Critical Race Theory: What is it and How is it Influencing Christian Colleges and Universities?

The Social Justice movement has infiltrated just about every secular college campus in the country. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is the most prominent example of our culture’s plea for social justice. It’s leaders have demanded absolute submission to it, and the consequences are steep if one does not align oneself with the BLM ideology—even resulting in death, everywhere. But now, even some Christian colleges are beginning to adopt the ideology that undergirds the BLM movement. That ideology is called Critical Race Theory or CRT.

What is Critical Race Theory?

Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a movement of activists and scholars who are interested in transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power. It takes on civil rights issues, which include economics, history, group and self-interest, even feelings, and the unconscious.[1] Critical Race Theory was formed by combining other theories such as critical legal studies, Critical Theory (for more about Critical Theory, see my blog post on my website here), the radical feminist theory, postmodernism, and cultural studies.

Critical Race Theory adherents believe that:

1. White people or White culture are “inherently racist.” Racism is not an aberration.

 

2. People of color can’t be “racist.”

 

3. White silence regarding racism is violence.

 

4. Racism is America’s original sin, and is ingrained in the fabric of America.

 

5. Those who claim to be color blind, say so only for self-serving reasons.

 

6. Large segments of society have little incentive to eradicate racism.[2]

 

7. People are categorized into two groups. One is either the oppressed, or the oppressor.

 Authors Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic are the authorities on CRT. They wrote the book on it. Another great resource to learn about CRT is Neil Shenvi. He spoke on a podcast with Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason back in March. You can listen to it here.

What is Wrong With Critical Race Theory?

Critical Race Theory directly contradicts the religious values of Orthodox Christianity, and Christian colleges. How? It teaches a different works-based gospel because,

 

1. CRT does not see humanity as resting in the image of God. It sees humanity as rooted in an image of power, which changes our concept of humanity.

 

2. CRT makes our identity our skin color. Therefore, whites can never be redeemed because whiteness is forever. Scripture sees our humanity under the federal headship of Adam, as the first born man, and head of the human race. Because he sinned, we sin. It is because of him that we have a fallen human nature. Our primary identity is in Adam. But Christ’s salvation did not apply to one ethnic group over than another. So as sinners, we are all united in Adam. But as the saved, we are all united in Christ, and therein lies our true identity.

 

3. With CRT, our sin is not the primary problem of humanity. CRT says that our problem is unfairly distributed power, which is based on societally-founded iniquities. Therefore, atonement of Christ is not a means to our salvation. Instead power-balancing is the solution when “privileged” people “check” their unfair advantages.[3]

 

4. CRT posits cultural change as our telos, not the salvation of sinners through Christ.As we can see, CRT does not make any positive case for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. CRT is about cultural and political change. It accomplishes its ends through changing minds, but also through changing laws.[4]

To summarize, CRT adherents say the problem with our society is oppression, the solution is activism, and the goal is the promised land of equity of outcome. This is not the Bible’s definition of equity. The Bible tells us that equal treatment is important. Not outcome, since equal outcome can never be achieved.

About Black Lives Matter

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement maintains this CRT philosophy, and that is why they have led the CRT movement unabashedly. The BLM movement admittedly has Marxist , and therefore atheist roots. Falling right in line with CRT, their website said right on the front page that their goal was to defund the police. Their “What We Believe” page, tells us that they seek to “dismantle cisgender (a person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex) privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.” BLM also seeks to disrupt the “Western-prescribed” nuclear family structure, and are a “Queer-affirming” network.

How Universities are Changing

As I said earlier, many Christian colleges are bending to this new societal construct (CRT and CT), rather than staying true to orthodox Scripture, which defines who we are as humans, and how we are to treat one another according to our identity in Christ. Theology on Christian campuses is moving in another direction. This is a theology (liberation theology) that attempts to interpret the gospel of Jesus Christ through the lived experiences of oppressed people, by using Marxist economic theory, and applying it to the gospel. In this interpretation, Jesus becomes the “liberator” and always is firmly on the side of the poorest of the poor. Because of this preference for the poor, liberation theology often calls for reorganization of social, governmental, and economic structures so that the poor are not merely cared for, but brought into the fullness of human flourishing.[5] This liberation theology and CRT both stem from Marxism, which is atheist at its roots, and has no business being affirmed and practiced on a Christian university campus. However, there’s a new move to appease the culture by the administrations of these Christian universities, by moving toward this Marxist theology, which is as far away from Christianity as one can get. This theology does not follow the Biblical model, which says that we are all equal before God, and that the only way we can be redeemed is through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Redemption does not come from societal change, or by oppressing the so-called oppressors.

