One of the objections to identity politics is that it is contrary to the notion that the United States is a melting pot and a nation of immigrants. But for Christians, identity politics is something more sinister: It is a rejection of a core doctrine of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There is no Jew or Gentile, no slave or free man, and no male or female in Jesus Christ. We see the Apostle Paul fighting against the bigotry of his own people in Romans 10:12, Galatians 3:28 and Colossians 3:11. The Gospel is radically egalitarian in that God is not tied to a particular people group or nation, but offered to the entire world as our Lord explains in John 3:16. In the church, we are united under only one banner: That we are helpless sinners saved by the unmerited grace of God and the sacrifice of His only Son.

Identity politics denies this. Identity politics is all about exclusion, not about unity. Identity politics places superficial distinctions over the unity offered by the Cross. Even conservative Christians have fallen into identity politics with some of the rhetoric about the white working class. We should repent.

None of this is to say that there are not differences between cultures or that there are not real racial tensions that go back hundreds or thousands of years. None of this is to deny the need to stand for oppressed people. But that must always be done with an eye toward unity, not division and schism. Christians should reject identity politics not just as politically harmful, but as a poisonous heresy.