Thread by @drantbradley

This @sullydish article is really brilliant! Progressives don’t have a framework to make sense of evil. George Floyd exposed that! They had a meltdown. In their religious search to account for evil, they chose “racism.” White racism is now the root evil. andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/what-happene…

The devil became “racism.” Racism is the root default/only cause of all social issues facing America today. It’s even described as an “original American sin.” People are naturally religious & need metanarratives. If you don’t have one in America, you’ll turn to ideology. Fact.

This happens on the left & the right. Politics, veganism, etc. can all be substitutes for religion. Why else are Yoga instructors referring to yoga classes as “Sunday church?” Sullivan helps us see that social justice is now the sacred religion of the left. It gives life meaning!

This is why the left got *more radical* during the Trump years/after George Floyd. They had no way to account for evil. They identify something that’s good like “fairness” and make a totalizing religious virtue so that if you’re not for it you’re a sinner in need of salvation.

Here’s how it works: (1) What’s evil?: racial disparities/injustice. (2) What’s salvation? Racial $equality. (3) Who will be the Savior?: The government. The bigger the government, the more salvation we experience. “The government will save us from the evil of racism/inequality.”

This is religion! Marches & rallies have become their worship services. Singing, chanting, moments of silence, confession of white guilt, ritualized body movements, motivating speakers, etc. It’s a secular form of a religious service. Progressives need 1950s mainline Protestants!

What critical race theory advocates needs is the work of Reinhold Niebuhr, Paul Tillich, Albert Knudson, Rufus Jones, etc. Niebuhr says progressives, “[attribute] evil to specific historical causes without inquiring how such particular causes could have arisen”(99). Nailed it!

Critical race theory & social justice is the *religious* radicalization of the elite against liberalism. CRT satisfies the deep longing for an evil/salvation story that makes sense of the world & provides a meaning system, & redemption—even if many are merely keyboard warriors.

The most awesome part about the religion of social justice & CRT is that it incorporates white guilt well & makes no demands of its adherents. Change is demanded *only* of the unsaved. It requires no real self-sacrifice. You can be an anti-racist while having ZERO black friends.

America, please pass out Niebuhr at every BLM, CRT, defund the police, 1619, etc. event. Give Niebuhr to AOC, Ibram Kendi, Nikole Hannah-Jones, T. Coates, etc. They need a better framework that accounts for *actual* supernatural evil!