We live in an age where categories are rapidly collapsing. Male and female are considered fluid. Morality is redefined as preference. And now, perhaps most provocatively, sexual behavior is being framed as an issue of civil rights. According to many in modern progressive movements, to identify as LGBTQ+ is not only to express a private identity but to belong to an oppressed class—one whose demands for legal protection and cultural affirmation are as valid as those of Black Americans during the Jim Crow era.
But is that really the case?
In his 2024 book It’s Not Like Being Black: How Sexual Activists Hijacked the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Voddie T. Baucham Jr. offers a decisive and theologically grounded answer: No, it is not. To equate the movement for “sexual rights” with the struggle for racial justice is not only intellectually dishonest, it is spiritually dangerous. The book is part cultural analysis, part theological exposé, and part pastoral appeal. It is a warning to the Church—and to America.
This review unpacks Baucham’s argument and aims to do three things:
- Clarify the ideological strategies he identifies (especially Critical Theory and intersectionality).
- Explain the spiritual implications of redefining sin as identity.
- Show why this message matters urgently for Christians in our cultural moment.
But before diving into the book’s substance, we need to understand the man behind it.
Meet the Author – Voddie T. Baucham Jr.
Voddie Baucham is no stranger to controversy. A former pastor in the United States and current President of Founders Seminary in Florida, he spent many years as Dean of Theology at African Christian University in Zambia. But more than his titles, Baucham is known for his rare blend of biblical fidelity, cultural clarity, and rhetorical boldness.
Raised in inner-city Los Angeles by a single mother, Baucham came to faith in Christ during college. He graduated from Houston Baptist University, later receiving theological training from both Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Oxford University. He has written extensively on topics ranging from family discipleship (Family Shepherds) to cultural apologetics (Fault Lines), and now with It’s Not Like Being Black, he turns his attention to the intersection of race, sexual politics, and Christian doctrine.
Importantly, Baucham is a Black man—something he does not flaunt, but which gives him moral clarity when addressing how the Civil Rights Movement is being redefined in ways he considers both inappropriate and deceitful. He has often said, “I’m not a Black Christian. I’m a Christian who happens to be Black.” That perspective—rooted in identity in Christ rather than ethnic or cultural tribalism—shapes the entire book.
Overview of the Book
It’s Not Like Being Black is organized into ten chapters across three parts:
Part One: The False Equivalency
This section opens with the cultural claim that “gay is the new Black.” Baucham exposes the flawed logic behind this assertion. He explains that being Black is an immutable trait rooted in biology and history, whereas identifying as gay or transgender is not rooted in biology in the same way, and is often defined by behavior and self-perception.
Part Two: The Hijacking
Here, Baucham chronicles how LGBTQ+ activists borrowed from the Civil Rights Playbook—strategically mimicking its language, framing, and moral weight. He illustrates this with examples from politics, education, and media. The goal, Baucham argues, is not justice, but moral immunity—to label all disagreement as hate and all dissent as oppression.
Part Three: The Biblical Response
In the final section, Baucham turns his attention to the Church, which he sees as vulnerable to compromise due to biblical illiteracy and cultural pressure. He equips Christians to reject the false analogy between race and sexuality and to reaffirm biblical categories of sin, repentance, and grace.
The book is not academic in tone, but it is intellectually robust. Baucham draws from history, theology, social analysis, and lived experience. He doesn’t merely warn—he teaches.
The Bait-and-Switch of Critical Theory and Intersectionality
If you want to understand what Baucham calls the “hijacking” of the Civil Rights Movement, you have to understand the machinery behind it. That machinery is built on the twin ideologies of Critical Theory and Intersectionality—terms that may sound academic or distant, but which today shape how people see truth, identity, and justice.
Baucham argues that these ideologies are not merely mistaken; they are designed to deceive. He calls them part of a bait-and-switch strategy: bait people with the language of compassion, justice, and equality, then switch the underlying definitions until the entire moral framework is flipped.
