The Sin of Racism

Over at The Washington Post and Newsweek's online religious forum On Faith, they asked their panelists

Three in 10 Americans acknowledge feelings of racial prejudice, and yet 9 in 10 say they believe in God. How does racial prejudice reflect on one's religious beliefs?

Columnist Cal Thomas writes in reply

If we go to Scripture for the answer to that question, we find "If anyone says 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar." (1 John 4:20) There isn't any wiggle room in that.

The Rt. Rev. Jane Holmes Dixon recalls her seminary professor, the Reverend John Wolverton saying, "Racism is a stench in the nostrils of God Almighty." She says,

Truth to tell, I remember few of the Bible stories we were taught to encourage those prejudiced views: something about Ham, one of Noah's sons, and his descendants being condemned to slavery and Paul, the great evangelist, telling Onesimus the runaway slave, to return to his master, Philemon. Mostly, it was not a sin of commission, rather one of omission; we were not taught that all humankind was created in the image of God and there was no explanation of Jesus embracing all who came to Him. Neither do I remember sermons that promulgated racism. I do remember that people of color did not come to my church, and that we laughed at the African American liturgies that we watched through the windows of their churches on Sunday nights. I was taught at home that people of color were less human than we.

I certainly find that judging someone based on race is absolutely irreconcilable with all of scripture, including the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. But I don't doubt the polls. I too see that there are folks who are Christian and (while they would not think of themselves as racists in the white-hooded sense of the term) do prejudge people based on the color of their skin. I know that I might, if asked, give myself a clean bill of health on prejudice and still have vestiges of prejudice in my life.

We are not good judges of our own views. It is our actions rather than our words that speak the loudest. Or put otherwise, your actions are speaking so loudly, that I can't hear a word you are saying. And in this, no one has clean hands. All of us prejudge others, if not based on race, then on friends, clothes, car, job or something else. It is too difficult to get to know everyone well and so we make snap judgments based on a variety of things, and for many this includes skin color. We are all guilty in this no matter our skin color or background.

The fact that we all do this to some degree does not make it OK. The fact that scripture teaches clearly that God made everyone and loves everyone should cause us to stop and think rather than to jump to judging someone before we get to know him or her.

That's my take. What do you think?

peace,
Frank+
The Rev. Frank Logue, Pastor