Examples of Universities that have adopted CRT

As I said earlier, CRT was formed by a combining other theories such as critical legal studies, Critical Theory, feminist theory, postmodernism, and cultural studies. The LGBTQ ideology comes from a postmodern mindset—the idea that there is no objective truth, or that truth is subjective, where your truth is your truth, my truth is mine, and we can be whatever sex we think we are, regardless of our birth sex. If one disagrees with that ideology, now that person is an oppressor and the LGBTQ person is the oppressed. That is how the LGBTQ issue fits into Critical Theory, and since Critical Theory undergirds the BLM organization, that is that is why BLM supports the LGBTQ agenda.

One example of such a university is Azusa Pacific University (APU). In December of 2018, two of their board members, Raleigh Washington, and Dave Dias resigned from the board after some of its own students, faculty, and staffers came out as LGBTQ and were pushing the narrative of tolerance.

Dias wrote in his resignation letter, “I am not leaving APU. APU has left me.”

Everett Piper, former president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University (OKWU) claims in his book, Not A Day Care, that in 2015 after the Obergefell-vs-Hodges decision by the Supreme Court of the United States to make marriage licenses available in every state, “Two colleges that were long standing members of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) announced they would begin hiring married, homosexual couples.”[6] This forced the CCCU to have to respond. Shirley Hoogstra, the president of the CCCU, decided that it was time for “consultation, dialogue, and deliberation over this issue.”[7] There are about one hundred forty colleges that are members of the CCCU that identify as Christian institutions. Piper believed that this issue called for a decision, and not a dialogue, and he told her so. What the Bible says about homosexuality is unmistakably clear in the Bible. Piper withdrew OKWU from the CCCU along with only a handful of other Christian colleges. Unfortunately, my own alma mater, Biola University in La Mirada, California remained in the CCCU. More about Biola later.

How Two Christian Universities Have Responded to BLM

The Christian Post posted an article on August 20^th of this year about Southern Evangelical Seminary (SES) who responded to the BLM movement by saying that “Some professing Christians throughout the church’s history have attempted to hijack the Gospel message for racist causes,” the statement begins. SES continued that while it affirms that “black lives matter” as a subset of “all human lives are sacred,” it “must separate itself emphatically from the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement which espouses beliefs that are antithetical to basic foundational tenets of the Christian faith.” The statement goes on to explain why one should separate themselves from BLM. You can read the SES statement here.

Another Christian University that has not wavered on scripture when it comes to CRT is Hillsdale College. Their president had a powerful message for those who wanted him to “Make a statement” on their stance on racism. On Sunday, July 12^th, The Washington Times published an article written by my friend Dr. Everett Piper, entitled, “Hillsdale College Stands Out For Its Courage In Face of Liberal Onslaught.”

Here is an excerpt from Hillsdale’s statement, which Piper included in his article. You can read Piper’s full article here.

