Toward Ecosophy

I'm sure by now that all of you have heard of Critical Race Theory, the ideology -- widespread in the US academic scene these days -- that's been so heavily used of late to justify "woke" violence. I'm not sure if you're aware just how immense an opportunity it offers your denominations. I wasn't aware of this, either, until I read two very thoughtful essays on "woke" ideology by James Lindsay, "No, The Woke Won't Debate You And Here's Why" and "Do Better Than Critical Race Theory."

By academic training I'm a historian of ideas, and what struck me most forcefully on reading these essays is that what Critical Race Theory is offering, without realizing it, is a distorted and incomplete version of your faith. Historical theorist Oswald Spengler pointed out more than a century ago that the secular ideologies of every culture were its religious beliefs with the serial numbers filed off; if he'd known about Critical Race Theory, he'd have cited it as a prime example. 

The basic ideas of Critical Race Theory are that racism is the cause of everything that's wrong with the world, that all light-skinned people are by definition racists, and that all light-skinned people therefore need to fall on their knees, repent their racism, and spend the rest of their lives searching mind and conscience for racist beliefs and ideas so they can atone for the sins they have inherited from their ancestors. Ditch the race-baiting rhetoric that frames the ideology, and replace the word "racism" with that older and more potent word "sin," and see whether you notice anything familiar about the result. 

Of course, being devout Christians, you've already noticed what's missing in the Critical Race Theory version of that story. The Critical Race Theorists have the conviction of sin, they've got the catharsis of repentance...but they can offer no hope of salvation. All they can offer is an endless wallowing in repentance, without the forgiveness of sins, without anyone to take the burden of their sinfulness on himself. That's where you come in, because your faith can offer them that. I don't have to be a member of your faith to know that it meets very real spiritual and emotional needs in many people -- or to recognize that the people who are turning to Critical Race Theory are crying out for what you have to offer, and just don't know that yet. 

With that in mind, could you please find some good old-fashioned fire and brimstone preachers, the kind who can reduce an audience to stark terror at their own sinfulness and the just wrath of God that awaits them, and send them out of their familiar habitats to preach to the woke? If Spengler's right -- and I think he is -- over the next century or so, the various secular ideologies that provide ersatz substitutes for religion will give way to what he calls the Second Religiosity, a return to traditional religious forms.  You might as well start that process now -- and all of us, whatever our religion, will be better off once the wokesters realize that they're mistakenly seeking in the political sphere something that can only be attained in the realms of the spirit. 

Yours sincerely, 
John Michael Greer