Raising Faithful Children in a Divided World

“Intersectionality, sweetheart.” That’s how I answered my 9-year-old daughter’s question about what I was reading one evening in 2020. Her curiosity caught me off guard, and I hesitated to elaborate. When she asked if intersectionality was scary, I responded, “Yes, it is.”

Reflecting on that moment, I’ve come to see why I paused. Intersectionality, a framework originally designed to highlight overlapping forms of discrimination, has grown into a worldview with implications for how we understand ourselves and others. As a father of a multiethnic adoptive family, this ideology hits close to home.

Intersectionality presumes that every human interaction operates through power dynamics of oppression and privilege, sorted by group identities such as race, gender, and more. Though often well-intentioned, this framework reduces people to categories and pits them against one another. For my family, it’s not merely a theory but a daily challenge.

A Test Case for Intersectionality

My wife and I married in 2003, and our family grew to seven: five children from various backgrounds, including adoption and biological birth. From Ethiopia to Mississippi, from part-Cherokee heritage to pale Northern European roots, we are a tapestry of diversity. Yet in our home, our children are first and foremost our children.

The lens of intersectionality, however, doesn’t see family unity. It asks divisive questions: Are my adopted children victims of cultural erasure? Is my biological son an unknowing oppressor? Should my children hold grievances against one another based on their skin color or ancestry? These questions, framed by intersectional ideology, threaten to undermine the love and belonging we have cultivated.

The Cruelty of False Compassion

Intersectionality claims to promote justice and compassion, but its practical application often breeds division and despair. My children hear messages from the world that tell them:

• Their neighbors secretly fear them.

• Police officers are at war with them.

• Teachers doubt their potential.

These narratives, though intended to spark awareness, burden my children with confusion and mistrust. It’s cruel to tell them their future depends on others’ moral improvement or lower expectations based on their skin color. It’s equally cruel for employers to treat them as tokens for diversity. Both messages reduce their dignity to their ethnicity, undermining their confidence and intrinsic worth.

A Better Way Forward

• In our home, we counter these voices with deeper truths. At the “intersection” of competing identities, we prioritize three that orient and unite our family:

• You Are Made in God’s Image 

  Before their ethnicity, heritage, or nationality, my children are image-bearers of the Creator. Intersectionality focuses on external differences, but we begin with the shared humanity of Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

  This truth affirms the dignity of every person and teaches my children to value others not for their group identity but for their divine design. We celebrate the unique beauty of their backgrounds but never let it overshadow their fundamental worth as people made in God’s image.

• You Are Hunters 

  Our last name, Hunter, ties us together as a family. While adoption brought some of our children to us, they are fully and irrevocably part of our family. We tell them stories of our ancestors inventors, war heroes, morticians and emphasize that they belong to this legacy.

  Intersectionality undermines family bonds by prioritizing racial or cultural identity over familial unity. In contrast, we celebrate adoption as part of our history, not an asterisk to it. Our family name unites us, reminding our children they are not foreigners to one another but brothers and sisters.

• You Are Americans 

  Though earthly citizenship is temporary, it is a meaningful gift. In Philippians 3:20, Paul points to our heavenly citizenship while acknowledging the value of earthly belonging. My children are Americans, united by shared ideals rather than ethnicity.

  Intersectionality, by contrast, alienates people from their neighbors. It focuses on differences rather than shared values, fostering division instead of unity. We teach our children to embrace their identity as Americans, seeing citizenship as an opportunity to love and serve those around them.

Our True Identity in Christ

Ultimately, the most defining identity for my children is their identity in Christ. They are sinners in need of grace, just like their parents and every person they meet. The gospel teaches us that our value is not in our skin color, accomplishments, or group affiliations but in Christ’s atoning work on the cross.

Intersectionality’s framework of perpetual oppression cannot coexist with the gospel. Its logic demands endless penance and fosters suspicion, while the gospel offers forgiveness and reconciliation. Christ’s sacrifice unites us, tearing down the barriers of hostility and creating a new humanity (Ephesians 2:14–16).

The Church: A Vision of True Diversity

Our family finds refuge in the church, the safest intersection in town. Here, Christ reigns at the center, uniting people from every tribe, language, and nation under his lordship (Revelation 5:9–10). This unity, rooted in shared faith rather than superficial diversity metrics, offers a glimpse of the world to come.

In our church, we do not measure faithfulness by the ethnic makeup of our congregation. Instead, we obey Christ’s commands, welcome all people, and show hospitality without partiality. This Christ-centered focus creates a community where love can flourish, free from the divisive pressures of worldly ideologies.

What I Want My Children to Know

Intersectionality taps into the longing for justice but cannot deliver the belonging and purpose my children need. That’s why we center our family on truths that transcend the categories of this world:

• You are made in God’s image.

• You are part of this family.

• You are a citizen of this nation.

• You are a Christian, redeemed by Christ’s blood.

At this intersection, Christ carries the burdens of identity and justice for us. Nothing is too heavy for him.

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