{"id":80087,"date":"2025-01-31T06:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T11:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=80087"},"modified":"2025-01-31T07:15:34","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T12:15:34","slug":"diversity-equity-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Diversity, Equity, Inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The day after he was inaugurated, President Trump issued an executive order<\/a> reversing the federal government\u2019s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) policies and shutting down all government offices devoted to carrying out those policies.<\/p>\n

Not only that, he reversed the federal government\u2019s requirement that contractors and grant recipients have DEI programs.\u00a0 Up till now, contractors had to jump through numerous hoops to prove that they have DEI programs and that their workforces are diverse, equitable, and inclusive.\u00a0 From now on, according to this order, contractors and grant recipients must prove that they do NOT have DEI programs.\u00a0 Since so many companies do business with the U.S. government, this executive order may be the death knell to the DEI mandates that so many businesses have adopted.<\/p>\n

\n

To be sure, contrary to what you will probably be hearing, federal Civil Rights laws forbidding discrimination in employment will still be in effect.\u00a0 In fact, those anti-discrimination laws are cited as the basis of the order.<\/p>\n

According to the Wikipedia article on DEI<\/a>, \u201cDiversity<\/i> refers to the presence of variety within the organizational workforce, such as in identity and identity politics It includes gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, age, culture, class, religion, or opinion.\u201d\u00a0 Most DEI programs seem prioritize the first four.\u00a0 I have never seen \u201copinion\u201d counted as a favored category, and \u201creligion\u201d seems to refer mainly to \u201cunder-represented religions,\u201d such as Islam, as opposed to the various Christian traditions.<\/p>\n

The dictionary<\/a> definition of Equity<\/em> is \u201cthe\u00a0situation\u00a0in which everyone is\u00a0treated\u00a0fairly\u00a0according\u00a0to\u00a0their\u00a0needs\u00a0and no\u00a0group\u00a0of\u00a0people\u00a0is given\u00a0special\u00a0treatment.\u201d Quite recently, though, it acquired a new meaning:\u00a0 equality of outcomes<\/a>, as opposed to equality of opportunity.\u00a0 Wikipedia calls this \u201csubstantive equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inclusion<\/em> means creating a welcoming environment, or, in Wikipedia\u2019s words, \u201ccreating an organizational culture that creates . . . a sense of belonging and integration.\u201d\u00a0 This usually involves \u201cdiversity training\u201d for employees.<\/p>\n

What this all means in practice is not simply opening jobs to people from all backgrounds, but, in the name of the new definition of equity<\/em>, actually hiring individuals with the favored identities.\u00a0 That is, hiring people because<\/em> they are black, female, homosexual, or transgender.\u00a0 As opposed to their qualifications and abilities to do the job.\u00a0 In practice, this also means that individuals who do not have the right \u201cidentities\u201d to fill the slots, get passed over.<\/p>\n

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964<\/a> reads, in part:<\/p>\n

It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer \u2013<\/p>\n

\n

(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual\u2019s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or<\/p>\n

(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual\u2019s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It is illegal to \u201cdiscriminate against\u201d people because of their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.\u00a0 It is also illegal to \u201cclassify\u201d employees or applicants by their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in such a way as to deprive them of employment opportunities.\u00a0 And this is exactly what DEI programs end up doing.<\/p>\n

As for \u201cinclusion,\u201d research indicates that DEI training does exactly the opposite<\/em> of creating a culture of belonging and integration.\u00a0 David Millard Haskell, writing for Quillette<\/em>, points out that companies have been abandoning their DEI programs even before Trump\u2019s executive order.\u00a0 This is because, in the words of his title,\u00a0We\u2019ve Known It for Years: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Programs Don\u2019t Work<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He says that several research studies found that \u201cDEI training actually increases bigotry, foments division, and possibly even imposes psychological harm by seeking to convince otherwise tolerant and liberal-minded trainees that they harbour hidden forms of hatred.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Illustration:\u00a0 \u201cDiversity Training<\/a>\u201d by Focal Foto via Flickr,\u00a0CC BY-NC 2.0<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The day after he was inaugurated, President Trump issued an executive order reversing the federal government’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) policies. This does not take away from anti-discrimination laws. In fact, those laws are the basis of the reversal. A survey of why DEI mandates are problematic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":80207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,25,26],"tags":[13790,15866,15860,15863],"class_list":["post-80087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","category-language","category-law","tag-dei-mandates","tag-employment-discrimination-law","tag-president-trumps-executive-orders","tag-trump-vs-dei"],"yoast_head":"\nDiversity, Equity, Inclusion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The day after he was inaugurated, President Trump issued an executive order reversing the federal government's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) policies. This does not take away from anti-discrimination laws. In fact, those laws are the basis of the reversal. A survey of why DEI mandates are problematic.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Diversity, Equity, Inclusion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The day after he was inaugurated, President Trump issued an executive order reversing the federal government's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) policies. This does not take away from anti-discrimination laws. In fact, those laws are the basis of the reversal. A survey of why DEI mandates are problematic.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-31T11:00:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-31T12:15:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2025\/01\/52661601411_f412115f0b_c-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/\",\"name\":\"Diversity, Equity, Inclusion\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-31T11:00:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-31T12:15:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"The day after he was inaugurated, President Trump issued an executive order reversing the federal government's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) policies. This does not take away from anti-discrimination laws. In fact, those laws are the basis of the reversal. A survey of why DEI mandates are problematic.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Diversity, Equity, Inclusion\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Diversity, Equity, Inclusion","description":"The day after he was inaugurated, President Trump issued an executive order reversing the federal government's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) policies. This does not take away from anti-discrimination laws. In fact, those laws are the basis of the reversal. A survey of why DEI mandates are problematic.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Diversity, Equity, Inclusion","og_description":"The day after he was inaugurated, President Trump issued an executive order reversing the federal government's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) policies. This does not take away from anti-discrimination laws. In fact, those laws are the basis of the reversal. A survey of why DEI mandates are problematic.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/","og_site_name":"Cranach","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","article_published_time":"2025-01-31T11:00:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-31T12:15:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/305\/2025\/01\/52661601411_f412115f0b_c-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gene Veith","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gene Veith","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/","name":"Diversity, Equity, Inclusion","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-01-31T11:00:15+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-31T12:15:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1"},"description":"The day after he was inaugurated, President Trump issued an executive order reversing the federal government's Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) policies. This does not take away from anti-discrimination laws. In fact, those laws are the basis of the reversal. A survey of why DEI mandates are problematic.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2025\/01\/diversity-equity-inclusion\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Diversity, Equity, Inclusion"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/","name":"Cranach","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1","name":"Gene Veith","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gene Veith"},"description":"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. He has authored over 25 books on Christianity and culture, literature, classical education, and theology. Dr. Veith previously held academic and editorial roles at Concordia University Wisconsin and WORLD Magazine. A respected voice in Lutheran and classical education circles, he holds a Ph.D. in English and several honorary doctorates. He and his wife, Jackquelyn, live in St. Louis and have three children and twelve grandchildren.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gene_Edward_Veith"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/author\/geneveith\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}