Race Obsession Shows a Life Without Christ

I read something the other day that honestly made my stomach turn. Apparently, a new ad campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney in blue jeans is being called white supremacy by some on the left. Why? Because the ad said, “Sydney Sweeney has great genes,” as a playful pun for “jeans.”

To any normal person, this is obvious: Sydney Sweeney is a beautiful woman, and the ad is clever wordplay about her looks and the jeans she’s wearing. But to the modern left, it’s not that simple. They saw white supremacy in the ad.

If you don’t believe me, read the original report here: Sydney Sweeney jeans ad controversy.

I had to stop and think—what kind of worldview do you need to see racism in blue jeans?

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The Madness of Race Obsession

This isn’t just an isolated example. The progressive left has become completely consumed by race obsession.

They looked at this ad and thought:

1. “Great genes” = genetics
2. Blonde hair, blue eyes = white beauty standard
3. Genetics + blonde beauty = implied racial superiority
4. Therefore… white supremacy

That’s not logic. That’s paranoia and spiritual blindness.

If Beyoncé had been in that exact same ad, I wouldn’t have thought about race for one second. I would’ve just thought, “She’s gorgeous” and “She looks good in those jeans.” Period. I don’t see life through the lens of race.

But when your entire worldview is filtered through race and grievance, you can’t enjoy anything. Everything becomes political. Every joke, every ad, every casting decision is seen as either oppressive or liberating.

This same cultural madness is what I addressed in my blog on Woke Advertising Is Backfiring—Just Ask Jaguar. Companies are tripping over themselves to appease the outrage mob, and the results are absurd.

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The Spiritual Root of This Insanity

Here’s the truth: When race consumes your life, it shows a life without Christ.

The Bible makes this so clear:

• “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)
• “He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” (Ephesians 2:14)

If you belong to Christ, race is no longer the lens through which you see the world.

But when you reject God, you lose your anchor. You lose that peace. And you start to cling to identity politics to fill the void in your heart. Your “truth” becomes your tribe, your skin color, or your political side.

This is why we see people interpreting a harmless jeans ad as a symbol of racial oppression. Without Christ, the human heart becomes enslaved to fear, bitterness, and tribalism.

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Race as an Idol

I believe this race obsession is idolatry.

When you make race your god, you start to worship victimhood or superiority, and neither brings life. You start to police the world for imaginary sins because you have no real sense of righteousness that comes from God.

Christ offers freedom from all that. He calls us to love one another, to forgive, and to see people as souls, not skin color. That’s what this world is missing.

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A Personal Story of Unity in Christ

I remember attending the funeral of a black friend’s sister in Florida—a young woman who died far too early. The service was held in a small black church, and aside from a couple of friends with me, I was practically the only white person there. And yet, I can honestly say I have never felt more at home with fellow believers.

We were worshiping the same Lord. We shared the same hope in Christ. In that room, our identity wasn’t skin color—it was faith in Jesus. That’s the difference Christ makes: He tears down the walls the world is obsessed with building.

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My Heartbreak for the Culture

Stories like this don’t just make me shake my head—they break my heart.

I see a generation trapped in outrage, addicted to grievance, and allergic to grace. I see a culture that’s lost its ability to celebrate beauty or humor without dissecting it for imaginary oppression.

And I see a world that desperately needs Jesus.

Because the only cure for this level of spiritual blindness is the light of Christ. Only He can transform hearts and minds so that we stop seeing life through race and start seeing it through love.

If we want healing in this country, it won’t come from more hashtags, more outrage, or more race obsession. It will come from a return to Christ, who alone can set people free from this toxic lens of division.

Until then, we’ll keep seeing “white supremacy” in blue jeans—and that’s the clearest sign that a world without Christ is a world lost in the dark.

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Arch Kennedy
Bold, Unfiltered, and Unafraid