Why Christianity Lost The Race Debate: Finding The Real Racists

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In 2019, a self-described Christian conservative, Owen Strachan, published a book titled: “Reenchanting Humanity: A Theology Of Mankind.” Citing an online forum with sociologist Dalton Conley, the author described race as a social construct based on skin color. “The concept of race,” he claimed, “…is relatively recent and has a troubled heritage, as it was used to separate blacks from whites in America and justify slavery.” Mirroring the arguments of critical race theorists, Owen Strachan continues to flesh out his argument – that all of humanity is of a unitary race.

“There are not essential biological differences between people of varying skin pigmentation, though some still divide humanity along these lines.”

Owen Strachan, “Reenchanting Humanity” – p.219

Besides being self-contradictory, Strachan’s explanation of race left much to be desired. All at the same time, Strachan insists that we are a shared human race, that it does not exist, and that it is a social construct. How this particular amalgamation of theories is held together remains to be seen. In 2021, Strachan published his anti-woke treatise: “Christianity and Wokeness.” Before he finishes the first chapter, Owen admits that he agrees with a key tenet of critical race theory (CRT).

“On this point, ironically, I agree with CRT advocates, much as many of them state that race is a social construct, but then practically operate in many senses as if it is real.”

Owen Strachan, “Christianity and Wokeness” – p.27 (footnote)

In short, Strachan finds himself agreeing with a core premise of the radical Leftist movement known as CRT. He further clarifies that he only really disagrees with Critical Race theorists insofar as they appear to contradict their own assumptions. Owen appears to have completely bought into the Leftist conception of race. In his view, CRT too often acts as if race is real: creating a self-contradiction. Pointing out this inconsistency quickly became the basis of racial discourse for evangelicalism. By the time we reach chapter three, Owen makes it perfectly clear: those who believe in any theory that makes race a reality are to be condemned.

“The very concept of race, in fact, is man-made. […] Racial theory, in fact, owes to genuine racists, who made it up to exalt themselves and justify their evil partiality.”

Owen Strachan, “Christianity and Wokeness” – p.59

In a bizarre twist, the evangelical discourse on race had become a battle to defend Leftism. The CRT tenet, “Race is a social construct,” had somehow become the default conservative position, and evangelicals such as Strachan went to great lengths to defend it. Touting conservative signers such as Owen Strachan, Paul Washer, Allie Beth Stuckey, and John MacArthur, “The Statement on Social Justice” further solidifies the concept of race as a social construct.1Excerpt: “WE AFFIRM God made all people from one man. Though people often can be distinguished by different ethnicities and nationalities, they are ontological equals before God in both creation and redemption. ‘Race’ is not a biblical category, but rather a social construct that often has been used to classify groups of people in terms of inferiority and superiority.” https://statementonsocialjustice.com/ Though a few conservative Christians realized what had happened, many of them continue to rally behind this core dogma of CRT, even today.

Francis Collins Enters The Scene

Throughout history, Christians have always needed to reckon their faith with the world around them. There are many times when theology, the study of God, meets science, the study of the natural world. This particular intersection of disciplines has been a point of great contention in today’s world. As far as evangelicals are concerned, many of these consolidation attempts have been downright atrocious.

Francis Collins, a notorious name in these circles, put himself on the map with a book. Titled “The Language Of God,” the book presented a case for theistic evolution, or, in Collins’ words, BioLogos. Three years later, Francis went on to found the website resource BioLogos. By the end of the year, the first BioLogos conference was hosted in New York by none other than the late Tim Keller. By 2020, Francis Collins’s influence as an evangelical was unquestionable as he managed to flood the Christian community with propaganda for the COVID-19 vaccine.2https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-federal-government-used-evangelical-leaders-to-spread-covid-propaganda-to-churches

In the science community, Francis was primarily known for his work on the human genome project. Replacing James Watson, the legendary co-discoverer of the double-helix structure, Collins led the project for the next 15 years in an attempt to sequence human DNA completely. In 2009, he was nominated for NIH director by Barack Obama. At the NIH, Collins’s career quickly became a series of diversity initiatives. By 2021, the NIH supported more than 60 diversity and inclusion initiatives.3https://manhattan.institute/article/the-nihs-diversity-obsession-subverts-science Collins did it all. Some days, you could find him apologizing for structural racism. The next day, he would refuse to participate in male-only panels.4https://cen.acs.org/policy/research-funding/Francis-Collins-diversity-politics-legacy/100/i6 Collins was as progressive as they come.

But the DEI nightmare at the NIH was not an accident, for Collins had been laying the groundwork for quite some time. The diversity debacle would not have been possible without his strong commitment to evolution.

The Common Ancestor

While mapping the human genome, Francis Collins experienced a number of personal revelations, some of them spiritual, some of them academic. A firm believer in the theory of evolution, he quickly noticed that each individual person shared a 99.9% similarity in our DNA. He also noticed that human and chimp DNA was 96% identical. Based on these findings, there was no doubt in his mind: chimps and humans were relatives with a common ancestor. Throughout the entire project, Collins found that he was unable to see the data without the lense of evolution guiding him. “Truly it can be said,” he writes, “that not only biology but medicine would be impossible to understand without the theory of evolution.”5Francis Collins, “The Language of God” – p. 133

As the director of the Human Genome Project (HGP), Collins was fascinated with DNA. From genetic inheritance to evolution itself, it seemed as if everything could be explained by the human genome. So when the sequencing project finally concluded, scientists believed the question of race had finally been put to rest. To Collins, race was merely an “imperfect proxy” for a larger issue. As the National Human Genome Research Institute convened its roundtable on race, Francis concluded that scientists need to “move beyond these weak surrogate relationships.”6https://www.nature.com/articles/ng1436Despite the obvious biological component, the director of the HGP had almost entirely relegated race to a social phenomenon. For all intents and purposes, it seemed as if humanity could finally move beyond race. In the words of race scholar and sociologist Dorothy Roberts:

“…there are no biological races in the human species. Period. That conclusion was confirmed by the most ambitious research project on human biology yet undertaken, the Human Genome Project. A mountain of evidence assembled by historians, anthropologists, and biologists proves that race is not and cannot possibly be a natural division of human beings.”

