At a recent college campus event, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk made a bold statement that’s gaining attention: he believes Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs are “unbiblical.”
Responding to a question from a self-described faith-based Democrat, Kirk took the opportunity to explain why he views DEI as fundamentally at odds with Christian teachings.
“I’m going to make a case—and I don’t know if it’ll be persuasive to you—why I think DEI is unbiblical,” Kirk told the audience.
Kirk began by pointing out that, while Jesus was both compassionate and inclusive, He also spoke hard truths. Referencing John 8, Kirk noted how Jesus told the adulterous woman to “sin no more” after preventing her from being stoned.
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“He was 100% grace and truth,” Kirk said. “That tension is very hard in a modern world because we want to overemphasize grace, when in reality Christ loves us too much to have us continue to live in sin.”
When the topic turned to DEI, Kirk didn’t hold back. He challenged the popular assumption that DEI is simply about understanding different perspectives.
“I’m going to go down to just the academic textbook definition of DEI,” he said, referencing the ideological roots of the movement. “Instead of having a goal of race blindness, they want a goal of race obsession and race consciousness—that we should talk about race more, not less.”
/**/For Kirk, this focus on racial identity directly contradicts Scripture.
“When the apostle Paul wrote, he said, ‘Neither slave nor Greek nor Jew, but we are all one in Christ Jesus,’” Kirk said. “Essentially stating that racial differences are indifferent—mean nothing—to the Almighty God.”
Kirk went further, arguing that DEI programs elevate skin color over the soul and character of a person.
“We should only care about character and the soul of an individual, not the melanin content in their skin,” he said.
In his view, DEI’s implementation across corporate and academic institutions has created a culture where racial and gender identities are used as tools for discrimination, particularly against white men.
“What DEI does through hiring practices, racial quotas and many other different ways that I could list, is that it has an emphasis on things that the Bible does not categorize as important,” Kirk said. “In fact, it says the exact opposite.”
While the conversation was civil and the questioner emphasized the value of learning about others’ experiences, Kirk’s central message was clear: “Care less about people’s shared racial experience and look at them instead just as their soul as God made them.”
Whether or not his take on DEI is persuasive to everyone, Kirk’s remarks highlight a growing divide between biblical values and some of today’s dominant cultural ideologies.
And as he wrapped up his answer, the audience applauded—not just for the commentary, but for the courage to say what many believers may be thinking, but few are saying publicly.
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James Lasher is staff writer for Charisma Media.
