By Tyler McKenzie
The Collapse of Public Support for DEI
On January 7th, 2025, flashing a $900,000 watch, the new-look CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, released a six-and-a-half-minute video detailing significant changes to Facebook and Instagram’s content moderation policies (See “More Speech and Fewer Mistakes”). He basically admitted they had been censoring the free expression of their users. He promised to correct these mistakes by: (1) replacing third-party fact-checking, (2) lifting restrictions on topics previously censored, like immigration and gender identity, and (3) moving their trust and safety teams from California to Texas. Then on January 10th, Meta announced it would be eliminating their DEI division, canceling their equity and inclusion programs, and reassigning their Chief Diversity Officer.
In 2020, the murder of George Floyd took place about ten minutes from Target’s headquarters. In response, their leadership pledged substantial efforts to advance racial equality. This was in addition to Target’s participation in LGBTQ advocacy. In 2023, CEO Brian Cornell praised these new DEI efforts for fueling sales and improving employee engagement (See “Target CEO: DEI has ‘fueled much of our growth over the last 9 year”). Then on January 24th, 2025, less than two years later, Target announced that they would be walking back their DEI commitments and partnerships (See “Target was one of the most outspoken supporters of DEI. It’s changed its tune”). Quite the 180 degree turn.
While Meta and Target have made a lot of noise, many others in corporate America have followed suit. Walmart, John Deere, and McDonald’s all made public announcements they will be retreating from DEI policies (See “Meta, McDonald’s: These companies are rolling back some DEI policies”). This New York Times article details how companies like Live Nation, Adobe, Johnson & Johnson, and Uber have changed their internal language. This article names public universities like UNC-Chapel Hill and Colorado who are changing their curricular requirements or scrubbing their websites in response to President Trump’s new executive orders. Noteworthy is the NCAA’s decision to comply with Trump’s ban of biological men from women’s sports, a reversal on their previous stance.
On Trump’s first day in office, he issued Executive Order 14151 “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.” This was in response to heavy-handed efforts by the Biden administration to bake DEI into America’s most important institutions. Some suggest the sweeping language in this order is what has struck fear in so many. Others say the backlash against DEI captured momentum back on June 29th, 2023, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in college admissions.
I could go on with the examples, but you get the point. DEI seems to have suddenly lost its shine. The social benefits are evaporating. The structures of public support have flipped. It is important to note that some companies like Goldman Sachs and Costco have held their ground (See “These companies are standing by their DEI policies amid backlash”), but these examples feel few and far between.
Where did DEI go wrong?
In a word? Overreach. I was recently in a conversation with a Christian mentor who is outspoken about his political progressivism. We have worked together for the past few years to advocate for diversity and boundary-crossing love in my church. However, he lamented the fact his child had to leave their job at a Fortune 500 company because they believed they would never get another promotion based on company DEI goals.
At some point, there was a failure by many to distinguish between common sense and radical ideologies. It’s one thing to help disadvantaged groups get a seat at the table. It’s another thing to allow biological men to win championships in women’s sports. It’s one thing to invest in the next generation of Black leaders and businesses after our sordid history of discrimination. It’s another thing to set admissions quotas that privilege one racial group at the expense of another (See “Harvard Rated Asian-American Applicants Lower on Personality Traits, Suit Says”). It’s one thing to do payroll analysis to ensure men and women are getting paid fairly for doing the same jobs. It’s another thing to advocate for DEI accommodations in the military that put lives at risk (See “Opinion: DEI Will Not Be Missed”). It’s one thing to police hate speech, discipline bullies, and encourage majority groups to listen to minority experiences. It’s another thing to enforce speech codes that unnecessarily shame or silence well-meaning members of these majority groups.
