Corporations, academic institutions, and organizations across the US routinely incorporate “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) training into the education of their staff. In theory this training is designed to minimize so-called “microaggressions” in the workplace and to ensure diversity in hiring. But, according to two Harvard social scientists, DEI training isn’t quite working out that way.
They wrote that “There’s also no question that the way organizations deal with [DEI training] is more likely to hurt than help.” The scientists went on to say, “[A]fter decades of diversity training, many university faculties, state agencies and corporations have made little progress on diversifying the workforce.”
Now, this evidence that DEI training is actually causing harm doesn’t make the Harvard scientists back away from their commitment to DEI. No, they still accept the basic premise but just suggest new ways of implementing it that they believe may work better.
What exactly is featured in DEI training? Well, over the past few years, various DEI training materials have been leaked to the public, and these leaked documents show that DEI training is often itself racist! Because it uses critical race theory as its framework, it features the victim/victimizer dichotomy that is based on so-called skin color (but it’s not really skin color—we’re all the same basic color—brown, from the pigment melanin—just different shades). Instead of recognizing sin as our shared problem, DEI materials often treat a specific group of people (those with lighter skin) as necessarily racist, privileged, and victimizers and those with a darker shade of skin as necessarily victims of oppression. No wonder this kind of training doesn’t lead to positive outcomes!
Racism, discrimination, and prejudice are a sin issue, it’s not a skin issue. Dividing people up into categories based on how they look and then making them feel bad about themselves or what they perceive has been directed toward them will never truly solve the issue. It’s only a biblical worldview and the true history of the human race and the gospel that give us the answers we need!
You see, from a biblical worldview we understand every person is descended from Adam and Eve and therefore has the same ultimate problem—we’re sinners! We sinned in Adam and continue to sin. All the societal evils in this world exist because of sin, not because of diversity in skin shades! And the answer for everyone is the same: salvation through Jesus Christ. He forgives our sin, gives us a new heart, and enables us to love and forgive others—even those who have sinned against us.
If we want to address the issue of racism, we must start by understanding the biblical truth that we’re all one race, made in God’s image, but we’re also all sinners who desperately need the Savior!
