Modern identity politics and liberalism in general, is founded on a false understanding of the nature of Man, of freedom and of the self. The emphasis on pride, autonomy and consent as the foundation of one’s “true self” necessarily leads to the modern understanding of “identity” in which particular behaviors or biological traits of an individual are thought to be identical to the person. We witness this confusion in both critical race theory, in which Black persons are often reduced to nothing but “Black bodies” and in the perverted gender theories in which persons are reduced to nothing but a chosen pronoun, pronouns that are largely chosen according to perverse sexual behaviors. For example, a person who engages in homosexual behavior becomes identical to homosexuality itself up to the point that merely suggesting “conversion therapy” is to deny his existence. True identity can only be known through the understanding of persons as both biological members of the species Homo Sapien (male and female) and as spiritual beings created in the image of God. To help us better understand our identity, we begin with a simple, yet fundamental axiom of logic.
Beginning with Plato, the law of identity is considered to be one of the first three primary axioms of logic. The other two are the law of noncontradiction and the law of excluded middle. Simply put, the law of identity can be expressed as ∀x(x=x). In other words, something is always equal to itself. For the sake of this discussion, we can limit the domain of x to all persons. Thus, for all persons p, p=p. For example, I am not identical to a “White body” or a particular sexual behavior, but rather to the person, Kurt. In order to help better understand what this means, we must expand on the meaning of person. The Catholic Church teaches that,
…each human being is most fundamentally a beloved daughter or son of God, created in God’s own image and likeness. Unlike angelic persons, who are spirits without bodies, God creates the human person to be a unity of body and soul. The integral unity of the body and soul is fundamental to identity of the human person. The Church teaches that “the human body shares in the dignity of ‘the image of God’” (CCC, 364). The body cannot exist separately from the soul and the soul and body together constitute the self. A human person does not just have a body — he or she is that body.
An interesting phenomenon about liberalism is that depending on the context, the theory embraces two seemingly mutually exclusive positions on human nature. In the crude racial theories of the left (and also on the atheist and materialist right), persons are reduced to nothing but a token of a particular racial group. We see this often from Critical Race theorist, who often talk about the plight of “Black bodies” as opposed to Black persons with moral agency. Here identity is reduced to race in which Black bodies are perpetual victims of racism and ‘white supremacy’ and Whites are the perpetual oppresors. On this side of the liberal identity coin, the spiritual aspect of Man is denied and persons are reduced to nothing but “bodies”. On the other side of the liberal identity coin, persons are seen as angelic godlike spirits and the physical body as either a prison or mere instrument. Persons are reduced to nothing but autonomous will. This is most widely seen from abortion and LGTBQIA+ advocates. A persons “true self” is whatever he wills himself to be. However, this is also seen in much of the mainstream conservative movement where the love of particular peoples, nations and cultures is regarded as antithetical to the “civic nationalism” our Founding Fathers allegedly invisioned. Each side of the identity coin denies a fundamental aspect of human nature. True identity can only be understood from a correct understanding of human nature, dignity and freedom.
A true understanding of identity acknowledges that we are both body and spirit. Since a human person does not simply have a body, but is that body, our sex, race, ethnicity and nation are important aspects of who we are, but it is not the sum total of our identities. For example, the importance of our bodies as male and female is epitomized in the Sacrament of Marriage. The reason our sex, race and so on are not the sum total of who we are, is that we are also rational and moral agents created in the likeness and image of God. Likewise, since we are both body and soul, we are also not self-defined and self-created, identical to whatever we choose. We are not identical to our behaviors or choices; e.g. a homosexual is not identical to his homosexual behavior. Rather, we are all fallen persons in need of Salvation, which is only possible through Repentance and faith in Christ.