Multiculturalism Goes To College

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enlightened is to regard it unnecessaryto discussreligious, moral, social, and political questions on their merits' The tactic is to demonize all who question, challenge, or oPPose the new orthodoxy; to do so is to incur the greater guilt of"insensitivity'" This vision's new orthodoxy,' multiculturalism and diversiry" has marched through the ily-adomed arches of colleges and universitiesand has ensconceditseFin their statelyquadrangles'It is preacied in chapelswhere formerly the gospelrang oul In place of th. gorp"l it imposes a new virtue that none dare call by its proper-name--"preferentialism." The new orthodoxy's gospel "affirmative action," irrr,i*,", policies and proceduresthat include a system of *orrl redemption that assuagesthe consciencesof those in power.This orthodoxy publishes a new and burgeoning ,political correctness"that governs all speechin an ler
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things, for George Orwellt Animal Farm and 1984 forecast,for "newspeak,"the orthodoxy of yorr.rg *d old alike, the power of Ianguageas?ruer. Given the seductivepower of its speechcode, 'multiculturalism and diversity" allures evangelicalsin however, churches,colleges,seminaries,and publishersto embraceit as commensuratewith the gospel. Many Christian colleges in the coalition of christian colleges (now the council for christian Colleges and Universities-CCCU) consequently began to christen the woddview of multiculturalism without adequately assessingit, and put it to work in earnestin 799!, when the council establishedthe Racial,/Ethnic Diversity Initiative'n

C R E A T I V EA N T I . R E A L I T Y ulticulturalism is a political-social-culturaleducational-theologicalideologyor woddview that is an aspectofa constellationofintellectual movements of the twentieth century that derive from preoccupation wtth the uill to powef, and especially with the useof languageas?ouer. Multiculturalism derives from 'tritical theory'' of the Frankfrt School, which influenced the American academicinstitutions and culture through the principal figures Theodor Adorno, Walter Benjamin, and Herbert Marcuse.ttAlso fundamental to the emergenceof multiculturalism is critical theory, or deconstructionism (often used interchangeably),the literary theory of Jean-Frangois Lyotard, 03 2 8 i v o L U M E3 0 / N U M B E R

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others' Critical theory has JacquesDerrid6, Michel Foucault, and embeddeditself inextricably in every academicdiscipline'" Deconstructionism and critic'al theory threaten every realm ofintellectual life, especiallyin the academy,by rejecting a priori that there arc afry reasonableand authoritative answersto life's fundamental questions' and also by reducing everything to an of political conflict that vies for power in matters of class, e>rercise sex, and race.t' Imposing multiculturalism on academiccurricula "an assertionof political power in the name of is nothing lessthan the exploited and oppressed' rather than an intellectually defensille reform."t' In so doing, they look on critics and criticisms of their agenda,no matter how well reasoned,as "as politically retrograde and unworthy of benighted and intellectualrespect."15 The intellectual movements of the twentieth century gave birth to a new orthodoxy-postmodernism-with its multifaceted manifestations, including the cultural, religious, and moral pluralism associated with multiculturalism.'u J. P. Moreland summarizes: On a postmodernistoietts,thereis nosuchthing asobjutirtereality, tntth, rta/ue,reason,and

soforth.Ail these(tresocialcznstruct;ongcreationsof linguisticpractires and, as such,are relatiztenot to indhtidua/s,but to socialgraupsthat sharea narratir.,e deniesthecorre[aboutthett:orld]....Postmodernism spondence theory[i.e., truth is that tthich corresponds to reality], claiming that truth issimplya contingentcreationaf languagerahichexpressescustzms, emotions,and valuesembedded in a communityilingui:tic practica.For thepostmodernist, ane claims to bartethetruth in the f correspondence serce,this assertionis a poruertnovethat aictimizesthosejudgednot ta havethe truth.tT

