Is Critical Race Theory a New National Religion?

Editor’s Note:

The fervency of adherents’ obsessions with Critical Race Theory has taken many people by surprise, especially with its swift infiltration into school curricula, corporate mission statements, and even military training manuals. So when does an ideology become a religion, and are there guidelines for proselytizing CRT in schools and other taxpayer-funded entities? Ben Domenech recently offered some fascinating comparisons. Reprinted with permission. Pat Daugherty, Ed.D.
May 26, 2021

Is Critical Race Theory a New National Religion?

Ben Domenech On Bill Barr Speech: Critical Race Theory Is Public Schools Pushing Religion

Federalist Publisher Ben Domenech said on Fox News Thursday the obsession with race in K-12 education threatens to undermine the constitutional ban on government favoring one religion over another, warranting school choice as a constitutional right.

Domenech’s comments came after former Attorney General Bill Barr critiqued President Barack Obama’s opposition to school choice programs to keep inner-city children locked in failing institutions while the White House children attended private school.

“The real issue of systemic racism is our public school system in the inner cities,” Barr said.

“One of the things that really comes out in this speech,” Domenech said, where Barr demanded school choice as a constitutional right given public schools’ entrenchment of far-left indoctrination, “was him branding this new woke religion as such that it threatens the Establishment Clause in essentially creating a religious document, a religious set of rules that are being propagated at taxpayer expense.”


The leftist theology infecting K-12 classrooms nationwide, Domenech said, possesses nearly all the elements of a religion.

“They have sins, they have indulgences, they have demands, and guilt put on you, but they don’t have grace, and they don’t have forgiveness,” Domenech said. “That’s something that I think we all should come to appreciate as being at the center of America’s culture war today.”

Benjamin Domenech is the publisher of The Federalist, host of The Federalist Radio Hour, and writes The Transom, a daily newsletter for political insiders. He was previously a fellow at The Manhattan Institute and a senior fellow at The Heartland Institute; editor in chief of The City; and a speechwriter for HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson and U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas. He co-founded Redstate and co-hosted Coffee & Markets, an award-winning economic podcast. His writing has been published in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Politico, Commentary, Reason, and GQ, and he is a Fox News Contributor. He lives with his wife and daughter in Virginia. Email him at ben@thefederalist.com.

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