This is a poorly worded headline attached to an insightful essay. The author, Georgetown’s Joshua Mitchell, argues that both the left and the right misapprehend the true nature of identity politics, which is terribly destructive, verging on nihilistic: it’s Christianity without God or the possibility of salvation. The Christian Gospel may warn of Hell, but at least it also holds out the possibility of Heaven.

Excerpts:

The white heterosexual male is the first unclean transgressor in their sights; but because the innocence of those enthralled by identity politics must be purchased through the sacrifice of a transgressor, once he has been purged, another transgressor must be found. White women will be next, followed, I suspect, by “heteronormative” African-American men, whose endorsement of the generative family is not sufficiently “inclusive.”

That will not be the end of it—nor can it be. Identity politics must continue to expand the coterie of innocents whose “voices have not been heard,” who have been “marginalized,” or “excluded.” The politicization of the category “trans-gender” is therefore a necessary development of identity politics, irrespective of the small number of people who claim that identity category as their own. With all due respect to men and woman who struggle with anxiety and the essential strangeness of their world, Plato’s Republic long ago chronicled this problem, which, sadly for many today, can only be thought through in sexual terms. […]

Identity politics must be confronted head on. The yesteryear vocabulary liberals and conservatives use today is inadequate to fight the battle at hand squarely. Identity politics is an American awakening, without God, and without forgiveness.