Let’s unpack these terms so we can see what Baucham sees—and why it matters so much.
What Is Critical Theory?
Critical Theory is not the same as being “critical.” It is a specific worldview, developed in the early 20th century by Marxist scholars at the Frankfurt School in Germany. These scholars believed that traditional Western values—especially Christianity, capitalism, the nuclear family, and objective truth—were tools of oppression. So they set out not merely to understand the world, but to change it by “deconstructing” these ideas.
Baucham summarizes Critical Theory this way:
It’s not about facts, evidence, or truth. It’s about power. The world is divided into two groups: oppressors and the oppressed.
Under Critical Theory:
- If you are white, male, heterosexual, Christian, or able-bodied—you are automatically an oppressor.
- If you are Black, female, LGBTQ+, Muslim, or disabled—you are automatically oppressed.
It doesn’t matter what you believe, how you behave, or how others actually treat you. Your status is determined by your group identity.
Baucham notes that this turns biblical justice upside-down. Instead of looking at individual actions, motivations, or moral law, Critical Theory looks only at social groups and assumed power dynamics.
In this worldview, sin is no longer what God defines it to be. Instead, the greatest evil is “oppression,” and the greatest good is “liberation.”
What Is Intersectionality?
Intersectionality is a concept developed in the 1980s by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw. It teaches that people experience overlapping forms of oppression based on their various identity markers. So, a Black lesbian woman is considered more oppressed than a white gay man or a Black heterosexual man.
Intersectionality ranks people on a sliding scale of victimhood. This is often referred to as their “oppression score.” The more oppressed categories you belong to, the more moral authority you are believed to have.
This system is often represented as a stacking of identities: race + gender + sexuality + class + disability + immigration status, etc.
Baucham warns that this creates a new kind of tribalism:
People are taught not to see each other as fellow human beings made in God’s image, but as rivals in a contest of oppression.
It also silences dissent. If someone with more “privilege” disagrees with someone lower on the oppression scale, their argument is automatically disqualified.
In short:
- Truth becomes relative.
- Morality becomes inverted.
- Justice becomes redefined.
How LGBTQ+ Activists Used These Tools
Baucham shows how activists, especially in the LGBTQ+ movement, have used these tools with remarkable success.
Language Manipulation
First, they adopted the language of civil rights: “equality,” “rights,” “dignity,” “liberation,” “justice.” By using these emotionally loaded terms, they made opposition seem cruel and outdated.
But they didn’t stop there. They also redefined terms:
- Tolerance used to mean allowing different views to exist. Now it means celebrating and affirming others’ choices.
- Hate used to mean hostility or violence. Now it means disagreement with someone’s lifestyle.
- Love used to mean seeking the good of another. Now it means accepting everything someone says about themselves.
Baucham says this amounts to linguistic theft—stealing the words of justice and repurposing them to protect moral rebellion.
Borrowing Moral Authority
Next, LGBTQ+ activists claimed the same moral high ground that was won by the Civil Rights Movement. They argued: “Just as it was wrong to discriminate against someone for being Black, it’s wrong to discriminate against someone for being gay.”
Baucham’s reply is sharp:
Being Black is not a behavior. It is not a lifestyle. It is not an identity one chooses or can change. It is an immutable characteristic. Homosexuality is not the same thing.
He continues:
This is not about people being denied access to lunch counters. This is about people demanding that Christian bakers affirm their weddings.
In other words, one fight was for equal treatment under law; the other is a demand for moral approval and cultural capitulation.
Why the Bait-and-Switch Works
Baucham argues that many Americans—even Christians—have bought into this switch for four reasons:
- Emotional Appeal – The stories told are often heartbreaking: rejection, bullying, suicide. Many people, out of compassion, don’t want to seem unloving or intolerant.
- Historical Guilt – Because of America’s real racial sins—slavery, segregation, discrimination—people are hesitant to “be on the wrong side of history” again. Activists exploit that fear.