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If postmodernismis the largertheoreticalphilosophy of which multiculturalism is a substantialaspect, multiculturalism is postmodernism'sreach to infiltrate the institutional. educational.religious, cultural, social, and political arenas with its philosophy,through its lexiconof ' political correctness." "Multiculturalism," "pluralism," "diversity"'are and all terms capable of exploitation because of their equivocal qualities." These terms arepurposefullyslippery in keeping with their designers'view of languageas power.Academic administrators, academicians,politicians, racial activists,journaLists,religious leaders,and others all consequendy and routinely employ these words with equivocation,r'usuallybecause they have not reflected adequately on the fact that those who coined these expressionsdid so knowing the ingenuity ofequivocationto advance their ideology or woddview, using langr.rage aspower to achieve social engineering.'"Becausethese expressionsare purposefLlly slippery thosewho areingenuousslide between uses without awareness, but others who are lubriciousor slipperydo sowith cleverintention. The worldview of multiculturalism assumescultural relativism, including religious pluralism, as its foundational belief" There is no universal truth; Christianity can hold no exclusiveclaims." It is the belief that each culture is to be judged relative to its own standards, including its religious

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the beliefs,for there are no universalstandardsby which to assess value,worth, or rightnessof the world's cultures' Multiculturalism proudly flies its banner of virtue, which it however,is not the Christian grace tolerance.Thistolerance, ca77s socialvirtue.The Christian grace shaped that onceinfluencedand is kind forbearance toward people with whom we differ, not merely in external matters such as culture' but even in fundamental beliefs and ways of living. That forbearanceof ofthe beliefsthat governtheir personsdoesnot show acceptance sinfirl manner of life. Multiculturalism hijacks the jargon of Christianiry but redefinesit with its own moral code. As ResearchFellow She\ SteeleofThe Hoover Insitution "the virhre of tolerancebecomesa corruption of notes,in America, democraticfairness-you dont merely acceptpeopleof different races;you aalidatetheir race or ethnicity as a currencyofpower and entidementover others."" Steelerightly observes' This is theperrtersionof socialvirtue that gatte us a multiculturalism that bas nothing to do ttith culture. The goal of America'shighll potiticized multiculturalism is to create an atartistic form of citizenship-acitizenshiyofpreferentialstatusin rahicbrace,ethnicity' and genderare linked to historic aictimization n justtfy entitlements unaoailableto othercitizens.Culture is a pretext, a cover'The trick of this multiculturalisrnis to passof atattismsas if they tttne culture'So "tolerant"of iultural diztersity"ttshen,in peoplethink they are being

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fact theyaresupportingpure racialpouert' The originatorsof multiculturalismdid not conceiveit so as "Culture gets in the way of multi to spread existing culture. culturalism.""The new orthodoxy insteadworks to forge a new real culturethat paternalisticallysupplantsthe old asit suppresses "diversityand reduceseveryoneto interchangeablebeingswhose differences we must not learn about-making nonsense of literature and history along the way."2o

R E D E F I N I N GR A C I S M ostmodernism'smulticulturalists embracethe Enlightenment and Modernist view of human nature

with its inherentlyabstractnotion of the equalityof everv Derson to such an extent as to abolish not

only socialhierarchies,but alsothe ideaofhonor "foritseH Accompan)4ngits comrption of "toleranceof ideas," bearanceof persons"to multiculturalistsconsequendypervert the classicvirtue and Christian grace of honor(e.g.,Rom. 12:10;13:7)into recognitionor oalidation of virtually every deviancy excePt that which deviatesfrom the new orthodoxy.2tIn America,

where the majority of societybecame"stigmatized for past betrayal of principles,and...those principlesthemselveswere emblems of duplicity," remorsewithout moral principle gavebirth to multiculturalism, the new social and cultural orthodoxy.'sMulticulturalists,in their moral crusade,consequendyerasenecessaryand properdistinctionsbetweenright andwrong or good and evil and replacethesecategoriesvmthprEer and improperor aP?ro?riate and inappropriate.Theirnew morality definesasinappropriate and worthy ofsevere censureanyoneor anything that endeavorsto impede their righteouscause. Advocates of multiculturalism redefine racism to include eveq,thing from lynching to the slightest innocent ruffling of the racial sensitivities of a hypersensitiveperson,and in so doing, they trivialize actual racism. Whether one innocently observes laudatory and distinguishablequalitiesabout a racial group or another person screams savageand contemptuous racist insults to deride and ridicule the same group, then, multiculturalists condemnboth equallyasracism.At its worst, the former may be called bad etiquette, and at its best the latter is still racial hatred, but multiculturalism'smoralists deem both to be actsofracism that equallyrequire pubJic humiliation and apology. It is unconscionableto place in the samecategorythe racist-bornbrutal murder of James Byrd (June 7, 7998),'owho was dragged to death behind a pickup truck, and an innocent comment, done with no malice,yet receivedas racistby one who is hypersensitizedto do so. Because the ideology of multiculturalism is founded on cultural relatiaism, it is also committed to enforceits speechcodeof political correctness;30 thus, with impunity black comedians punctuate their comedic acts with words that multiculturalists would denounce as "hate-speecli' if any white personwere to use the same words, with an exemption for any well-known white political leftist who embracesmulticulturalism.tt