“Amidst the events of recent weeks, a number of alumni and others have taken up formal and public means to       insist that Hillsdale College issue statements concerning Black Lives Matter. “[We are] told that failure                      to issue [such] statements is … an abandonment of principle. “Well, Hillsdale College’s founding is a statement … “[Our] curriculum is a statement, especially in its faithful presentation of the College’s founding mission. “[Our] teaching is a statement, especially as it takes up — with vigor — the evils we are alleged to ignore, evils like murder,  brutality, injustice, destruction of person or property, and passionate irrationality …“Organizing our practical affairs so that we can maintain principles of equity and justice   … is a statement. “Dispensing unparalleled financial help to students who cannot afford even a moderate tuition is a statement. “Helping private and public schools across the country lift their primary and secondary students out of a sea of disadvantages with          excellent instruction, curricula, and the civic principles of freedom and equality —without any recompense to the College— is a statement. “Postgraduate programs with the express aim of advancing the ideas of human dignity,     justice, equality, and the citizen as the source of the government’s power, these are all statements. “And all of these statements are acts, deeds that speak, undertaken and perpetuated now, every day, all the time. Everything this College does … is for the moral and intellectual uplift of all. “There may be something deafening in the culture — certainly there are those who cannot hear — but it is not from the silence of Hillsdale College. “There is a kind of virtue that is cheap. It consists of jumping on cost-free bandwagons of public feeling and winning approval by espousing the right opinion … “The fact that very real racial problems are now being cynically exploited for profit,        gain, and public favor by some organizations and people is impossible to overlook. “It is a scandal and a shame that compounds our ills and impedes their correction. Hillsdale      College, though far from perfect, will continue to do the work of education in the great principles that are, second only to divine grace, the solution to the grave ills that beset our times.”[8]

Now that my friends, is a statement! This university president responded to BLM by saying that what they had done on their campus for the students was enough. I would go so far as to say that I believe that is the way that all Christian universities should respond to BLM and CRT adherents. Sadly, they don’t. It is easier to ride the fence than take a stand. Some college presidents think that it doesn’t profit them in any way to take a stand, so they remain silent. What they don’t realize, is that their silence is in itself taking a stand.

My Experience With Biola

There are few families that can say they have been as involved with Biola University as mine. Our boys attended Biola University, and I watched it change their lives for the better. John and I served on the President’s Campaign Cabinet for a number of years throughout the duration of the campaign to help raise dollars for Biola’s new science building, dorms, and student scholarships. We even had a Capital Campaign dinner at our home. We have traveled with the president, and board of trustees. I traveled with the president’s wife and other board member’s wives to Indonesia in 2016. We are donors as well. Last but certainly not least, John and I spent three years driving to Biola twice a week to earn our Master of Arts degree in Christian Apologetics (MACA). That was one of the best decisions I have ever made. We learned so much. We both graduated in December of 2016. That changed our lives forever. To say we’ve been involved with Biola would be an understatement. We have been the biggest cheerleaders for Biola over the last twelve years because we have seen how Biola has taught about God’s role in every part of one’s life. From business to science. We have encouraged countless students to attend Biola and have even contributed to the tuition of some of them to make it possible for them to attend. There should be no doubt that we have been “all in” when it comes to Biola. I say all of this because I want the reader to understand that I am writing this from the perspective of someone who deeply loves and appreciates Biola University.

Biola has been one of the great hopes for conservative Christians for the future because it has a wide group of very well respected and distinguished faculty who are making a great difference in the lives of its graduates. But all of this assumes that Biola will continue faithfully to pursue its mission in a Biblically sound, and orthodox kind of way.

For the last few years, I have been made aware through various faculty and other contacts in the University of some extremely troublesome things that are happening at Biola. It is for this reason that I write this as an alert to all of you who care about Biola, whether you’re a student, alumni, faculty, donor, parent, potential parent, or just a supporter of Biola, so that if you feel led, you can address the problem, contact the president’s office, and strongly request that action be taken to stop the false ideology that is permeating the campus. Again, in no way am I trying to hurt or impede Biola as an institution. Quite the opposite. However, I do not want to lose the school to a heretical worldview that is spreading across the campus, and has been for several years now. That is why it breaks my heart to tell you that Biola University, in La Mirada, California, is sadly, another example of a Christian university whose leadership has not only allowed conformity to the new religion of Critical Race Theory, but has actively promoted it.

How CRT Infiltrates Universities

The telos of a college will be either truth, or social justice. You can’t have both.  Jonathan Haidt explains this concept well in a talk he did at Duke University. The leadership at Biola has implemented a new telos over the course of the last few years. This has been seen through their public and internal communication, administrative hires and fires, campus campaigns and guest speakers.