“Straight, cisgender, white, Christian men are not allowed to speak about this!” I have heard this sentiment more than once. The idea is that your lived experience either empowers you with authority if you are part of a marginalized group or disqualifies you from authority if you aren’t. It’s the principle of intersectionality. Those who stand at more intersections of marginalization have more authority to speak. Encouraging the privileged majority to listen has led to a lot of good, but many people have seen it go too far. An ad hominem fallacy occurs when someone rejects or criticizes another’s point of view based on non-relevant personal characteristics rather than on the merits of their argument. The more logical fallacies deployed in a debate, the quicker the debate devolves into frustration.
The problem is that as the pendulum swings away from the left back toward common sense, it seems like many on the right are determined to make the same mistake in opposition to DEI. DEI advocates lost their cultural ascendancy because they were unable to distinguish between initiatives that were more and less reasonable. It looks like the anti-DEI wave is going to make the same mistake on the opposite extreme.
What does a uniquely Christian approach to DEI look like?
I believe that the words “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion” have value for Christians. There is a uniquely Christian approach to DEI that can serve as a third way amid all the cultural warring and political turmoil. I want to offer four irreducible minimums regarding DEI that all Christians might agree on, so that we have a common ground starting point for conversation.
1. Christians do not ebb and flow in an effort to chase the dollar or public approval, we stay grounded in truth.
To watch all these companies flip on DEI after their bold proclamations in 2020 is revolting. It is the definition of hypocrisy and moral fragility. They don’t care about right and wrong, they care about the bottom line. Truth is truth. As Christians, we understand that. When we look at the historic Christian witness, we see that there are times when our people fall into favor and times when we fall under persecution. When we experience favor, we capitalize on it with ministry to the lost and least. When we experience persecution, we suffer, rejoicing that in the same way they treated Jesus and the prophets.
2. Heaven will be extraordinarily diverse, but we ought not wait because the early church was too.
Most of us have read the heavenly vision of Revelation 7:9-10. Let us not forget how the early church showed incredible diversity across gender, ethnic, and socio-economic lines. An in-depth study of Romans 16 reveals that the Roman church was a group that included elites and slaves, men and women, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile. The most astonishing verses in this chapter aren’t even the ones that reveal who is in Rome, but the ones that reveal who is with Paul.
Romans 16:22-23 reveals that the zealous Pharisee, wealthy homeowner, city official, and former slaves Tertius and Quartus, were co-laboring together. This is the family of God. When I read Paul’s letters, it’s hard to deny that multi-ethnic-Jew-Gentile fellowship was one of his three most pressing fights.
3. Jesus employs the principle of equal-outcomes-equity in his parable of the vineyard workers.
Equity can’t be all bad if Jesus uses it. In Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus tells a parable where dayworkers are brought on site for labor throughout the day. Some work a full day, others come in at the last hour, but they are all paid the same. It’s a stunning image of God’s marvelous grace. I’m eager to see how God defies our imaginations with his grace. Kingdom salvation is not meritocratic. I would never suggest we build our nation’s economic policy or our business’ corporate culture on this one parable. However, its presence in Matthew forces us to prayerfully consider what it means to make this part of God’s Kingdom coming on earth as it is in heaven.
4. In a sectarian world, Jesus revolted by including people of all sorts.
Inclusion is a Christian virtue to a point. We have an exclusive faith. Jesus is the only way to God. However, all are invited to come and see Jesus’ revolutionary way. This sort of inclusive “come and see” culture should be a bare minimum for our Christian communities. Jesus had soft edges but a hard core. Anyone could come into his circle, yet no one left unchallenged. He ministered in a sectarian world, but his community reached Pharisees like Nicodemus, demoniacs like Mary, fishermen like Peter, zealots like Simon, tax collectors like Matthew, wealthy women like Joanna, and more.
In conclusion, no matter your opinion, we don’t have to wage war over DEI. Like any other popular movement or cultural artifact, we can engage it with both redemptive beauty and holy resistance. Jesus didn’t fit their boxes. Neither should we.
Tyler McKenzie serves as lead pastor at Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky.
