Imagine waking up at 4am every day, swimming 2 hours in the morning, then another 2 hours in the afternoon. For 18 years, you repeat this demanding cycle 6 days a week, year upon year, whilst training to be a top swimmer. Add to this competing in endless swimming galas on the weekends and traveling around the country for competitions. Now imagine making it to the top of your sport, being ranked #3 in the nation’s university female division only to lose to a trans-gendered biological male, who outswims all the other female competitors by body lengths.[1] How unfair!
Imagine being a student studying hard, committing to academic rigor, and making wise decisions to study whilst other friends party. Countless of hours have been spent learning new concepts, practicing problems, prepping for exams, all in an effort to qualify for medical school. Upon acceptance, your thrill and pride is shattered when fellow classmates look down on you as a “quota player,” assuming you only made it into the program to fulfil a racial or sexual identity quota set by the government. How unfair!
Welcome to the world of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). Based upon critical theory, DEI is the world’s latest solution on how to atone for the problem of past injustices and discrimination.
Diversity:
You may have heard it repeated, “Diversity is our strength.” Instead of having a homogenous group of singular people, we need to intentionally choose people from diverse identity backgrounds. For there is unity in diversity as we overcome our differences, fostering a sense of belonging where all are empowered and respected.
Equity:
Equity recognizes that not everyone starts off at the same place in life as many begin with unfair socio-economic backgrounds and so are on unequal footing. Equity seeks to level the playing field by making sure all people end up with the same outcome no matter where they start. Where equality seeks “equal opportunities,” equity seeks “equal outcomes.”
Inclusion:
Society everywhere must open its doors to include everyone, no matter who they are, where they are from, what they look like, or what they believe. All must always be included in every aspect of society without exception, for there is no room for intolerance or exclusion in a just society.
Upon first glance these sound like good correctives that may make our world a more just society for all! Finally, a rectification to the discrimination faced in the past! These principles have been employed in various ways around the world, even here in South Africa.[2] But when these goals are employed, DEI realizes the very opposite of its pursuits: Disunity, Inequality, Exclusion (DIE).
Disunity:
In fixating upon identity differences, disunity is created amongst the group. Intentionally giving rank to people that tick the most diverse external markers and infighting over prioritising whose oppression is the worst,[3] teamwork is fragmented by friction, resentment, and distrust. Siya Kolisi confirmed this by saying, “I would not want to be picked because of my skin colour because that surely would not be good for the team.”[4] To achieve diversity, unity is compromised.
Inequality:
In an effort to create “equal outcomes” for all, society must create unequal opportunities for some. Those less deserving, undertalented or underqualified get to enjoy positions once held for the most deserving, the most talented, and the best qualified. This environment actually creates inequality, giving special treatment and reward to those deemed unable to accomplish and penalizing those able to accomplish. To achieve equity, inequality is required.
Exclusion:
By the very nature of forcibly including all, some will inevitably be excluded. For there will never be space for all. The choice of who gets included or excluded is most often based on outward identity markers that one has no control over, typically prioritizing those historically oppressed for those historically deemed the oppressor. To include all, some have to be excluded.
And yet this is what the policy of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) actuates: to correct old injustices, new injustices must be created; to create a non-racial environment, race-based rules must be applied;[5] to achieve non-discrimination, a new discrimination code must be written; to create diversity, unity must be compromised. DEI leaves people demeaned instead of empowered, denigrated instead of uplifted, fragmented instead of fostered, left with their dignity stolen instead of their dignity granted.
Only the cross of Christ Jesus can achieve what DEI seeks, but fails, to achieve:
Diversity:
The cross welcomes all of us from diverse, varied backgrounds and truly unites us, making us one in Christ (Gal 3:28). Through Christ’s atonement on the cross, we become a family of believers with a common purpose and goal––to serve and glorify our Savior, making him known to others (1 Pet 2:9).
Equity:
Though we all start at different places in life, some in more privileged positions than others, the cross actually “levels the playing field” by reducing us all to the same starting point: sinners in need of a Savior (Rom 3:9–20). And only the cross has the power to lift everyone up from where they are, granting them the equal outcome of salvation (John 3:14–16).
Inclusion:
The cross welcomes all peoples of every background as the doors of salvation have been opened to all tongues, tribes and nations. None are included or excluded based on external markers alone (Rev 7:9–10). Spacing is not limited, requiring the exclusion of some for the inclusion of others, but the gates of heaven are wide enough to encompass all who shall believe (2 Pet 1:10–11).
With DEI, humanity faces a new set of injustices, discrimination, and demeaning treatment, where we may find ourselves crying out: How unfair! However, through Christ’s unfair death on the cross, his sacrifice accomplished what DEI never could––achieving ultimate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.[6]
Sources:
[1] “Riley Gaines: I Stood up for All Women after Losing to a Man: Stories of Us,” Prager University, n.p. 6 August 2024, Online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH4teSjG6EQ.
[2] “How South African Law is Prioritizing Diversity and Inclusion,” Global People Strategist, Accessed April 5, 2023, https://globalpeoplestrategist.com/how-south-africa-law-is-prioritizing-diversity-inclusion/.
[3] Fredrik DeBoer, How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2023), Kindle edition, n.p.
[4] “The Regressive Nature of Racial Quotas in South African Sport,” Institute of Racial Relations, Accessed 23 September 2024, https://irr.org.za/fan/media/the-regressive-nature-of-racial-quotas-in-south-african-sport.
[5] “The Regressive Nature…,” 2024.
[6] This article has been influenced by: A.D. Robles, Social Justice Pharisees: Woke Church Tactics and How to Engage Them (New York: Morgan James Faith, 2021), Kindle edition.