There has definitely been a pattern of attempted Christian university coups by left-wingers across the country. A pattern of stealth take-overs of conservative institutions by shadowy leftists through dissimulation, plotting, and Machiavellian craftiness.[9] The takeover culture is more insidious than the cancel culture. American Thinker author, Robert Lopez contends,

“Today, leftists don’t like to build. It’s too much work. It’s not even that they want to destroy, either. That would be too much work. They would have to build up their side after destroying their opponents’ infrastructure. By infiltration, the left gets a double-jackpot. Right wing institutions have assets, personnel, and money. Leftists steal valuable resources from the right to use for their own agenda. Their conservative enemies lose access to their own resources, leaving them with no supplies for their potential battles……The left needs to preserve the operational integrity of the conservative institution. They have to hide how much they’re changing its mission. They can’t attack constituents who donate their time and money to it. Instead of arguing ideology, they use personal vendettas to smear an executive (or in this case faculty), and create a leadership vacuum. That way, they can nonchalantly install leadership beholden to them.”[10]

Back to Biola

Things really accelerated when the current provost came to Biola. When the former provost was fired around 2016, or 2017, Deborah Taylor was hired as an interim provost. Then she was elevated to the position of permanent provost. Taylor’s dissertation is an open statement that targets white faculty as the problem in Christian universities, preventing such institutions from achieving some utopian level of diversity. Throughout her dissertation,  Dr. Taylor appeals to “white privilege” and the need to take white evangelical faculty through a re-education that includes a second conversion, or epiphany, of realizing they are racist. She has sought to implement policy initiatives that advance this agenda, with the full backing of President Corey. The title of her dissertation is, Factors that Motivate Faculty in Christian Postsecondary Institutions to Adapt Their Behavior and Pedagogy to Become More Culturally Competent. Here is a quote from the very beginning of her dissertation,

“The purpose of this study was to identify factors that lead faculty at predominantly white evangelical Christian universities to desire training in pedagogical strategies that would increase their effectiveness with students of color. While the number of students from ethnically diverse backgrounds is increasing at postsecondary institutions, the professoriate continues to reflect a predominantly White faculty….. The overarching implication of this study is that Christian institutions must be more deliberate about researching and articulating a clearer biblical foundation for diversity initiatives… it is important to equip college students with the appropriate cultural competency skills to navigate and thrive in culturally diverse environments of the 21st century…,  faculty members play a critical role in this process which underscores the need for faculty to develop a culturally relevant pedagogy… the teaching profession continues to reflect a predominantly White faculty… discussions about multiculturalism and cultural competency have traditionally been met with a significant degree of resistance from White faculty…. this is related to the inevitable discomfort of confronting white privilege and examining white identity development… White faculty must be willing to wrestle with subtle inequalities ingrained within societal institutions that favor the dominant culture.”

This is just from the first few pages. The rest of her 266 page dissertation is more of the same. Deborah Taylor is completely sold out to the woke culture, and she is hiring the Biola faculty accordingly. She would fit in better as a provost at a secular university, and not a Christian one.

The Danny Paschall lawsuit (Paschall v. Biola, Orange County Case #30-2016-00886440-CU-WT-CJC) presents an active effort behind the scenes that overtly communicates an adherence to this new telos of radical diversity and inclusion and reverse discrimination, and is an example of the kind of change that took place after Deborah Taylor was hired. What happened to Danny Paschall at Biola? Paschall was being groomed for the position of V.P. of Student Development at Biola University. This promotion would have been the culmination of twenty years of hard work. But there were hoops that Paschall needed to jump through before he could earn that title. He needed to endure a year-long review process, and enroll in a doctoral program. Check. He did both. But then the powers that be, told him that he needed to hire only minorities, preferably women, and disregard better-qualified candidates, especially if they were white men. Paschall had a problem with this, and when he told his superiors that was wrong, and he wouldn’t do it, he was fired. Paschall sued Biola, and Biola ended up settling the case. But the weight of the allegations is deeply concerning. Here is Danny’s legal complaint. World News Daily (WND) even wrote a story about Danny’s lawsuit against Biola. You can read their article here.

