

All-embracing and transformative views often have a religious quality. Critical race theory is no exception. It has a creedal language and liturgy, with orthodox words (“white privilege,” “systemic racism”) and prescribed actions (raising the fist, taking the knee). To deviate from the forms is to deviate from the faith. Certain words are heretical (“non-racist,” “all lives matter”). The slogan “silence is violence” is a potent rhetorical weapon. To fail to participate in the liturgy is to reject the antiracism the liturgy purports to represent—something only a racist would do.

It is a long article and Truman is writing about “Evangelicals and Race Theory”. But I found it enlightening and applicable to Catholic Christianity. Do read it.

I will be writing more about this. But I have to end now.

In the mean time, to see how truly mad things are getting go over to Rod Dreher’s blog, and read about “How Smartphones Can Help You to Become Trans”.