Along with reviewing Why Social Justice Is Not Biblical Justice earlier this year, I’ve been reading a number of books related to Social Justice and Critical Race Theory. This month, we look at Fault Lines, a recent book by Voddie Baucham.
For those unfamiliar, Voddie Baucham is a pastor, professor, and something of a lightning rod in the evangelical world. And of special relevance to this discussion, Baucham is black. In Fault Lines Baucham criticizes the social justice movement as a “looming catastrophe for evangelicalism.”
Baucham shares his own experiences as a black man – first, as a boy growing up on the south side of L.A. with a single mom; and second as a Christian struggling with his identity as a black man in a predominately white denomination. Baucham understands hardship, racism, and fatherlessness, but ultimately he rose above those difficulties through the persistence of his mother and by the power of God.
In the chapter “Seeking True Justice,” Baucham warns that “our pursuit of justice must also be characterized by a pursuit of truth.” The world doesn’t care if narratives don’t match facts, but Christians must avoid “bearing false witness.” The claim that police are 2.5 times more likely to shoot and kill a black man than a white man sounds like prima facie evidence of systemic racism. But Baucham reminds us that correlation does not equal causation. Instead, multiple peer reviewed studies indicate no evidence of racial disparity in police shootings. Neither do individual incidents, such as the tragic deaths of George Floyd and Philando Castile, prove disparity. (Baucham cites similar cases involving white men, which received little publicity.)
Baucham calls it like he sees it. He strongly disagrees with CRT and he makes no effort to pretend otherwise. He describes the antiracism movement to a cult, because “they borrow from the familiar and accepted, then infuse it with new meaning.” In a world of virtue signaling, I appreciate his willingness to speak clearly and I value his perspective as a black man going against the current. Nevertheless, he could have done better.
First, he calls out a number of Christian leaders for their position on Social Justice. Such rebukes deserve thorough evidence, understated prose, and a spirit of gentleness. Instead, Baucham comes across as being quick to write off those on the other side of the “fault line.” Second, he gets too caught up in the weeds of American and Southern Baptist Convention politics, rather than expounding the scriptural solutions. Third, Baucham rebuts liberalism and CRT, but offers no critique to the spectrum of responses coming from his own side.
Baucham brings some good things to the table in Fault Lines. Just don’t make it the only book you read on the subject.