Reverse discrimination, as expressed in the Paschall complaint mentioned above, has been practiced openly and overtly within Biola University’s community. ​There is even a Chief Diversity Officer at Biola. Why is that even necessary? Shouldn’t people be hired on the basis of their qualifications? Not by their skin color? Isn’t that reverse discrimination? Here is another example of Biola’s new focus on Social Justice.

When during the  Love No Matter What conference, guest speaker Christena Cleveland from Duke University and President Corey fielded questions from the audience and discussed the need for white males to give up their leadership positions at Christian institutions. Dr. Corey assured Dr. Cleveland that Biola was “moving in a good direction” and “progress is being made.” Cleveland also urged students to accept the views of Black Lives Matter.

Biola has experienced a decrease in enrollment over the last few years has been attributed to demographics. However, the talk on the street is that a growing number of parents will no longer be sending their children to Biola  because of the radical ideology they are seeing coming from the university. Many conservative professors are very concerned about the direction in which they see Biola heading. Alumni and donors are concerned as well.

There are many other examples I could provide but the length of this article does not permit the inclusion. The reality is that it is just not practical to send one’s undergrad student to Biola, or any Christian institution that has the telos of Social Justice, when the cost is $45k + per year, for that student to get an education in social justice, and Neo-Marxism. They can go to a state university and get that same teaching for much less money. At least they would know from the beginning that their Christian student is at a secular campus, and they can prepare them for that. But when one sends a student to a Christian college, one expects their child to be taught the Bible’s definition of social justice, and not the culture’s. BIOLA is an acronym for the Bible Institute Of Los Angeles. Biblical truth is expected to be advocated there, not the culture’s subjective opinion.

I will say that the Talbot School of Theology (the seminary) at Biola is solid, and so is their Apologetics department. I took seminary classes there myself, and saw no indication of heresy in their teachings whatsoever. It is really only some of their undergraduate departments that are turning out liberal students.

What is Happening Now at Biola

Fast forward to June of 2020. In the wake of the George Floyd Murder, a petition was generated by some alumni from Biola who were not happy with the way Barry Corey responded to the death of George Floyd in his June 4^th statement. They claimed it was too little, too late.

“We are a group of predominantly white or white-passing alumni, which means that we do not fully represent the diversity that the University should strive to see in their alumni body. However, as a product of Biola, we have a collective moral responsibility to current and future students to speak up about the University’s response to the grievous murder of George Floyd and the resulting protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

While we are glad that Biola has officially taken a public position, we believe it is inexcusable — particularly given Biola’s history of inadequately addressing racist incidents on campus — for the University to have taken nine days to reach out to its diverse student body with a message of solidarity.” 

So, they sent a petition to Biola to address their concerns. They called their petition BASIS, and it made some demands on president Barry Corey that would appease the goals of the BLM movement. In my opinion, it reads like a ransom letter. Here is the BASIS petition. Before Barry Corey ever saw it, the petition was made public and put on change.org. According to the authors of this petition who posted this petition on their Twitter page, Barry Corey responded to this petition the very next day. Here is the response Barry Corey gave on June 10^th,  that the Basis writers claim was the response to their petition. In it, is the plan to re-educate all faculty, staff, and Board of Trustee members on “diversity and justice,” among other plans that are already in place. Diversity, as evidenced in the Paschall case above, is the new focus at Biola. Here is Biola’s Strategic Diversity Plan.

Some of us more conservative alumni who understand that the BLM movement has Marxist roots (and therefore atheist ideology), and is undergirded by Critical Race Theory (CRT), decided to write our own petition. Our desire was to come along side president Barry Corey, and the Board of Trustees to unveil what CRT is all about, and to urge him to rid the university of this heretical ideology and the outworking of it that has been put into place already on campus, and has been in place for some time. We also asked him to publicly denounce CRT. Our petition is called BASE, and it also went public (If you click on the link provided, you can see all of the correspondence updates between Dr. Barry Corey and our team).

