Worldview Reflections on DEI + August Forum

The article by Rufo didn’t talk about paradigm or principles. Here was the one exception: “The polling data indicated that Americans supported a ‘colorblind society’ over a ‘race-conscious society’ by large margins.” When he brings up colorblind or race-conscious, he is talking at the level of principle, but still not yet paradigm.

Here’s what I think is happening in the current rejection of DEI policies.

The vast majority of Americans simply do not see the world through the lens of Cultural Marxism or support the principles/policies/practices that flow from it.

The DEI revolution was an attempt by powerful elites to force something on the American people. They attempted to establish a new governing worldview rooted in Cultural Marxism by forcing it at the policy level, which they did quite successfully over the past five to ten years. They forced it into institutions, particularly educational institutions, and then everywhere else. They used guilt manipulation, false compassion, fear, censorship, and other power tactics. It worked in part for a while, but because there was never significant buy-in at the paradigm level, it was like a house built on an unstable foundation. It wasn’t going to work.

Rufo has been successful in his fight against DEI at the policy level. Still, I think he would be even better off to always tie the policies back to the principles and the principles to the paradigm so people could see the “whole” and how it all connects.

The new openness to Christianity among many elites in media, education, etc., is because they sense something is not right (paradigm level). Yet, their rejection tends to be at the policy and practice level. They reject DEI, censorship, men in women’s sports, LGBTQ books/curriculum in public schools, and transgender surgeries – especially for children.

But because many have been secular progressives, the question then arises: If we tear this all down, what will replace it to support the principles and policies we deeply believe and support, such as individual freedoms of speech, religion, etc.? Some are discovering that the Bible is what has built and supports these principles, policies, and practices.

Thus they are looking at the Bible and Christianity with “fresh” eyes. This is an incredibly exciting opportunity—a window of opportunity for the church. The church is ill-prepared for this, however, because so many believers still don’t think in terms of worldview, and they have little interest in cultural change.

For DNA, we must keep helping people think deeply, helping them connect the more surface levels of practice and policy to the deeper foundational levels of principle and paradigm. These drive everything. A successful strategy of change has to focus on every aspect. The author is focused on policy. Good for him. But it would be a more substantial and more lasting change if he connected all four.

Scott