We find ourselves living in a very deeply divided time in the West. In our individual lives and in this wider cultural moment, it feels like there is so much harm and loss, leading to a heightened awareness of injustice. However, the solutions offered by identity politics just lead to an ever-increasing rage, division, and despair. Actual justice and peace elude us.
How do we make sense of this cultural moment, and is there a better way forward?
Identity politics has essentially entered the cultural space into the vacuum that was left behind by post-modernism. Post-modernism claimed there was no big truth and everything was relative. Into that vacuum came a new cluster of ideas: meaning and purpose in life are found in a sense of identity rooted in suffering and oppression.
Through intersectionality thinking, the prevailing idea is that the more intersecting layers of social injustice you have experienced, the greater your voice, the greater your right to speak, and the greater your ability to take offense. The layers of injustice you have experienced become the very grounds of what makes you you.
Because identity politics makes ideas and self-expression ontological—meaning it equates them with your very being—the logical next step is that disagreement feels like a physical threat. If someone disagrees with an idea you hold about yourself, it feels like you are actually being erased.
If somebody offends you, it is no longer just an argument; it is perceived that they hate you and want to delete you. It is treated as if they have murdered you because your identity is under attack. This explains why there is so much aggression and tension in our culture today.
Tragically, this approach is leading to the collapse of the possibility of forgiveness. In this framework, forgiveness is seen as a weakness. It is viewed as saying the injustice didn’t really matter, and to let it go would be to cancel or delete yourself. As a result, public floggings are back in the form of group shaming and boycotting, but forgiveness is gone—a lost art from a bygone age where redemption feels impossible.
While Free Speech advocates may wring their hands in despair, we need to listen to what is bubbling under the surface. At its core, there is a passion for justice and a stark refusal to roll over and just accept harm.
But we must ask: why would a person feel outraged at suffering and injustice if this material world is all there is? If we are just a collection of atoms by chance, why would injustice evoke such rage?
I believe this rage actually points to a transcendent source of life. It points to the reality that human beings are infinitely precious and made in the image of God. Injustice matters because people matter.
Christian forgiveness uniquely confronts the grievance culture of identity politics. It does not minimize the harm that has occurred, but it offers a way of healing through the cross of Jesus Christ—a way that holds both justice and mercy together.
If you are looking to take these truths from your head to your heart—especially as we navigate the heavy realities of pain, trauma, and trying to live faithfully in a broken world—I want to invite you to explore my book, Forgiveness. Together, we look closely at one of the most challenging yet profoundly restorative commands of Jesus, discovering how it is possible to find healing and hope even when it feels impossible.