- Cultural Pressure – Media, schools, and corporations all reinforce the new narrative. To speak against it is to risk social or even professional consequences.
- Biblical Illiteracy – Many Christians simply don’t know what the Bible teaches about sin, identity, or grace. They’ve been catechized more by the culture than by Scripture.
Baucham believes the Church must wake up—not in the “woke” sense of embracing Critical Theory, but in the biblical sense of recognizing the spiritual deception at work.
This isn’t just a political issue. It’s a theological one. It’s about the nature of sin, the definition of man, and the authority of God’s Word.
The Biblical Response – Sin, Identity, and the Church’s Calling
In Part Three of It’s Not Like Being Black, Voddie Baucham shifts from cultural analysis to theological engagement. His message to the Church is urgent but not panicked: the greatest danger is not that the world is confused—it’s that the Church is becoming complicit.
This section of the book challenges believers to think biblically about identity, justice, and morality. It also issues a clear warning: we cannot outsource our moral compass to culture and still claim to be faithful to Christ.
Let’s walk through several of the theological insights Baucham presents and what they mean for faithful Christian witness.
Identity: Who Are We, Really?
One of the central themes in modern progressive ideology is that identity is self-defined. In contrast, Baucham argues that the Bible teaches identity is God-defined.
The world says, ‘I am what I feel.’ God says, ‘You are who I made you to be—and you must be born again.’
The sexual revolution teaches that desires are destiny. If you feel attracted to the same sex, then you are gay. If you feel discomfort in your body, then you are transgender. These feelings become identity categories that demand public recognition and legal protection.
Baucham challenges this directly. He reminds readers that the Bible separates who we are (image-bearers of God, male and female) from how we behave (in either obedience or sin). The Bible never treats sinful desires—whether sexual or otherwise—as identity markers.
To say “I am gay” or “I am transgender” is not the same as saying “I am Black.” Race is not a moral category; sexuality and gender identity are.
Christians must recover the biblical understanding of sin. If we turn sin into identity, we make repentance impossible.
He warns that many churches—perhaps out of good intentions—have adopted unbiblical language and frameworks when trying to engage with LGBTQ+ individuals. But calling someone a “gay Christian” is like calling someone a “thieving Christian” or “adulterous Christian.” Sin may be a struggle, but it is never a suitable label for one’s identity in Christ.
The Nature of Sin and the Necessity of Repentance
Baucham is not writing with cruelty or hate. In fact, he emphasizes love and compassion throughout. But he insists that love must be truthful. And biblically, truth involves a correct understanding of sin.
In Romans 1, Paul writes that when people exchange the truth of God for a lie, they are “given over” to dishonorable passions (Romans 1:26–27). Baucham explains that homosexuality is not just a sin among many—it is presented as a symptom of a deeper rebellion, a suppression of truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18).
This is not about singling out one sin as worse than others. It’s about understanding what sin reveals about the heart. Sexual sin—especially celebrated sexual sin—shows us the cost of exchanging God’s authority for self-rule.
He reminds us that the gospel is not about affirming people in their desires—it’s about calling people out of darkness into light. Repentance is not a hateful demand; it’s a loving invitation.
Baucham also notes that repentance is not optional. You cannot cling to sin and claim Christ. This is as true for heterosexual lust as it is for same-sex attraction. What matters is not the kind of temptation but the call to mortify it.
Justice According to God
The word justice has become so politicized that it’s difficult to use it clearly anymore. But Baucham insists we cannot let the world steal this term from the Bible.
In Scripture, justice is rooted in God’s character and law. It is not about giving everyone what they feel entitled to, but about giving each what is due—according to God’s righteous standard. That includes truth, mercy, and moral accountability.
The modern LGBTQ+ movement has transformed justice into affirmation. To be just, you must agree with someone’s self-declared identity. If you don’t, you’re “denying their existence,” or “harming them,” or “erasing them.”
Baucham calls this counterfeit justice. Real justice does not flatter—it convicts. It does not excuse sin—it forgives sin through Christ. And most importantly, it does not derive from public consensus—it is revealed by God.
