There was a time when overt discrimination against minority groups in America was an accepted standard in certain places and among some demographics. Over the years, many efforts have been made to end that kind of discrimination – efforts that involved executive actions by political leaders, court rulings, and policy decisions by various business and educational institutions.
As the process progressed, and those advocating to end racial discrimination saw massive gains for their cause, they continued to push until, in many places, things started going in the other direction. Where once minority groups were discriminated against, the discrimination started going in the other direction with the implementation of policies such as affirmative action and quotas. People who had higher scores and qualifications were being passed over, and those with lower scores were advanced because of their race.
This trend accelerated further in modern times with the advent of DEI (the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion movement). DEI has its roots in Marxist theory and seeks to categorize various groups in society as either “oppressed” or “oppressor.” The way this is conceived by those who promote it in modern society is that people who are white are considered the oppressors, and “people of color” are the oppressed. This social movement advocates that the current societal situation needs to be changed by brute force through policies that deliberately put white people in a position of disadvantage and the people of color in positions of advantage. The rationale for this is that the wrongs of history need to be righted, and the only way to do it is to make this change.
This approach has actually been codified in some places. Now there are institutions that have implemented programs based on DEI which overtly claim that the entire social, economic, and political structure of the United States is a “white supremacy system.” Activists in these institutions chastise Christians for their “religious privilege” (and even consider Christian privilege to be a result of white supremacy), and promote sexually explicit events because they see traditional morality to be the result of “cis privilege” (the injustice of sexual morality being decided by people who believe there are only two genders – also seen to be a result of white privilege).
Once again, though, things have moved far beyond the realm of ending discrimination. This entire movement is touted by its followers as a way to end discrimination, but in order to do it, the “oppressors” must be put in their place.
While this effort is touted as a way to end discrimination, that is not what it actually does. It actually discriminates in order to end discrimination. Thus, discrimination is not ended, it is simply shifted to a different place.
So if the problem of discrimination actually does exist, which it does, and the Marxist approach is not able to end it, then how do we solve this problem? There is a way to do it, but it requires an entirely different approach – an approach based on an entirely different worldview.
Marxism is based on a naturalistic worldview – the belief that the natural universe, operating by natural laws, is all that exists. It is religiously atheistic, and morally relativistic. There is no objective moral standard it is able to draw upon to determine what is right and wrong. In fact, for Marxist believers, even the idea of discrimination has no objective reason for being considered wrong. They consider it wrong because they identify some group as “oppressed” (with no objective moral reason for doing so). Essentially, certain groups are singled out to receive better treatment (based on how those doing the evaluating feel) while other groups are singled out to be punished. This belief system is incapable of ending discrimination because there can never be a situation where everyone is equal based on the way they define equality.
The belief that is actually capable of ending discrimination is Christian Theism. This is the belief that God actually exists and has revealed Himself and His ways in the Bible. What He has revealed in the Bible is that all of humanity has been created in His image. Thus, every human being is of equal worth to Him. And by extension, the values that are important to God are to be valued by humanity, as well.
Sadly, not everyone values what God values, and throughout history, even during times when Christianity supposedly dominated the culture, many people did not follow the values revealed in the Bible. So, even during those times racial discrimination has been a problem – sometimes even a massive problem. It was not, however, because there was something wrong with the ideal, but because so many people ignored the ideal.
And that is still a problem. As humanity is fallen, sin will always be a problem. But at least with Christian values we have an objective ideal and a philosophy that doesn’t accept discrimination of any kind. If honest, Bible believing people are in charge of society’s various institutions and will not put up with it, racial discrimination could be eliminated rather quickly. Using the Marxist approach, it will never be eliminated because it is part and parcel of the belief itself.
This does not, of course, mean that the results of past discrimination will be immediately remedied. But it does at least mean that the possibility of everyone having the opportunity to reach for their desires in life exists – something that is not true with any other worldview.