Pursuing Discernment - Part 3 - How Do People Change? Atheist Marxism vs. Gospel

Karl Marx referred to religion – of all sorts – as “the opiate of the masses.”   Faith of any sort in something beyond the physical world was like a drug that clouded the reality and injustice of our physical world for the oppressed group.  And of course, for Marx and his followers, the physical world is all that there is. (See Note below) Marxism is profoundly atheistic as every Marxist experiment in the 20^th century demonstrates.

I recently had the opportunity to view a presentation by Dr. Robin DiAngelo, author of the best-selling book White Fragility.  Though I’ve not invested the time to read her book, this 20-minute video was a powerful expression of the Marxist underpinnings of the “critical race theory” that is foundational to “BLM-the-organization.”

In classic Marxist fashion, Dr. DiAngelo sweeps religion and faith into the dustbin of irrelevance.  No need to consider it whatsoever.  Beginning at 8:15 in the video, she says:

Universalism says “why can’t we all be the same?”  This is a very popular ideology in religious or faith communities.  I’m not arguing that on a deep, spiritual level we’re not all universally the same.  But we don’t live, if you will, in the spiritual realm.  We live in the physical realm.  And here in the physical realm, we have to ask ourselves, “How does it function to say, “We all bleed under the skin.”  Well, it functions to take race off the table; to take power off of the table.

Less than 30 seconds to be done with “the opiate of the masses” and move on to the “real” setting of the physical world and the “real” issue of power. (See Note below)

As a Gospel-centered believer with a biblical worldview, I recognize that people and reality are more than simply flesh-and-blood.  There is more to reality than meets the eye.  The sin in my broken life that I build into the broken systems of my world are indeed real, but they are not all that is real.  That sin - both personal and structural -  need to be acknowledged and repented of with my life and culture, and then transformed by an "outside-of-me-power" that works in me.  And that is a work of God’s grace, by the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit. 

An example: John Newton was changed from slave ship captain to abolitionist and evangelical pastor.  How did that happen?  The power of God.  He wrote about it in his hymn “Amazing Grace.”  That is how authentic, Gospel-centered spirituality changes a culture.

That authentic Gospel-centered spirituality is what we desperately need in this moment.  God make us a church that equips John Newtons for our time. 

CLICK HERE to see the video.

I’d love to interact with you more on some of these observations, as well as listen to your response.  if you would like to pursue further conversation, then contact me through the church, and let's talk.  I would be anxious to listen and consider, as well as dig deeper with you into my own reading.  Grace Abounding!

Note:

I didn't want to get too deep in the weeds in the body of my post, but specific aspect of Marx's worldview that we are dealing with here is called "dialectical materialism."
From Wikipedia: Dialectical materialism is a philosophy of science and nature developed in Europe and based on the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxist dialectics emphasizes the importance of real-world conditions, in terms of class, labor, and socioeconomic interactions.  .  .  .  The formulation of the Soviet version of dialectical and historical materialism in the 1930s by Joseph Stalin and his associates (such as in Stalin's book Dialectical and Historical Materialism), became the official Soviet interpretation of Marxism.  -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical_materialism

Resources

From TheGospelCoalition.org:  Not White Fragility—Mutual Responsibility   CLICK HERE I find this article to be of particular help: written by an African-American social scientist and professor that I have followed for years.  He writes from a decidedly Gospel-centered perspective as well.  

 I would also recommend this fascinating background from three sources that are hardly "conservative" or "evangelical."

From The Atlantic: The Dehumanizing Condescension of White Fragility - CLICK HERE

From New York Magazine: Is the Anti-Racism Training Industry Just Peddling White Supremacy?  CLICK HERE

From the New York Times: White Fragility Is Everywhere But Does Antiracism Training Work? - CLICK HERE

From TheGospelCoalition.org:  Not White Fragility—Mutual Responsibility   CLICK HERE I find this article to be of particular help: written by an African-American social scientist and professor that I have followed for years.  He writes from a decidedly Gospel-centered perspective as well.