He warns churches not to be seduced by the world’s empty slogans: “Love is love,” “No justice, no peace,” or “Trans rights are human rights.” These sound compassionate but are often moral Trojan horses.
When the church adopts the world’s definition of justice, it abandons the gospel.
The Mission of the Church
At the heart of Baucham’s critique is a pastoral concern: that many churches, ministries, and denominations are trading biblical faithfulness for cultural relevance.
Instead of calling sinners to repentance and faith, some now call for “safe spaces,” “inclusive theology,” or “LGBT-affirming spirituality.” Instead of confronting the culture with God’s Word, they mimic the culture’s values and vocabulary.
Baucham believes this stems from two failures:
- A failure to teach sound doctrine.
- A fear of man rather than fear of God.
He reminds us that the Church’s mission is not to avoid offense, but to proclaim truth and make disciples. The cross will always offend. Repentance will always feel like loss—until it is seen as gain.
He writes:
We must choose: Will we offend man or God? Will we preach repentance or relevance?
This is not about being needlessly harsh. Baucham affirms that every person is made in God’s image and deserves dignity and compassion. But he warns that true compassion never lies. And the church that seeks to be liked more than it seeks to be holy will eventually cease to be a church at all.
Spiritual Implications for the Christian
At this point in the book—and this review—it should be clear that Voddie Baucham is not merely offering a political argument or a social critique. He is giving a spiritual diagnosis. The Church today is not just facing cultural drift; it is facing doctrinal erosion. And at the heart of that erosion is a subtle but deadly lie: that affirming sin is loving, and calling it out is hateful.
Redefining Love and Compassion
The most powerful moral weapon used by the modern sexual rights movement is the appeal to love. Who wants to be unloving? Who wants to be accused of rejecting someone? That’s why slogans like “Love is love” have become so effective. They wrap rebellion in the language of righteousness.
But Baucham reminds Christians that the biblical definition of love is very different from the cultural one.
Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6).
Love, according to Scripture, is not the acceptance of every desire but the willing of another’s highest good. And that highest good is not affirmation—it is reconciliation with God.
To tell someone “you are perfect just as you are” may seem kind, but it is a spiritual betrayal. The gospel begins with the truth that none of us is perfect as we are. We are born into sin. We are rebels against a holy God. And we need redemption—not validation.
Baucham puts it this way:
Real love risks rejection. Real compassion tells the truth. Real grace does not wink at sin—it pays for it.
When churches begin to affirm identities that God’s Word condemns as sinful, they may think they are loving. But in reality, they are withholding the only hope that saves.
The Gospel Is Not Moral Indifference
Baucham is especially concerned that many Christians have adopted a soft form of moral neutrality—as if the Church’s job is to step back from culture wars and just “focus on Jesus.” But which Jesus? The Jesus of modern sentimentality or the Jesus of Scripture?
The real Jesus:
- Taught about hell more than anyone else in the New Testament.
- Affirmed the authority of Genesis in matters of marriage and gender (see Matthew 19:4–6).
- Called sinners to repentance (Luke 13:3,5).
- Warned that following Him would bring division, not worldly peace (Luke 12:51–53).
In short, Jesus never separated salvation from lordship, or grace from obedience. He never told people to live “their truth.” He said, “I am the truth” (John 14:6).
Baucham warns that when churches water down the gospel to avoid offending cultural sensibilities—especially around sexual ethics—they are not being peaceful, they are being unfaithful. They are offering people a Jesus who cannot save.
The Idolatry of Identity
One of the most compelling points in It’s Not Like Being Black is Baucham’s analysis of modern identity culture. He argues that we are witnessing a form of idolatry—not of statues or golden calves, but of the self.
The ultimate goal of sexual identity politics is not freedom—it is lordship. It is the enthronement of the self over against God.
