The Bible and racism

Years ago, in South Africa, you were classified according to the colour of your skin and the coarseness of your hair. You were told where you could and couldn’t live. You were told which bus you could and couldn’t ride. You we told who you could and couldn’t marry. Racism is part of our history. South Africa, the USA and many other countries have struggled and continue to struggle with racism.

A good definition of racism is: an explicit or implicit belief or practice that distinguishes or values one race over other races.

A racist believes that their race, whatever it may be, is superior to other races.

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Why racism is so bad

On the night of June 17, 2015, Dylann Roof, a 21 year old white male, opened fire in a historic black church, in Charleston, South Carolina, killing 9 people, including the pastor, during a prayer meeting. Dylann Roof is a racist and his aim was to kill black people and start a race war.

Years ago in South Africa, you were classified according to the colour of your skin and the coarseness of your hair. You were told where you could and couldn’t live. You were told which bus you could and couldn’t ride. You we told who you could and couldn’t marry. Racism is part of our history. South Africa, the USA and many other countries have struggled and continue to struggle with racism.

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Multi-colour churches and the defeat of racism

I often get very discouraged by the racist views expressed on so many news and social media sites. It seems that some (sad) people are hell-bent in making any and every issue about the amount of pigmentation of another’s skin. Sadly racism is also sometimes seen in the church; this was especially true of the apartheid years in South Africa. The Bible teaches that there is only one race, the human race. We are all descendants of Adam and Eve.

Within this “brotherhood” of humanity, we have different languages, and cultures, and ethnicities; but only one race. The New Testament tells us that God has acted in Jesus to call people from all nations to be part of His kingdom. The church, being the geographical outposts of the kingdom all around the world, must be demonstrating to the physical and spiritual world the death of racism. The apostle Paul reminds us of this in last half of Ephesians 2 and makes a startling statement in 3:10.

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