In Dr. Corey’s defense, he just spoke at the Convocation for the fall 2020 semester, where he did make a distinction between one who says that black lives matter, and the organization Black Lives Matter (BLM), and he clarified that the “underlying principles” of BLM are “clearly at odds” with Biola’s “public theological statements.” That was a move in the right direction. But there’s still work to do there. Why does Biola still need a diversity officer? Her purpose is more akin to one titled, Reverse discrimination enforcer. Didn’t Biola learn anything from the Paschall case? Also, why is Taylor still there? Biola needs to do some hyper-vetting of their incoming faculty in terms of dissertation review. As Deborah Taylor’s dissertation proves, one can learn a lot about another’s ideology by reading their dissertation.

What Is At Stake

This new CRT movement is ruining young minds, by teaching them that their identity is in their skin color, and their cultural status, rather than one’s identity being rooted in their identity in Christ. It’s teaching young minds that redemption is in social change, and a repaired legal system, and that whites can never be redeemed, rather than our redemption being completely fulfilled in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.

My prayer is for the presidents of all the Christian universities—that they will remain in the truth, and not be swept up by this politically corrupt culture, acquiescing to a movement that is straight from the pit of hell. The minds of young people are at stake. This is about the students. They are our future leaders. As my friend Greg Koukl always says, “The most important generation is the next one.” We need to preserve their minds, because the head informs the heart.

Finally, How To Spot A False Christian College

To conclude, I will include some thoughts of my own and also from my friend Dr. Everett Piper, who is the retired president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University (OKWU). This list is aimed at parents and students who are looking for a Christian University and will tell you how to spot a false Christian college and how to find the few that are still strong and true.

My Thoughts

1. Do your homework on colleges that say they are “Christ-centered.” Any Christian school will claim this. But you must do your own homework. Knowing what I know now, I would be very bold about going to the campus, and finding where the students hang out, like the coffee shop or food venues. Ask them if you could talk with them for a few minutes, then ask them what is being taught in terms of why Jesus came. I would also ask the students what social media site the students use to communicate the happenings on that campus and visit it. See what they’re saying about it. Sit in on a theology class and hear for yourself what is being taught.
2. It’s highly possible that any college that is willing to get further in bed with the federal or state government via loans and grants is sooner or later going to compromise its mission to keep those funds, and there may be rationalizations and justifications but history doesn’t lie. Those schools that have had the courage to say no to this money still stand firm. Those who haven’t, could fall. If the college seems solid in other ways, then find out what percentage of their student body is dependent on federal loans and grants. While at Biola, I found out that 85% of their students were funded by government loans and grants. That is not a good place to be. If the federal government tweaks their regulations on which institutions, or students can receive their funds, and in doing so, force schools to comply with regulations that are no consistent with a Christian worldview, now that schools mission statement is compromised, and they and the students are in big trouble financially if they don’t comply. With all this in mind, I believe it is better for a college to be financially independent. But if the college is federally funded, find out what percentage of their students depend on federal loans or grants.
3. It is vital for colleges to teach apologetics to their students. Seventy to eighty percent of freshman students who claim to be Christian will walk away from their faith in the first year of college, or the first semester. Especially at a secular school. They will come home and say, “Mom and dad, I don’t believe in God anymore” because they have been attacked by other non-believing students or professors who have challenged their worldview, and they have no idea how to answer those questions because they have no apologetics training. They don’t know that there really are good answers to others questions, or objections. Piper contends that “Schools that lack enthusiasm for Biblical apologetics, or don’t have a robust curriculum in Christian orthodoxy, what it is and how to define and defend it”, will produce students who will not be able to defend against bad ideas. They have to know why they believe what they believe. The Bible stories they learned in Sunday school about Noah and his ark, and Jonah and the great fish won’t do them a bit of good  the minute they set foot on a college campus. Start training your kids in apologetics when they’re small. My friend Natasha Crain is an author who writes books about how to prepare children for the tough questions that will come their way in college and adulthood. Check out her website. In addition, there is an organization called Ratio Christi (Reason for Christ) that teaches apologetics to students on college campuses all over the world. Have your student see if there is a chapter at the college they are considering.

