At the recent 2021 Southern Baptist Convention held in Nashville, many messengers came to the convention to rescind Resolution 9, despite the fact that it was only the faintest nod to the existence of systemic racism and essentially demanded nothing of its members. When they discovered they couldn't do that because resolutions are nonbinding and merely express the sentiment of messengers assembled that year, messengers tried proposing a new resolution titled "Resolution on the Incompatibility of Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality with the Baptist Faith and Message." 

In that resolution, supporters charged that CRT and Intersectionality were "ideologies rooted in Neo-Marxist and postmodern worldviews," that they "collectively designate people by their social identity groups," and that the theories "contradict the Baptist Faith and Message" about humanity in general. In closing, the resolution affirmed the statement from the Council of Seminary Presidents that the "affirmation of Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality and any version of Critical Theory is incompatible with the Baptist Faith & Message." 

Therefore, by the time Rufo began learning how to manipulate CRT for political gain, white evangelicals in churches across the country were already setting the stage. Furthermore, by the time Trump issued the Executive Order, his base had already been primed to not only agree with it but to serve as evangelists and spread the word to others about the evils of CRT. As I've suggested before, in the hands of white evangelicals CRT isn't just an academic theory, it's a worldly ideology of evil that people of faith should oppose. Thus, for better or for worse, those of us who teach CRT and Intersectionality will now have to contend with those who would bring their faith presuppositions to class. 

In short, the belief that CRT and Intersectionality are problematic comes not only from a lack of understanding of the terms, but how conservatives and white evangelicals have positioned them as anti-faith--and more particularly, anti-Christian. Thus, while more people are hearing more--and hopefully learning more--about CRT, more are also opposing it because they believe their faith teaches them to do so. I suggest that an understanding of how this rhetoric works and the foundations that this rhetoric is built upon is a start and should be included in any discussion or teaching going forward.