This is why the demand for affirmation is so intense. It is not enough to tolerate; one must celebrate. Why? Because affirmation is worship. When society (or a church) affirms someone’s self-defined identity, it becomes an act of moral approval—a public confession that the individual, not God, is the source of truth.
This is why Baucham is so forceful about rejecting the parallel between racial identity and sexual identity. The former is a matter of biology and history; the latter is a matter of behavior, desire, and moral rebellion. When we blend these categories, we flatten morality into politics and politics into theology.
Christians are called to die to self, not enthrone it.
The Church Must Be the Church
Baucham doesn’t just critique; he exhorts. He pleads with pastors to preach the whole counsel of God. He calls on Christian parents to train their children in biblical discernment. He urges church members to resist the pressure to compromise in the name of relevance.
He reminds believers that we are not called to be culture warriors in the flesh, but spiritual soldiers in the Spirit. Our weapons are truth, grace, courage, and prayer.
We must speak clearly and compassionately. But we must speak.
The Church cannot be salt and light if it blends into the world. Nor can it bear witness to the gospel if it censors its own convictions. Baucham is not asking Christians to be angry or aggressive—but to be anchored in the Word.
Faithfulness will cost something. It may cost friendships. It may cost career opportunities. In some cases, it may cost freedom. But Baucham’s message is clear: compromise may gain temporary peace, but it forfeits eternal power.
Why This Book Matters Today—For the Church and the Nation
We live in an age where words are weaponized, truth is traded for tolerance, and sin is celebrated under the banner of civil rights. In that age, a book like It’s Not Like Being Black stands out as a fire-alarm in the night—a direct, pastoral, and principled call to wake up before it’s too late.
Voddie Baucham’s thesis is simple: the sexual rights movement is not the civil rights movement. It borrows the language of justice to promote the normalization of moral rebellion. And the Church, if it is not discerning, will be drawn into affirming what God condemns—all in the name of “compassion.”
So why does this message matter now?
Because America Is Losing the Ability to Discern
In many places, cultural momentum is no longer shaped by reason, evidence, or shared moral assumptions—it is shaped by emotion, tribal identity, and fear of offense.
Consider the current environment:
- Children are taught that gender is fluid and that anyone who disagrees is hateful.
- Corporate institutions mandate pronoun usage and sexual affirmation as workplace ethics.
- The media regularly compares religious conservatives to racists.
- Civil liberties like free speech and religious freedom are often pitted against LGBTQ+ rights.
In this confusion, It’s Not Like Being Black offers clarity. Baucham helps readers trace the root ideologies behind the chaos—Critical Theory, Intersectionality, identity politics—and then applies Scripture to expose their false assumptions.
This is not a culture war book. It’s a truth war book. It’s a call to discernment in an age of deception.
Because Many Christians Feel Intimidated or Confused
One of the great tragedies of this moment is not that the Church is being persecuted—but that the Church is often paralyzed.
Young believers face real pressure: “If I say homosexuality is a sin, will I lose my friends?”
Parents ask: “If I tell my child their gender confusion is wrong, will they shut me out forever?”
Pastors wonder: “If I preach Romans 1, will my congregation accuse me of bigotry?”
Baucham understands this fear. But he reminds us that fear must not govern our witness.
We do not serve Caesar. We serve Christ. And Christ has already told us what is true, what is good, and what is just.
He calls Christians to stop outsourcing their moral framework to the culture. We don’t need cultural permission to believe what God has revealed. The authority of Scripture is sufficient, not only for salvation but also for understanding the world.
It’s Not Like Being Black equips Christians with moral courage. It doesn’t just help you say “No” to cultural lies; it helps you say “Yes” to biblical truth.
Because the Church Must Lead, Not Follow
There’s an old saying: “The world sets the agenda for the Church when the Church stops preaching the Word.”
Baucham fears this is happening today. Many churches:
- Replace sermons with storytelling.
- Trade theological clarity for emotional resonance.
- Avoid difficult topics to maintain institutional peace.