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Numerous anecdotalexamplesreadily come to mind to illustrate this fact.Thomas Kochman,for example,claims, Where ztshitesuse the relative/y detachedand unemotiona/ discussionmodeto engagean issue,blacksusethe ernotional$ intense and involoing rnodeof argu.ment. Wheretphitestend to understate their exceptionaltalents and abilities, blackstend to boast about theirs. Where tahite men, meeting ,tl)on7en for tbe frst tirne, defwe thepotencyof their sexualmessages...black ntenmake their sexual interest explicit and hope to infuse their presentationszaithsexualpotency." Although Kochman is white, he receivesno accusation of racism or call to apologize for such offensive remarks, for he advocates multiculturalism, and his views ate popularly embracedamong blacks. Multiculturalists excoriatewhites for congenital racism ("institutionalized racism"), y.t they exhibit racism themselves.Their worldview convincesthem to view skin color as intrinsically determinative of culture, which concerns group and individual identiry mores,values,character, and thinking patterns. Multiculturalists, not their critics, confound skin coloration with culture when "black they talk about culture" and "white culture," as if levels of pigmentation determine culture. The paternalistic behavior of multiculturalists toward nonwhite people in the causeof multiculturalism indi-cates that they view color of skin as an intrinsic determiner of culture, a culture that renders its members victims and in needofpreferentialism "affirmative in the form of action."33 For example, when college admissionsand studentenrollment person"affirmative nel use action" strategies to identify prospective students as "minorities" and to give preferential treatment to those whose applications show that they are nonwhite, does this not betray the belief that culture is determinedon the basisof skin color?t' Multiculturalism is a seductive

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philosophical vision of and for the world that recruits its unsuspectingadvocatesby the power oflanguage as it exploits language as power. It powerfully allures with its speechcode of virtuous-soundingpolitical correctness.It infiltrates the lexicon of any religiousbelief system,and in the processit imperceptibly transmogrifiesreligiousexpressionsand belief systems,including Christianity, to adjust to its values, virtues, and message.It seducesmany to supposethat its suppressionof ill-mannered 'political speechwith correctness"is of a piece with Christian virtue and compatiblewith the Christian gospel. we should welcome diverse The issueat stake is rrct ztshether peoples among us and embrace them but on zuhatprinciples we should do so.No one can possiblyopposethe embraceof diverse peoplesand at the sametime retain a credibleconfessionof being a Christian. Likewise, to advocateany form of preferential policy "protected class" warrants rebuke, for such a posture is for a contrary to a credible Christian profession,for preferentialism is sin (James2:9).The gospel ofJesus Christ obligatesus to love and to embraceall who are Christians despite nonconfessional differences,whether racial,social,or sexual.The burden concerns "the "the conflict of clashof orthodoxies," what somehavetermed "worldviews " in conflict"" and takes place in two visions," or realms:(1) pubJicsector,including government,public poliry, and academic institutions; and (2) private sector, including family, church,and academicinstitutions. Will we be captured by and held captive to the culture around us, or will we critique the world's culture biblically? Will we fear God or will we fear man? Will we yield the allegianceof our minds to the new orthodo>ryor will we "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Cor.10:5,NIV)? This is no mere academicexercise. It is an exercisein integrated Christian thinking toward a biblical worldview. A. B. Caneday is professor of New Testament Studies and Biblical Theology at Northwestem Collegein Saint Pau! Minnesota.His recent "Forum Discussion on Race work includes and Racism," TheSouthernBaptistJournal oliTheologt,8,2 (Summer 2004) and "What 'Multiculturalism Is and Diversity'?" at the 2005 Faculty Scholarship Symposium at Northwestern College.