Dorothy Roberts, “Fatal Invention” – 2011

In many ways, evangelicals like Owen Strachan were merely late to the party. Scientists had already concluded that race was merely a social construct, and, unlike evangelicals, they were ready to act on it. When James Watson, the former director of HGP, suggested that race and IQ were correlated, he was immediately forced to retire. Race realism wasn’t allowed in biology anymore because race was a social issue. The following week, Francis Collins issued a statement on behalf of the National Human Genome Research Institute, assuring the public that the “profoundly offensive” remarks were not supported by science.7https://www.genome.gov/26023457/2007-release-collins-statement-on-the-retirement-of-james-watson

At the time, most evangelicals simply did not understand why evolutionists would be opposed to racism. Many conservative Christians were familiar with Darwinism and the concept of survival of the fittest. In this view, evolutionists were seen as the real racists, as race-based eugenics was the almost inevitable conclusion for any evolutionist. But with the emergence of Francis Collins, it seemed as if this entire paradigm had reversed overnight. With this new emphasis, evolutionists were more vehemently opposed to racism than Christians were! But why would a theistic evolutionist be so strongly opposed to racism? While the answer wasn’t as clear at the time, current resources from the BioLogos organization are able to better explain this aversion.

BioLogos vs The Gospel Coalition

In 2017, The Gospel Coalition produced a video showcasing a discussion on the non-negotiable beliefs of Christianity as it relates to creation. Featuring Tim Keller, Russell Moore, and Ligon Duncan, the discussion was lively and wide-ranging in scope. At one point, however, all three speakers agreed that the Christians’ universal denouncement of racism was tied to the fact that Adam and Eve were the ancestors of all humanity. They denounced racial animosity and mocked the idea that some humans were ancestrally closer to monkeys. To them, it seemed as if this particular argument could have been pulled straight out of a racist’s playbook. But after seeing this argument, BioLogos chose to respond to the video’s claims in an attempt to set the record straight.

“Our final concern is about several statements in the video tying racial equality and reconciliation to belief in special creation of Adam and Eve. These statements claim that an evolutionary understanding of human origins is at odds with the equality of all people taught in Scripture. But the genomic evidence actually points toward equality! Genetics provides compelling support for the idea that every person on Earth is related, as part of a worldwide family.”

Deborah Haarsma, president of BioLogos, “”Essentials of Creation: A Response to The Gospel Coalition” – September 12, 20178https://biologos.org/articles/essentials-of-creation-a-response-to-the-gospel-coalition

Simply put, evolution is not at odds with “one-human-race” rhetoric. In fact, one could say that downplaying the genetic differences between humans is of primary importance to the theistic evolutionists, as much of their theory relies on the fact that human and chimp DNA is not so different. To win the battle of rhetoric, evolutionists had to focus on ancestral commonalities.

“At BioLogos, we are persuaded by the scientific evidence that Homo sapiens evolved, arising about 200,000 years ago and sharing common ancestors with all other life on Earth. Furthermore, it increasingly appears that the genetic diversity among humans today could not have come from just two Homo sapiens individuals, but a population of thousands.”

BioLogos, “Were Adam and Eve Historical Figures?” – Last updated on November 20, 20239https://biologos.org/common-questions/were-adam-and-eve-historical-figures

While evolutionists of the past were inclined to emphasize the differences in humanity, evolutionists of today emphasize the similarities of humanity (and other species). So when responding to racists, theistic evolutionists like Francis Collins and young earth creationists like Owen Strachan, both point to a common ancestor. Owen points to Adam, the father of all humanity, the first human male created by God. Francis, on the other hand, points to a different sort of ancestor, a mysterious life-form from millions of years ago that miraculously procreated in order to beget all life on earth. In both approaches, a person who merely suggests that race has a biological component is labeled a racist and subsequently canceled.

This overt ancestral emphasis only leads to one conclusion: that race is a social construct.

Conclusion

To be clear, Adam’s role as father of all mankind is undoubtedly true. The idea that mankind is a common species is also unquestionably true. The church universal has consistently affirmed both points on humanity’s common origin.

“Have all mankind had a common origin? and have they a common nature? Are they all descended from one pair, and do they constitute one species? These questions are answered affirmatively in the Bible and by the Church universal.

Charles Hodge

And yet, Christians who also wanted to acknowledge the biological reality of race were quickly running out of space. Men like Collins purged them from the scientific community, while men like Strachan purged them from the church. The pressure was mounting. To be a part of the community, you had to do two things: 1) deny our differing lineages and 2) affirm our societal realities. These assertions became the lynchpin of globalism and almost single-handedly became the doctrine of liberalism. The unification of humanity, the evolution of society – as long as the evolutionists could define race, it was their vision at the helm. Even well-intentioned churches became a tool for the regime as they battled racial conflicts with evolutionist rhetoric.

As the PCUSA so boldly affirmed in 2016: “…God has connected all life on Earth in a network of kinship by virtue of biological evolution from common ancestors;”10https://ncse.ngo/presbyterian-church-usa

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One response to “Why Christianity Lost The Race Debate: Finding The Real Racists”

  1. Stephen Avatar
    Stephen

    Some interesting points made. CRT is so disgusting.

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