Theologian John Piper weighed in on critical race theory, describing it as making a god of oneself, but also cautioned believers not to wrongly place that label on others for voicing their concerns.
In a two-part installment on his Desiring God podcast, the Reformed theologian explained that it’s vital to have honest conversations about racial injustices and not get lost in labels that are assigned as the theory is scrutinized and contested in culture.
Piper said that an African American pastor from Philadelphia he recently spoke with said he had to look up what critical race theory even was after having been told he was a captive to it when he said something needed to change following the death of George Floyd while in police custody.
“I’m being given a label that I don’t really want to be talking about. I want to be talking about the death that is in the street, and the disparities like COVID having a disproportionate impact on people of color. We see these disparities across education, health care, economics. I would rather talk about that. But any time you talk about that in Christian circles, you are given this title [of Critical Race Theory],” the pastor said, as quoted by Piper.
“More energy is being devoted to the tethering of Critical Race Theory to what we are saying than is being devoted to the problem of racism itself,” the pastor said. “The problem is that the church is being brought ethical concerns but responding epistemologically, like asking a man who tells you he is bleeding: “How did you come to that conclusion?”
Piper advised that “Christians should be so careful not to slander a brother with pejorative labels that we go the extra mile to make sure we know whether his actions and statements are really owing to his infection with the lethal aspects of Critical Race Theory or not.”
Yet, the theory deserves criticism because it is fundamentally self-centered, he added.
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SOURCE: Christian Post, Brandon Showalter
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