An essay. Is Critical Social Justice secular theology? (How Quasi-Religious Critical Theories Captured Institutions ) In #philosophy, it's common and normal to start with a provisional axiom and argue as if it's true for the sake of exploration—these are often called provisional assumptions, and they're meant to be challenged, revised, or dropped if they don't hold up. But in the oppression-centered critical disciplines (CRT and its many cousins like postcolonial theory, queer theory, critical feminism, etc.), the core axioms are not provisional. They are treated as settled realities or foundational truths. For example, CRT scholars like Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic describe racism as "ordinary, not aberrational"—the normal, everyday way society does business, embedded in every nook and cranny—and you basically have to accept this "settled reality" of systemic racism (and related premises) to even engage meaningfully in the field. There are plenty of other core assumptions like this, and I call them non-provisional certainties or dogmatic axioms: they're not starting points open to genuine examination; they're treated as structural givens that define the inquiry. Non-provisional certainties show up occasionally in the humanities, but they're absolutely central to theology and religious studies. Theologians openly start from unfalsifiable core axioms—like "God exists" or "Scripture is divinely inspired"—and then build arguments and interpretations within that protected framework. Theology embraces its foundational commitments as matters of faith and revelation. It doesn’t pretend to be neutral empirical science or even neutral philosophy. But the oppression-centered critical disciplines do pretend exactly that. Here’s my main point… CRT, systemic racism theory, decolonialism, whiteness studies, and the rest are strikingly similar in structure to theology. They operate with dogmatic axioms at their cores—almost in a neo-religious sense. When challenged, counter-evidence gets re-framed as proof of even deeper oppression rather than disconfirmation. For example, criticisms or critiques of CRT (or related theories) are often treated as manifestations of latent racism, defensiveness, or complicity in maintaining the status quo. Another example - advocating for colorblind policies or meritocracy or individual equality under the law (i.e., arguing against equity) is re-framed as a tool that perpetuates racism by ignoring structural realities. In both these examples, they literally defend themselves by saying you're racist for asking those questions. These frameworks claim the authority of scholarship and real-world insight, but their non-provisional starting points make them function more like a quasi religion than open scientific inquiry. And they resist any serious examination. Criticisms and critiques are often 'thrown back' on the questioner, like an ad-hominem attack. For most of their histories—from emergence in the late 1970s/80s through the 2000s and early 2010s—these oppression-centered critical disciplines (CRT and its cousins) grew largely unchallenged in academia and steadily permeated society. They expanded into education, sociology, cultural studies, DEI, corporate training, and public policy without much scrutiny or pushback on their non-provisional axioms. This unchallenged ascent let them accumulate massive institutional power: shaping curricula, hiring, funding, policies, and norms around race, equity, and justice. They've become incredibly powerful. These quasi-religious frameworks have embedded deeply in elite institutions, government, and business—yet they're rarely recognized as such, still cloaked as neutral scholarship. They wield real-world influence far beyond what provisional, non-evidence-based critical theory should ever achieve. But unchecked growth doesn't prove validity; it just shows how 'asleep at the wheel' critics and society were. Serious critiques have emerged from voices like James Lindsay, Thomas Sowell, Jordan Peterson, Chris Rufo and the Heritage Foundation, but IMO they haven't broken through widely yet. It's time to expose this dominance further. How do we raise public awareness? IMO this could be the defining issue of our time—these disciplines have shaped the entire social justice movement into a quasi-religious force. Have these disciplines redefined what it means to be American? I think that’s not an overstatement. For most of American history individual liberty, natural rights and personal virtue were our central moral framing. Now the framing has largely shifted to race and power (oppressed vs oppressor) and these disciplines are largely responsible for that shift. They have become incredibly influential. And, in my opinion, they currently hold the upper hand. And so awareness of their theological structure isn't an endpoint; it's the spark that must ignite broader scrutiny and, ultimately, the restoration of genuine inquiry over ideology and dogma. DEI, CRT, systemic racism and all of them come from a literal secular theology! Ultimately, the battle isn't merely over policy or evidence—it's over perception. We must strip away the pretense of neutral, scientific inquiry and reveal these oppression-centered critical disciplines for the quasi-religious frameworks they are: structured around non-provisional certainties, dogmatic axioms, and mechanisms of doctrinal defense that mirror theology far more than social science. These quasi-religious Oppression-Centered Critical Theories have captured institutions and much of America. We must persistently name this reality—through clear explanations, public debates, accessible writings, and everyday conversations. We must fight to equip the average American to see beyond the academic veneer. And we must fight to expose the entrenched and continuing threat these theology-like, quasi religious ideologies pose. -Ian Ferrin Feb. 6, 2026

