When the world was still reeling from the images of George Floyd’s death, a new cultural flashpoint burst onto the evangelical scene. Pastor Voddie Baucham, a best‑selling author and speaker, started warning his audiences that Critical Race Theory was not just another academic concept—it was a “looming catastrophe” for the church.
The Four Tenets Baucham Flags
In his book Fault Lines, Baucham lays out what he sees as the core ideas driving this movement. First, he says CRT treats racism as a permanent, all‑pervasive condition—something we breathe like air. Second, the theory leans on “interest convergence,” the claim that white people will only act against racism when it benefits them personally.
Third, Baucham argues the ideology rejects any form of “objective” reasoning. It dismisses the scientific method, logical debate, and even the idea that facts can stand apart from personal experience. Finally, the fourth tenet places truth inside the perspective of minority groups that subscribe to CRT, rather than in an external reality that can be examined by anyone.
Put together, these points paint a picture of a worldview that says America is inherently racist, and that any attempt to fix it must start by reshaping how we see the world—not by looking at data or Scripture.
Why He Says It Threatens the Gospel
Baucham’s biggest alarm bell is what he calls the erosion of Scripture’s sufficiency. He says leaders who embrace CRT are not simply adding a new lens to biblical truth; they are letting outside philosophies rewrite what the Bible says about race and justice. In his view, that’s classic eisegesis—reading one’s own ideas into the text instead of letting the text speak for itself.
He backs up his claim with a handful of studies that run counter to the usual CRT narrative. Harvard economist Roland Fryer’s research, for instance, found that when you control for crime rates and other factors, racial disparities in police shootings disappear. A report from the National Academy of Sciences reached a similar conclusion. Baucham says these findings get buried because they don’t fit the “systemic racism” storyline.
The pastor also points to the rapid adoption of social‑justice language after 2020. Within weeks, many churches were chanting “Black lives matter” and labeling racial reconciliation a gospel issue—often without digging into the philosophical roots of those slogans. To Baucham, that rush creates the “fault lines” that can split congregations, as some members double‑down on CRT while others push back.
Beyond the church doors, Baucham warns that the broader “woke” movement, which he lumps together with antiracism, builds a binary world: the powerful versus the powerless, the oppressor versus the oppressed. He says this worldview clashes with the biblical teaching that every person is made in the image of God, regardless of status.
While his tone is urgent, Baucham does leave room for dialogue. He invites evangelical leaders to return to a “Christ‑centered” approach to race—one that tackles injustice without discarding the authority of Scripture or the tools of rational inquiry. His message is clear: if the church lets CRT dictate its theology, it risks losing the very foundation that has held it together for centuries.