Author: Christian Standard
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Tyler, Thank you for your thoughtful well, balanced and well presented article addressing DEI issues as a follower of Jesus. It is hard to maintain a balance in a time of polarization where both sides seem dedicated to taking their positions too far. Micah 6:8 provides us with an excellent compass, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” I believe you have captured and shared its beautifully for our time.
Well said. Jesus was diverse but also in love pointed out our hypocrisy.
At this point in our history I don’t hold much hope for common sense and love to prevail. It appears that God is allowing us as a nation to punish ourselves just as He did Israel and in fact still is.
I have the privilege of witnessing to quite a few non-believers and people who have left “religion “ because of the hypocrisy they see. So much so that I regularly include the sad fact that just because someone goes to church doesn’t make them a Christian.
“Good words used poorly” has always been an issue. Words like diversity, equity and inclusion seem to have been hijacked, much like the good word “discrimination” was in my formative years. Communication is difficult when definitions keep changing. However, the way in which we apply these concepts is what is most important. Pendelum swings are horrible. It happens way too often. The balance of Grace and Truth and Truth in Love is ALWAYS difficult. I believe most of us have a natural leaning, which means we have a natural way of interpreting life around us. We need to be cautious. Toward the end of the first century, I believe the Apostle John was trying to get folks to balance these two ideas of Truth and Love within his writings. Not a new issue; just a new generation.
Tyler, as always, a master of clarity and a champion of nuance in pursuit of rational and biblical discernment. Christians—turn off the tv and podcasts and read Christian Standard!
This article seems to represent a more partisan political bias than I am used to seeing in Christian Standard.
As a values based voter, and a true independent, I do not have a dog in the DEI fight.
However, over the last 60 years, I have come to expect Christian Standard to adhere to a position of political neutrality. In my humble opinion, this article fails that neutrality test.
Why should Christians be politically neutral on any moral issue? When I was a little boy growing up in the South I had family members who thought interracial marriage was a sin and that segregation was the way to go. Our preachers challenged those false ideas with simple Bible teaching. Ron Hucks said more than once “Heaven will be segregated” … after a pause he would add “only Christians will be there.” Another preacher challenged us asking is it better for you to marry a black Christian or a white non-Christian? We knew the answer. Those Restoration Movement preachers spoke with greater clarity than the denominations that were more prominent in that area. I’m glad those men weren’t worried about politics. DEI is rotten to the core. It was a cudgel for negative cultural change. Clearly Marxist tendencies were at work in the movement and behind Marxism is Satanic influence. Things that result in malice, and unfairness are part of the enemy’s plan. But remember there is nothing evil that isn’t something good twisted. The ability to love every person and understand that the bonds of the Kingdom of God are even greater than those of countrymen here in the USofA. We must realize that we will for eternity be a part of the vast multitude from every tribe, nation, and language from God’s Earth.
Thanks for a nuanced and balanced article on this hot button issue. The parable of the workers certainly does suggest equity is a consideration not just color blind equality. The distribution to the Greek speaking widows in Acts gives us another example of a solution to previous bad treatment that provided special treatment to an ethnic group that had been overlooked. Equal treatment is not always equitable treatment, we must consider what’s fair even if that means at times not being equal across the board
We are all made in the image of God. Whenever you look at someone, you are looking at God’s image. Remember that when you feel, think, do toward that person.
I recently was struck with the scripture passage to invite the poor to parties – those who cannot return the favor. Our church has been emphasizing “the one” in your life that doesn’t know Jesus but I find myself without one. Partly because I moved 400 miles here and starting over; – most of my friends are already Christians and my gift is Encouragement – more than Evangelism. However, I do strongly believe in the Great Commission. Matthew, when he first trusted in Jesus threw a party and invited his fellow tax collectors. I remember reading that only 2% of Christians are evangelistic. Time to trust in Jesus’s words to invite those that need Jesus and change the world! It will be much easier to find your one then.