|
Racial Prejudice & God’s Word
Even though racial prejudice, also expressed as racism or simply prejudice, is defined and expressed in and with varying degrees of intensity throughout society, at its center is the concept that one is superior to another and is therefore worthy of greater consideration and treatment. As one considers the concept of racial prejudice, in any of its forms, it would be wise to not confuse it with the concept of preference, a quality that dwells within everyone and which has nothing to do with the concept that one is “superior to another and is therefore worthy of greater consideration and treatment.”
For instance, this writer was born and raised in the early 1940’s in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, an area occupied by both Caucasians (a designated race) and Hispanics (considered by authorities as a branch of the Caucasian race), which at the time contained almost no blacks (a designated race). He was raised to believe that he was not superior to anyone, of any race, even though, admittedly, he was subject to conditions and opportunities greater than many of all races throughout the world. But later in life, when a member of the United States Army and assigned to Fort Dix for Basic Training, he was quartered in a barracks containing members of different races, all on bunks side-by-side with no walls between them.
At that time, in that location, he found that he really did not like some of the blacks within his environment, not because he believed himself superior in any way to them, but solely because they consistently played their music so loud that it interfered with his ability to concentrate or secure rest. It was solely a matter of preference and not anything else; although, many would have probably accused him of racial prejudice.
As for racial prejudice, this writer can never remember “talking down” (denigrating, demeaning, belittling, or vilifying) anyone because he or she was of another race, much less, believing that anyone was inferior to him in terms of worth to man or God. Still, he is fully aware that many of every race (at least appear to) hold such a view of others not of their ilk (type, kind, origin). And this is especially true of a vast many within the United States of America; but even much more abysmal of those who are Christians.
And this is the central point of this document. Not to belabor the point, but no matter your personal affiliation to any race, if you are a Christian, you should absolutely know that all humans are related, i.e., everyone’s ancestry can be traced back to the original parents, Adam and Eve (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:21, 22). Even more, consider and digest what the apostle Paul stated to the men of Athens as he “stood in the midst of the Areopagus” (Acts 17:22), which follows:
And He [God] has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. (Acts 17:26, 27)
As a dear friend once said to me, “We are all members of the human race.”
|