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1 C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,2002),292. 2 See,e.g., Paul E dwxd Gotdied, Multiculnralism and the Politis af Guilt: Towarcla Secular Theo/ogy(CoIumbia: Universiry of Missouri Pre,s,2002). 3 Cf Thomas Sowell, The Vision of tbeAnoinnd: SelfCongratulations asa Basisfor Socialpolicy (New York:BasicBools, 1995). 4 5 6 7 8 9

1bid,2. lbid. 3. The imageryi. Sowells. Ibid. rbid. Cf ibid. Principal among the arguments the CCCU leaders borrowed from the secular multiculturalism worldview was the claim that "coalition schools failed to mirror the ethnic diversity of the sunounding culture." James A. Pattereon, Sbining Ligbts: A HistoU) af thc Councilfor Cbristian Colleges and UnivernTm (Grand Rapids:Baker,2001),93. "The 10 will to power" is an idea creditedlugely to philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.Among other things, according to Nietache, "will to power" is the fundamental instinct or drive that animals and humans share,a drive that is more fundamental than self-preservation. It entails the drive to exert force to be master and to conquer resistance. 11 The Frankfurt School,establishedin 1923 as an independentdivision ofthe University of Frankfurt, was a group of reseuchers associated with the Institut ftir Sozialforschuns (Institute of Social Reseuch). Carl Griinberg, the insritute'sfirst director,was "n ,uo*.J Masist and establishedthe Institute on Maryism as the theorerical basis for all its programs of reseuch in philosophy and the social sciences.With the rise of Nazism, the Institute sought and found refuge in Switzerland and the United States.The Frankfurt School and its critical theory thus infiltrated American universities with its ,,cultural Mmism." See Joseph Yeager, "Cultural Communists," FrantpageMagazine (http:// w.frontpagemag.com./Articles,?rintable.asp?ID=7732). 12 Biblical studies remains in an exhaordinary state of flu: the vuious methods of critical theory have been used by biblicai critics for some time now. These methods have raised questionsabout rhe Bible concerningraceand ethniciry indigeneity for nativeness],gender and serual difference,the human-animal binary classand ideology,hegemony and subversion, the nature of history texts and rcadcrs,and so on. Roland Boer, "Editotial," The Bible and Critical'fheory; 1. DOI:70.2104,6c0,10001). 13 Cf comments by Amy Gutmann, ed., Multiculturalisn; Examining the politics of Recognitian(Princeton,NJ: Princeton University Press,1.994),20. 14 Ibid. Admittedly, Gutmann is speaking of deconstruction and not specifically multiculturalism.A proper critique neverthelessrecognizcsthat the two are not separablebut joined; thus, what she saysofdeconstructionism is also true ofmulticulturalism. 15 Ibid. Seequalification in note 14. 16 Concerning philosophical pluralism, see D. A. Cusor, The Gaggtng of God; Cbristianitl ConJiontsPluralism (Grand Rapids: Zoodeman, 1996), 13-47. 17 J. P Moreland, "'Iruth, Contcmporary Philosophy,and the Postmodern'furn,,, Journal oJ' the Evange/ia/ TheologicalSuiet! 48 (2005), 79,80. Advocates ofmulticulturalism contend "racc" "soci,a1ly that is constructcd."FIenry Louis Gates,Jr, claims that the conceptofrace is a biological "misnomer" and merely a "metaphor," for, "who has seen a black or red person,a white, yellow or brown person?These terms ue rbitrary constmcts,not rcports of rea1ity." Henry Louis Gates, Jr, Loose Canons:Notes an the Cultute Zars (New york: Oxftrrd Universiry Press,1992), 48, 50. 18 On the *ploitation of the newly coined use of 'diversiry" see PeterWood, Diversity; The Invention of a Concept(Stn !-rancisco:Encounter Boolc, 2003), esp.82-98. 19 Equivocal use of languagcentails usc of words or expressionsthat ue subiect to two or more interpretations,often intended to nisleird. 20 Elsewhere I describethe tyranny o1 political correctness.SeeA. B.Caneday,.The SBJT Forum: Racism, Scripturc, and History," The SouthernBaptist Journal oJ'Theology8.2 (2004): 87-88. 21 I am awareof the irony of spcakingof thcfaundation of multirulturalism that is aq aspect ofpostmodernism th^t rcpudiatesflunddtionalism.I fu11yanicipate that thosewho cannot recognize the legitimate use ofthc imagery offoundation nay likely havc visceral responses that confuse the imagery with Enlightcnment's and Modernism's ,6undationalism. 22 As arguedby Marjorie Hewitt Suchoch, Dirinitl and Dioers;4):A Christ;dnAfirmation of

