A former Critical Race Theory proponent who worked over 20 years defending it encouraged people to engage CRT supporters, especially Christians receptive of the worldview, "to truly get into the Word of God to understand truly what it means."
As reported by the Christian Post, Monique Duson, co-founder of The Center for Biblical Unity, discussed her experiences with woke ideology and Critical Race Theory at a webcast event hosted by Southern Evangelical Seminary in North Carolina on Saturday.
In her experience, the way she was conditioned to see CRT was through the frame of an oppressor-oppressed narrative.
"The oppressor-oppressed narrative was very strong for me. I could see it everywhere," she said. "When I say that critical race theory is a worldview or a lens by which people see the world, it truly is what I saw."
"Whenever there was a racial disparity acquainted to some form of systemic injustice, whenever I saw a young black or Hispanic teen who was either selling drugs or homeless or doing sinful things, it was never based on their own choice. It was because there was a system that was holding them down," she explained.
From there she detailed how CRT has evolved into more than simply an "analytical tool," but also a "lens" through which to see the world. It caused her to be always on the lookout for signs of oppression or racism.
Duson compared Christians who support CRT's social justice agenda to people who are sleeping and stated that waking them up requires "divine intervention."
"God Himself is the primary agent of my awakening," she said. "He orchestrated specific encounters with people that cause me to question my paradigm. "
She specifically mentioned Krista Bontrager, a theologian, who patiently engaged her in discussing CRT, social justice, and other contentious topics.
"Leaving wokeness is never done alone, and it's rarely done without a fight and if you guys ever talked to Krista, she will tell you I put up a fight," she said.
"If your friends or loved ones are wrapped up in the critical social theories critical race theory or social justice, don't get mad at them," she continued. "Embrace a posture that is very compassionate and wanting to do good."
She went on to add that if Christians find someone in their lives advocating critical race theory, they must still pray that it is not too late to awaken them from the false theory.
"More participation is going to be desperately needed to maintain truth, to maintain grace, and to maintain compassion," she said.
She also emphasized the importance of being inquisitive but not necessarily winning arguments, noting that God is actively reaching out to these people and loves them much more than anybody else can.
"We have to have a proper understanding of the Scriptures to go from unconsciousness to consciousness," she said. "It's going to take a level of truth and not only truth, but an understanding of how to properly look at the scriptures in context."
In their group, Duson said that to help facilitate discussions from a historically biblical perspective, they have developed a curriculum called "Reconciled." It's a six-week small group course in which they deconstruct the cultural narrative of racial reconciliation while also presenting racial unity based on God's word.
