by Lorinda K. F. Newton

In part 1, I gave a history of the ideological drift of American universities, how most started out as schools to instruct clergy but then became secular institutions. Next, I described the most recent worldview shift to Critical Theory (CT) and how it now dominates our culture.

Now, I will cover how conservatives schools have caved to CT and what parents and alumni can do about it.

How Christian Schools Became Woke

Throughout the Bible, the writers repeatedly warned the faithful to stay on the straight and narrow path and not to follow after other gods (Old Testament) or “another” gospel (New Testament).(See Matthew 7:13-14; 2 Corinthians 11:3; Galatians 1:6-9; Ephesians 5:6; Colossians 2:4, 8; 2 Thessalonians 2:15; 1 Timothy 6:3, 20; 2 Timothy 1:13, 4:3-4; Hebrews 13:9; 2 Peter 2:1-2; 1 John 4:1; and 2 John 9.)

Just as individuals can be led astray, so can institutions experience mission drift. Drifting is easy. Staying on target requires constant vigilance.

One way CT seeped into Christians schools was through the teaching of social justice. Throughout the Bible, God speaks about justice for the orphan, the widow, and the oppressed and how kings should rule justly. CT uses similar terminology, and that attracts well-meaning Christ-followers to CT ideas.

In the video podcast “Critical Theory Comes to Christian Colleges,” Krista Bontrager explains that CT enters Christian colleges by their hiring administrators who hold degrees from secular schools. A student becomes a product of his grad program, she explained, unless he makes an effort to preserve his biblical worldview. If not, this student brings his “woke” training to his job at a Christian school even if he agrees with the statement of faith.

Bontrager went on to say that schools fail to ask the correct questions during interviews. They should ask ones such as “How has the material you’ve been taught conflict with the Christian worldview?”

Monique Dudson, during the same podcast, pointed out that some individuals have been strategically placed on these campuses to uproot Christianity.

As I explained in my previous post, the plan to transform America has been in the works for over a century. Critical theorists have strategically made inroads into various cultural institutions.

Examples of Woke Christian Schools

The guest speaker of Bontrager and Dudson’s podcast, Dr. Corey Miller, explained how he first heard about CT. It wasn’t at a secular school. Over 20 years ago where he was introduced to Liberation Theology, a branch of Marxism, in seminary!

Monique Dudson added she learned CT as a sociology undergrad at Biola University.

Baylor University, founded by Baptists in 1845, provided its freshman class of 2020-2021 a guidebook on racial equity complete with a glossary of CT terms. Author Rod Dreher comments on the booklet titled “Cultivating Cultural Humility: A Journal and Discussion Group Based on the Seeing White Podcast Series”:

“Cultural humility” sounds so innocent, even Christian. But this is the slogan under which Baylor is radicalizing its students to the left. I wonder how many people who send their kids or their alumni donations to Baylor University know that the flagship Texas Baptist university is teaching students that “heterosexism” is evil, that “whiteness” exists and is a source of evil, and “patriarchy”—which Southern Baptist churches, which do not let women serve as clergy, practice—is also evil.

Even the well-known college missions conference, Urbana, has been infected by the false doctrine of Critical Race Theory. The 2015 keynote speaker, Michelle Higgins, director of the Christian activist coalition Faith for Justice, encouraged the church to support Black Lives Matter. Her organization teaches Liberation Theology and the “Black queer feminist political lens” and consults on implementing antiracist policies.

Parents, you won’t find CT listed on a school’s website or brochure. To determine if a school is woke, find out whether the school has a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) officer or if they use terms such as or social justice.

When schools speak of diversity, they don’t necessarily mean that the student body represents a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. More likely, they mean that everyone holds the same worldview, but they accept diverse expressions of sexuality. Viewpoint diversity is banished from woke campuses.

Push Back

An audience member of the live podcast asked whether we should fight for the current colleges or start new ones?

Miller believes we should fight for the current institutions. Moreover, we aren’t just fighting for religious liberty but for the freedom of thought for all. He commented that even the traditional liberals, such as Richard Dawkins, have been canceled by the CT crowd. These liberals are also concerned that CT will destroy Western Civilization.

What can parents of college-bound students do? First, they need to hit the schools in the pocketbook. Michael Torres agrees:

Parents must choose: They can continue being discontented abettors to a crime against themselves by sending their children and money to colleges that steep young minds in the privileged stew of critical theory, or they can steer their children toward the remaining colleges that teach students how to think rather than what to think. Some do still exist.

For the top five schools for Christian students, click here. This list of conservative colleges includes Biola, which Dudson said introduced her to CT. So, buyer beware when helping your teen select a school. This article describes ten schools that strive to keep free speech and open debate alive.

Your Alma Mater

If your alma mater has become woke, stop donating to it and tell them why.

Dudson says we need to “use our voice, our vote, and our dollar.” Christians often worry too much about offending others. Sometimes we must draw the line to stop evil.

Throughout history, Christians have stood against the evil of their day: the Roman practice of infant abandonment, slavery, discrimination, wife burning, and the Jewish Holocaust. Today, we fight against abortion and human trafficking. We need to fight against the destructive lies of Critical Theory as well.

We “must love the truth more than we love our friends, our reputations, or our platforms,” said pastor Voddie T. Bacham Jr. in his book (p. 224).

Make a stand for truth.

Lorinda K. F. Newton began homeschooling her children in 2004, and her family joined Academy Northwest in 2014. Her family lives on beautiful Whidbey Island north of Seattle, Washington. She writes about faith, culture, and governing from a biblical worldview at Lorinda’s Ponderings. ©2021 by Lorinda K. F. Newton.