Religiou Pluralism (Nashville: Abingdon, 2003). For a contrary view, seeWoo d, Divrsity, 146-74. "The 23 Shelby Steele, Culture ofDeference," Amdemi Questions72,1 (January 1999): 61. 24 Ibid. Steele continues, "In fact mu.lticulturalism actvally su?presesAmerica's rich cultual ruiery becausemuch actual culture does not mesh with victimiation." "The 25 Steele, Culture ofDeference," 62. 26 Diane Ravitch, "You Cant SayThat," The Wall StrutJoumal (Februuy 13,2004), W15. 27 See Chules Thylor, Multiculturalism and "The Politia af Recognition," v,di$,commentary by Amy Gutmann, Steven C. Rockefeller, Michael Walrer, and Susm Wolf (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Pres,1992). For some instructive guidance on shoncomings of Taylort essay,seeEdwd T, Oakes, 'Atte ntion Must Be Paid: A reiew of Multiulturalism 'Politics and the afRecognition,"' First Things 32 (Aprt1,1993): 48-57. "The 28 Steele, Culture ofDeference," 62. 29 Thomas Sowell wisely says,"Discrimination and segregation ue md have been among the ugly facts oflife in vuious countries uound the world. These facts need to be confronted where they ilist-not trivialired by having the terms applied by redefinition to situations where they do not exist, and where very different factors need to be confronted." Thomas Sowe11, Raceand Culture:A WorldI/ieu (San Francisco;Basic Books, 1994), i53. 30 Amoja Three Rivers thorouglrly confounds bad intercultural etiquette and racism tn her booklet entided Cuhural Etiquette: "It is ethnocentric and racist to apply words like backwrd, primitive, uncivilired, savage,barbric, or undeveloped to people whose technology does not include plumbing, microwaves,and niao-chips. Are people somehow more human or more humane ifthey have more technologicaltoys?"This citation is from the Internet essay (http://communities.ic.org/90/4490.php), derived from Amoja Three Nvers, Cultural Etigueta: '1 Guide for the Well-Intentioned (Gladstone, VA: Muket Wimmin, 1991). 31 Carol Muie Cropper,"Black Man Fatally Dragged in a PossibleRace K)JJtng,"Nruyork Tima (June 10, 1998), SectionA, 16. 32 Cultural relativism is the belief that all ethical truth is relative to a given culturey thus, no one can €ver say that a particular behavior is right or wong, for it can only be right or wong relative to a specific society. 33 Reflcct on the minimal criticism of q-Klansman Senator Robert Bytd (no relation to "white nigger" in an interview (Robert Byrd, interyiew James Byrd) who used the tem with Tony Snow, For Naor Sunday,Fox News Channel, Much .5,2001), in a piece by "On Cedric Muhammad, Senator Byrd and 'White Niggers,"'A Deeper Look, Black Electorate.Com, Much 12, 2001, http://w.blackelectorate.com./uticles.asp?ID=337. Seea.lsoArdrew D. Todd, "What Is a 'White Nigger'Anlway?" History New Network, January20, 2003, htqr;//hnn.us/ articles/7220.html. 34 Thomas Kochman, Black and White: Styks in Con4it (Chicago: University of Chicago Pres, 1981),107, 131,quoted in Dinesh D'Souza,TheEntl ofRarirz (NewYork FreePress paperbacla,7995),27 I-7 2. 35 Observant individuals may add when D'Souza makes the case that even though generalizations concerning people groups are wholly legitimate, even necessary,"this is no casefor group traits having a biological foundation." The End afRacim,273. 36 I acknowledge echoes of the tides of three bools: Robert P Ceorge, Tlte Ctash of Ortbodoxies. Lau, Re/igion,and Marality in Crisis (Wilmington, DE: ISI Boola, 2001); Thomas Sowell, TheConfitofViions:Ideological Originsof Politialstruggla (NewYork: William Monow, 1987); and Ronald Nash, Worldvieus in Confit: ChoosingChristianity in a Worldof Ideas(Grand Rapids: Zondemn, !992).