Tyranny in disguise: Critical race theory in America’s schools is a threat to religious liberty
Leftist activists are going into overdrive to indoctrinate young minds and infiltrate America’s schools with their “woke” political ideology.
Headlines today are replete with examples of school districts shaping their curricula around critical race theory (CRT) — a dangerous academic concept that teaches that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in our country’s legal systems and policies.
Parents have responded by showing up en masse at local school board meetings, expressing not just slight disapproval of CRT, but strongly repudiating it being taught in the classroom.
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What is it about CRT that’s driving people of faith, parents, students and even teachers nationwide to reject this radical ideology?
To prepare parents and students for back-to-school season, we’re exposing why CRT is a threat to religious liberty in America’s schools — and why this Marxist political philosophy rooted in raw government power will take our country one step closer to tyranny.
CRT’s vision for “better” education: Promoting intolerance
CRT’s proponents dress it up with a bow, calling it a discussion on race relations, justice and “equality.” But a deeper look reveals that CRT is really authoritarianism, intolerance and censorship in disguise.
As its name suggests, CRT glorifies criticism, specifically radical critiques to dismantle key pillars in American society — including the Church, the system of law, the U.S. Constitution, individual rights, private property, and other essential liberties.
By mandating CRT in the classroom, students would be forced to view every institution in our country as an instrument of racial oppression.
But the reality is that millions of parents and students (many of them with strong religious beliefs) do not see institutions (including houses of worship) as tools of oppression.
However, any who oppose the CRT narrative and have a positive view of America’s institutions are quickly shunned to the sidelines, censored, or even violently cast out for speaking according to their religious convictions. (See thorough research conducted by the Heritage Foundation of CRT opponents being shut down, time after time on college campuses.)
If you exercise your right to free speech and religious expression to criticize CRT (a phrase dripping with irony), then you’re blamed as being “part of the problem,” an accomplice that perpetuates the so-called oppressive power structures.
Bottom line, the CRT curriculum can only exist through intolerance. It takes a play straight from the totalitarian playbook that’s been used for decades, if not centuries, by tyrants to consolidate power: Crush dissent and destroy the institutions (churches, religious groups) that pose the greatest challenge to the rule of a select elite.
The lie of identity politics: Government becoming God
Beyond intolerance, CRT reimagines a view of human dignity based on identity politics, striking the very heart of America’s constitutional structure.
Instead of the eternal truth that human rights and liberties are God-given, the CRT curriculum paints a world in which your first and primary identity is grounded on sex, race, national origin, or gender — each with specific claims on victimization.
This is perhaps the most destructive element of CRT because it attacks the idea of rights itself, the very concept upon which this country was founded.
In other words, CRT throws the Constitution out the window. There’s no value in upholding citizens’ rights and liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights because those rights must be ripped away and suppressed in order to protect the marginalized.
If our school materials, history books and educators teach this radical racial victimhood, then the next question must be: Who assigns victim status? Who decides if you are the oppressed and the marginalized?
The short answer, of course, is: The party or the person who controls political power.
In an America dominated by CRT, God would not be the ultimate source of your freedom and rights. It’s up to the ruling political elite to decide what liberties "we the people" can have, depending on what they think is necessary to shield the victimized.
Get them while they’re young and bend their minds
The push for CRT in K-12 education should not come as a surprise, but it is nonetheless serious and deeply alarming for the future of our country. History shows that one of the most effective tactics to wrangling and retaining political power is to “get them while they’re young.” Vladimir Lenin — the Russian socialist and totalitarian revolutionary — summarized it best himself:
“Give me your four year-olds and in a generation I will build a socialist state … Give me just one generation of youth, and I’ll transform the whole world.”
Parents and students already face daunting challenges from education officials who’ve embraced “wokeism” in recent years, leading to an unprecedented wave of legal attacks and violations of their religious freedom.
And with CRT curricula possibly emerging as a new battlefront for our "First Freedom," this is a time to be vigilant of those pursuing political ideology at the expense of our constitutional rights.
If you are a person of faith, a parent, student or teacher whose religious liberty rights have been violated, contact First Liberty immediately for legal assistance — our legal team stands ready to defend your First Freedom.
Originally published at First Liberty.
Jorge Gomez is the Content Strategist and Senior Writer for First Liberty Institute. He has previously worked as a communications and messaging strategist for faith-based nonprofits and conservative policy organizations. He holds a degree in political science from the University of Central Florida and a master’s degree in public policy from Liberty University.
