What Does Identity Politics Really Want?

7:00 - 8:00 pm (Eastern)

We are living in the midst of an American Awakening. The first two Awakenings brought religious renewal; the third—the social gospel movement and its aftermath (1880-1910)—invoked the authority of religion to bring about political and social transformation, but lost sight of Christianity along the way. The Awakening through which we are now living has turned politics into a religious venue of sacrificial offering. For the moment, the irredeemable scapegoat is the white, heterosexual, man. After he is humiliated and purged, on whom will innocent victims turn their cathartic rage? White women? Black men? Identity politics is the anti-egalitarian spiritual eugenics of our age. It demands that pure and innocent groups ascend, and the stained transgressor groups be purged. If religious revivals are understood as collective efforts to redeem a stained world, then identity politics is an American religious revival—this time around, without God and without forgiveness. Dr. Joshua Mitchell will discuss his recent book, American Awakening: Identity Politics and Other Afflictions of Our Time.