In doing so, they allow the culture to catechize the people of God. Baucham argues this is spiritual malpractice. The Church must not follow the world’s logic. It must lead with God’s Word.
When the Church affirms what God forbids, it ceases to be prophetic. It becomes a puppet.
This does not mean becoming angry or combative. It means becoming rooted and resolute. It means being able to speak hard truths gently—but also plainly.
Because Every Christian Will Be Confronted
This isn’t theoretical. It’s personal.
Whether in the workplace, on a college campus, in a family gathering, or even inside the church, believers will be confronted by these issues:
- “Don’t you think people should be allowed to love whoever they want?”
- “Do you believe being gay is a sin?”
- “What about transgender Christians?”
- “Do you think your views are better than others?”
If Christians aren’t equipped with sound theology and moral clarity, they will either compromise or collapse.
Baucham gives believers a framework to respond:
- With grace, but not silence.
- With compassion, but not capitulation.
- With humility, but not hesitation.
We are not called to win arguments, but to bear witness. To speak truth. To suffer well. And to rejoice in being counted worthy to suffer for the name of Christ (Acts 5:41).
Conclusion: A Word to the Reader
If you’ve read this far, you probably already feel the weight of the issues Baucham raises. Perhaps you’ve seen these shifts in your workplace, your church, or even your own family. Perhaps you’ve felt the sting of false accusations—“bigot,” “hater,” “homophobe”—when all you wanted to do was speak the truth in love.
It’s Not Like Being Black is not a comforting book. It’s a clarifying one. It reminds us that love without truth is not love. That silence in the face of deception is not peace. And that the gospel is not just good news for the oppressed—it’s good news for sinners, including those oppressed by their own desires.
Voddie Baucham has written a book that every thoughtful Christian should read, reflect on, and return to again and again. Not because it gives easy answers—but because it helps us ask the right questions:
- What is true?
- What is sin?
- What is love?
- What is justice?
- And who defines them?
In a world that demands affirmation, this book reminds us that what people need most is not affirmation—but transformation. Not the approval of man, but the grace of God. Not a new identity, but a new heart.
May the Church have the courage to say so.
S.D.G.,
Robert Sparkman
rob@basedchristianity.org
RELATED CONTENT
Becket Cook discusses the book It’s Not Like Being Black: The Sexual Activists Hijacking of Civil Rights with the author, Voddie Baucham.
Voddie Baucham delivers a message called “Is Gay the New Black?” at the 2014 Semper Reformanda conference.
Tom Ascol and Graham Gunden of Founders Ministries discuss the book It’s Not Like Being Black: The Sexual Activists Hijacking of Civil Rights with the author, Voddie Baucham, on The Sword & Trowel podcast.
Concerning the Related Content section, I encourage everyone to evaluate the content carefully.
I will continue to add videos and other items to the Related Content section as opportunities present themselves.If I have listed the content, I think it is worthwhile viewing to educate yourself on the topic, but it may contain some opinions I don’t agree with.
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If you have evidence that I am wrong about a material statement of fact, provide the evidence and I will gladly review it and make revisions if merited.
Obviously, there are some assertions that are matters of opinion that I will not change, but I always strive to be truthful. We are all capable of mistakes and misunderstandings on occasion, though.
Regarding depictions of Jesus, images accompanying the article may contain depictions of Jesus. I realize that some fellow Christians, particularly some conservative Presbyterians, consider these images to be a form of idolatry. I do not agree with their opinion on this matter. These images are for illustrative purposes and do not represent a form of worship.
I recommend these Youtube channels for good content on Christian matters: Founders Ministries, Ligonier Ministries, Grace to You, G3 Ministries, and Truth for Life. RC Sproul, Voddie Baucham, Alistair Begg, Kevin DeYoung, Albert Mohler, Tom Ascol and John MacArthur are well-known, trustworthy pastors and teachers with content across multiple forums.
Francis Schaeffer, Tom Ascol, Allie Beth Stuckey and Nancy Pearcey have some valuable materials related to cultural matters, as well.