Are some religions privileged at ASU?
You decide
What does religious preferment and discrimination look like today?
Ask a humanities professor at Arizona State University—one committed to critical theory and intersectionality—and you’ll get a curious answer. You won’t hear about freedom of conscience or the rights of religious students. Instead, you’ll hear about “centering” and “decentering.” According to this framework, to “center” someone is to give them privilege, and the solution is simple: invert the power. Center the previously marginalized, and marginalize the previously centered.
The truth of beliefs is not the focus. Critical theory reduces truth to power and they want to get power for their beliefs.
What does that look like in practice?
Just this week at ASU, an event was held and offered “indigenous healers will be on site to provide support and smudging.”
What is smudging? It’s a spiritual ritual involving sage or other plants to cleanse a person of negative energy or spiritual burdens. In short: it’s a religious ceremony. The university-sponsored event presented this ritual not as one religious option among many, but as the way to deal with trauma. No other options were given for those who need help but don’t want to engage in that religious ritual.
Where was the alternative? There wasn’t one.
If the organizers meant to include this as one approach among others, why wasn’t a Christian option also made available? After all, according to Pew Research, 70% of Native Americans identify as Christian. Why not have a conservative Native American pastor on site to pray with attendees who might desire that kind of spiritual care? I can recommend someone.
Because that doesn’t fit the narrative.
This isn’t an isolated incident. Go to the ASU wellness page. Click on “mental wellness.” What’s their approach? They “advocate” for mindfulness. That sounds good—until you ask what it means. The only religious option listed is yoga—a practice rooted in Hindu spirituality. It includes a picture of a woman in the lotus position. That is the only religious option listed by ASU to deal with stress.
Where is the invitation to meditate on the Word of God? Or to contemplate how creation reveals the invisible attributes of God, as Romans 1 teaches? Nowhere.
These are not oversights. These events and webpages are planned with intentionality. They are the fruit of a deeply held worldview—one that claims to be about inclusion but systematically excludes historic Christianity, especially if it’s white, male, and conservative.
I once had a professor at ASU tell me bluntly: “It’s time for white Christian men to be oppressed.” That wasn’t a joke. That was her philosophy. That’s how she teaches.
Is this the new form of religious discrimination?
It doesn’t come with signs that say “no Christians allowed.” It comes with approved rituals and state-sponsored spirituality. It comes with “advocacy” for some religions and the purposeful exclusion of others. It comes with a smile and a “co-exist” sticker.
Parents and students: you need to know this.
Know what kind of education you are signing up for. Know what worldview is shaping your classes. And know that while Christians are told to stay silent about their faith because it is a secular university, other religions are being welcomed in as a form of spiritual health and cultural empowerment.
There’s nothing neutral about this. It’s not academic freedom. It’s a philosophy of oppression, dressed up in inclusive language.
Christians, be discerning. You are not imagining this.