Thoughts from Everett Piper

1. Colleges that emphasize their denominational affiliation as much or more than the Bible. Any time a college keeps referencing its denominational stance on current social, economic, moral and political issues, run! This school is choosing to follow rather than lead. It will always pivot away from scripture at the point of conflict with its sponsoring church.
2. Colleges that use the language, “social justice.” Justice is defined by the Bible not by society. Any college president or faculty that talks about social justice rather than biblical justice has already imbibed the Kool Aid of political correctness and popularity. Walk away!
3. Colleges that talk about having a “conversation” about abortion, homosexuality, gay marriage etc. The Bible is clear that we’re to confront and confess sin. We aren’t supposed to sit around and have a “conversation” about it. Any college that doesn’t understand this is being led by culture rather than the other way around. Run!
4. Colleges that say they don’t want to have speakers on “political” issues like LGBTQ, traditional marriage, global warming/climate change, and pro-life. If these college presidents and faculty don’t understand that these are moral issues and not “political” you don’t want these people teaching you or your children. Walk away!
5. Colleges that distance themselves from capitalism and free enterprise and constitutional liberty. If they don’t champion these things front and center in their curriculum and mission statement it screams compromise rather than courage. Run!
6. Colleges that talk more about America’s “sins” rather than its brilliance and success. Any president or faculty that pays any homage to BLM, or the like, should receive nothing but your disapproval and disdain. Such a College is lost in the PC fog and if your kids go there they will be too. Walk away!
7. Colleges that deemphasize truth and emphasize grace. This is wrong on two fronts. First, pursuing what’s True, is THE singular reason to go to school in the first place. If this isn’t the college’s unqualified mission you are wasting your money! Second, this post-modern emphasis on “grace” is almost always an unbiblical compromise of the very definition of the term. Biblical grace is God’s unmerited favor. It is not merely being “gracious” or kind. A school that doesn’t understand this has lost its very reason to exist. It has lost its savor” – it’s saltiness – and it will be thrown out and trampled underfoot by a culture that considers it irrelevant. Run!

As a Christian apologist, I speak to a national audience about truth. Truth is everything. People make life altering decisions based on what they think is true. As Piper explained above, truth is the reason why students go to college, and go into debt. Let’s not give them a degree in the culture’s opinion. Let’s award degrees based on learned truth. God’s truth. Not man’s truth.

[1]           Richard Delgado, and Jean Stefancic, Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, (New York, New York, New York University Press 2001)  2-3.

[2]                Delgado and Stefancic, Critical Race Theory, 7

[3]                Owen Strachan, Critical Race Theory: Four Problems with CRT (Part 3), Pathos.com, Jan. 28^th 2020, Accessed Aug. 4, 2020. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/thoughtlife/2020/01/critical-race-theory-four-problems-with-crt-part-3/

 

[4]                Owen Strachan, Critical Race Theory: Four Problems with CRT (Part 3), Pathos.com, Jan. 28^th 2020, Accessed Aug. 4, 2020.

 

[5]           Kira Dault, What is Liberation Theology?, U.S. Catholic, October 14, 2014, Accessed Aug. 28, 2020. https://uscatholic.org/articles/201410/what-is-liberation-theology/.

[6]                Dr. Everett Piper, Not A Day Care: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth, (Washington DC, Regnery Faith Publishing, 2017), 53.

[7]                Dr. Everett Piper, Not A Day Care: The Devastating Consequences of Abandoning Truth, 50.

[8]           Dr. Everett Piper, Hillsdale College Stands Out For Its Courage In Face of Liberal Onslaught, The Washington Times, July 12^th, 2020, accessed August 31^st, 2020. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/12/hillsdale-college-stands-out-for-its-courage-in-fa/?fbclid=IwAR0kd9D8EXbkCQkY0PFcpz6U2XCJTVUeDunkBgz7VpjmiM_hjp7B8Rl4LVU.

 

[9]                Lopez, Robert Oscar. 2020. “Et Tu Falwell? The Left’s Playbook at Liberty U.” American Thinker, August 13, 2020. Accessed August 14, 2020.  https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/08.

[10]              Lopez, Robert Oscar. 2020. “Et Tu Falwell? The Left’s Playbook at Liberty U.”