The first trillionaire in human history - Elon Musk - Born in South Africa - Bullied relentlessly as a kid - Immigrated to North America - Arrived with a backpack and a dream - Built Zip2 with his brother - Sold it 4 years later for $300 million - Co-founded PayPal with the profits - Revolutionised digital payments - Sold PayPal to eBay for $1.5 billion - Bet everything on Tesla and SpaceX - Got mocked for electric cars - Got laughed at for reusable rockets - Nearly went bankrupt in 2008 - Kept building anyway - Turned Tesla into the world’s most valuable automaker - Made EVs mainstream and transformed the automotive industry - Made reusable rockets a reality - Reduced the cost of reaching space by 95% - Sparked the modern commercial space race - Built Starlink and connected millions around the world to high-speed internet - Turned SpaceX into the most valuable private company in history - Bought Twitter for $44 billion - The world said he overpaid - He was called reckless, stupid & crazy - Advertisers fled, media declared it dead - Critics called it the worst acquisition in tech history - Renamed it 𝕏 - Rebuilt the platform anyway - Turned it into one of the most influential platforms on Earth - Launched xAI and accelerated the global AI race - Sent astronauts to space - Is trying to get humans to mars - Created millions of jobs - Generated hundreds of billions in value - Inspired an entire generation of builders Before: - Failed repeatedly - Worked insane hours - Slept in factories and offices - Got bullied, laughed at and mocked - Constantly told “it’s impossible” - Kept building anyway - Made it possible Today: - Richest person on Earth - First trillionaire in human history - Largest IPO in history $1.77 trillion Most people quit when the world laughs at them. Elon Musk built the future instead. Love him or hate him… Nobody has changed more industries in a single lifetime. Payments. Cars. Energy. Space. Social Media. Communications. AI. History won’t remember the people who said it couldn’t be done. It will remember the people who did it anyway. Congratulations Elon. The first trillionaire. 🚀

Trump says there's a 90% chance he'll sign a deal with Iran. I say there's a 1% chance. Lets see who's right tomorrow, me or Trump!

You're absolutely correct that tons could go wrong. And you're correct also that Starship isn't operational yet. And you're again correct that Starship is THE big kahuna. If they don't get Starship operational, the stock price price will undoubtedly drop. The main forward enterprise for Spacex is based on the vision of 100% reusability. It's a paradigm shift for spaceflight and I'm sure it's why many investors are getting in. Once Starship is operational, those shares will undoubtedly soar. Elon could become a multi trillionaire. I'm pretty sure they're going to pull it off. It's a risky IPO for sure. You're talking to a SpaceX believer. Like Elon said I'm incredibly inspired to 'see what happens next'. x.com/IanFerrin/status/20654…

Elon wants reusable space flight so taking a rocket to the Moon is like taking a plane to Cincinnati. Mamdani wants seize the means of production so you can enjoy the warmth of collectivism in a freezing, rat-infested public housing unit during a rolling blackout while the commissars debate your heating allocation.

Elon Musk and SpaceX delivered one of the most inspiring messages today that I think I've ever heard. Their vision for humanity’s future is genuinely unmatched in its incredible optimism and boldness. Godspeed Elon and SpaceX.

I think most Americans intuitively understand “woke” as identity-based grievance politics, DEI quotas, cancel culture, trans ideology in schools and sports, radical feminism, anti-Western/anti-white guilt mantras, and speech policing. I believe this is all the result of CSJ - Critical Social Justice. See my many posts on the subject. Right now woke/DEI/CSJ ideology is on a bit of a hiatus in America (but certainly not in Europe) because of Trump. But it hasn't gone anywhere. There are ~20,000 CSJ professors in America teaching woke, crit theory classes every day. (CRT, Crit. Queer Theory, Intersectionality etc.) In Academia, Trump has barely registered a scratch on their numbers and academic influence. Many conservatives realize that the woke zealots haven't gone anywhere and when the Dems get the White House back their woke ideology is going to come flooding back into the culture with a vengeance. And I think they're right. I believe the best ultimate solution might be to put all the critical theory disciplines in their own department. Right now they're scattered widely across the Social Sciences, Humanities and Education. And they actually gain a lot of power from this diffusion because they're not viewed as a single united force, which I and many others believe they are. But siloing them in their own departments isn’t possible right now. Most people barely know what’s going on behind the scenes in academia, so there’s no real public pressure to do it. On my profile I say “Critical Social Justice ideology must be confronted at its academic roots.” To me this isn’t just a slogan — it’s the real solution. And maybe even more importantly, CSJ ideology must be exposed and understood by America as coming straight from Academia. Exposure still has to be the first step. Many are working on this: Colin Wright, Gad Saad, Douglas Murry, Elise Stefanik, Christ Rufo, John McWhorter, James Lindsay and many more from many angles. They're doing great work but IMO the conservatives are not winning. CSJ really does have twenty thousand professors teaching the ideology every day. CSJ is really, really powerful and dividing our culture in so many divisive ways. So I'm adding my voice: Critical Social Justice must be exposed at it's academic roots.

Elon Musk is going to be a trillionaire. He is hurting no one. He's not stealing from anyone. His new wealth is 100% created wealth created in the stock market. AOC and Bernie will call Elon a kleptocrat. But they are captured by zero sum Socialist ideology. They're wrong. They're idiots. People who believe this stuff know nothing about economics and the power of capitalism.

I love James Lindsay (see my posts quoting him). But his term 'Woke Right' is seriously flawed IMO. There is a very coherent thing as 'woke ideology'. On the right there is only very diverse and tribal 'woke ideologies'. Applying 'woke right' to all of them is confusing. IMO

The left are masters at language. AwakenedOutlaw describes this perfectly. "(their dense prose) relies both on the appearance of complexity, necessary to mask the thin substance"... "Hair-brained and imagineered labels employed by the radical left" Absolutely perfect phrasing.

~20K to zero. The true number of liberal v conservative professors teaching CSJ in American universities. Thousands to zero never happens unless something unnatural is going on. My previous 5K number was just the CSJ faculty in dedicated CSJ departments in big universities. This incorporates small universities and courses with significant Critical Social Justice content.

In San Francisco, if a security guard takes a photo of, or even describes what a shoplifter is stealing, the police will ticket the security guard. The SF homeless know their 'rights' and often call 911 to report security guards that 'harass' them when they're stealing.

Grok's statement. If anyone knows of a conservative CSJ professor, let me know and I'll take this posting down.