CHICAGO — A Black scholar and ministry leader from the Chicago area, with links to civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, has slammed the controversial critical race theory as "a doctrine of demons."
Freedom's Journal Institute Founder and President Dr. Eric Wallace — the first African American to earn a Ph.D. in Biblical studies from Union-PSCE (Now Union Presbyterian Seminary) — discussed the "evils" of critical race theory (CRT) and its origins at a conference in Virginia in late August.
Critical race theory proponents claim the United States was founded on racism and is systemically racist — painting White people and White Christians as oppressors, and people of color as the oppressed.
CRT is being introduced in churches, public schools and colleges across the nation.
"They try to pervert the civil rights movement and use fear to say, 'anything white is not right,'" said Wallace, one of four ecumenical theologians that spoke at the For God and Country Biblical Worldview Intensive at World Outreach Center. "Their rhetoric has seeped into our churches, declaring a constant war that will not allow harmony," he said. "They will not stop until they have the freedom to do anything they want."
In a speech titled "Doctrine of Demons," based on the biblical passage in 1 Timothy 4, Wallace traced CRT's Marxist origins to the teachings of Antonio Gramsci, a former secretary of the Italian Communist Party. He then addressed modern-day proponents of CRT, including Ibram Xolani Kendi, author of "How to be an Anti-Racist," Eric Mason, author of Woke Church, Latasha Morrison, author of "Be the Bridge," and David French, author of the article,"On Racial Justice Individual Guilt and Institutional Responsibility."
"As people of God, we must stop buying into what the world is selling and allowing the enemy to make our White brothers and sisters feel guilty for the past," Wallace said. "How many times does the Southern Baptist Convention have to apologize?"
American Christians should "learn from our past mistakes" and "move on," he said.
"As Christians, we believe the sin of mankind illustrated in Genesis 3 is responsible for these things — not systemic racism," he said. "We reject the lie that nothing has changed since the 1950s, nor can we forget the White people who fought and died to abolish slavery."
While "forces of evil" are trying to divide the church, Wallace said, there are many Christians who desire to see true racial unity in the church.
"We're saying, 'we rejoice in ethnic diversity, and we love one another… this is my brother or sister from a different culture.'"
