This stuff simply can’t be made up. The level of incognizance that plagues Al Mohler as he continues his diversion from the issues within his own camp is mind-boggling. It’s as if he’s been in the Twilight Zone for years — or maybe we are.
The Southern Baptist Convention recently adopted a resolution affirming the use of secular worldviews — namely Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality — as “valuable tools” to assess “racial disparity” in our society and churches. These “tools,” rooted in Marxism, are at the core of a progressive, anti-gospel movement that is taking over the denomination.
Mohler? Well, he’s in complete denial.
Today, on Mohler’s The Briefing, he rips apart Critical Race Theory, intersectionality, and ethnic studies programs that are being implemented in public schools in California. Calling California’s new “ethnic studies” curriculum “worse than you think,” Mohler says,
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Now, you might think, in this kind of model curriculum, what you would see would be high school students taught and encouraged to develop a spirit of critical inquiry, critical thinking, to come to their own understandings of these issues, but as we should note, the model curriculum presents only one side. The entire purpose of the curriculum is to serve an agenda of overcoming oppression.
For example, in the section of the model curriculum affirming intersectionality, that concept, which we’ve covered thoroughly on The Briefing, is defined as “capturing how multiple identities, race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, etc. overlap or intersect, creating unique experiences, especially for those navigating multiple marginalized or oppressed identities. Intersectionality,” it states, “helps students better understand the nuances around identity and provides them with skills to be able to engage and advocate for and with communities on the margins of the margins. Finally, further, it helps those with privilege at different intersections recognize their societal advantages in these areas and build solidarity with oppressed groups.”
Rather than a serious engagement with what are undeniably serious moral issues of history and society, what you have here is just a total immersion in critical theory and the most radical ideologies of the left, and what comes with it, of course, are the learning experiences or opportunities.
Of course, he’s exactly right about this. But it’s as if Mohler is completely oblivious to what is going on in his own back yard. He ends the program by blasting the “woke” and “social justice” reading criteria at colleges and universities.
So, you might be asking, “is he talking about Southern Baptist colleges and seminaries?” Well, that’s a fair question. It’s like he’s speaking in code or something. It’s like he wants everyone to know that he’s against this stuff, but doesn’t want anyone to know that it’s Southern Baptists who are doing it.
While Mohler is blasting these anti-gospel social justice movements in secular schools, his colleague, Danny Akin is implementing the exact same thing — ethnic studies. In fact, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, the sister seminary to Mohler’s Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, offers a degree in woke social justice. The program, Justice and Social Ethics, offers a number of courses in wokeness, including,
- ETH 4650 – Ethics of Wealth and Poverty,
- ETH 4660 – Social Justice and Race Relations,
- ETH 4640 – Ethics and Environmental Responsibility, and
- HIS 4631 – Race Relations in America.
What do these courses offer? Well, exactly the same thing Al Mohler just spent a half our criticizing — all while denying, along with Akin, that the Southern Baptist Convention is drifting to the left.
Critical Race Theory and woke theology have taken over the Southern Baptist Convention seminaries, especially Southeastern and Southern. Many of the most outspoken advocates of these movements hold high ranking positions at these elite seminaries. Matthew Hall, provost of Southern Seminary — right under Al Mohler — has completely immersed himself in the movement to the point of pure delusion, calling himself a “racist” who “will continue to struggle with white supremacy the rest of [his] life.” A high ranking professor at Southeastern, Walter Strickland, admits he is influenced by James Cone’s Black Liberation Theology — a heresy that undercuts the gospel and exchanges it for a divisive ideology of “oppressor” vs “oppressed” — and embeds this into his curriculum. And Southeastern, through its “Kingdom Diversity” department, has implemented a number of programs that are rooted in Critical Race Theory, ranging from affirmative action to ethnicity-based scholarships.
All of it is anti-gospel. Al Mohler says he’s against it. Yet, while denying that it’s happening in his own backyard, the movement in the denomination is gaining unstoppable ground. And he’s complaining that it’s happening in public schools?