About a year ago, I wrote a column for the Waco Tribune-Herald’s sports department (it can be read at https://www.wacotrib.com/sports/glynn-beaty-baseball-s-leisurely-pace-equates-to-a-cure/article_40823d5d-dd7c-56a9-86ee-16242a302ef6.html). The column was basically stating why I’m not a fan of baseball. I lauded the pitchers and batters, but I also said that the game has some questionable rules and that it’s too slow for my taste.
I thought nothing of the column. I knew from talking with others that quite a few people do not share my views on baseball, and that’s okay with me. One person who disagreed with me, though, got my attention. I knew who the person was, since I had had a long telephone conversation with her, in which she stated some of the statements she repeated in her letter.
What caught my attention, though, was not that she said it was one of the most poorly written things she’d read. It’s that she called it the most racist piece she’d ever read.
I was taken aback by that accusation. My column had taken on the rules and traditions of baseball, but I never mentioned any particular players, and I certainly didn’t introduce race into the topic.
As I re-read her letter, I came to the conclusion that the term “racist” has come to be a catch-all phrase used to dismiss anything someone disagrees with. I see the term thrown around on Facebook all the time, and it’s become a common theme in our political talk.
To be sure, racism is alive and well in the United States. It always has been, from seeing the natives as savages (even “Noble Savages”) to slavery and the Jim Crow laws down to our current society. The policies of our current administration seem to invite accusations of racism, whether deserved or not.
Since many who support this current administration identify themselves as evangelical, I thought it might be a good idea to look at racism and see what, if any, part it has in Christian ethos.
What is Racism?
According to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, racism is defined as “1: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race; 2a: a doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles; b: a political or social system founded on racism; 3: racial prejudice or discrimination.”
We can extend racism to include ethnic groups different from our own. For instance, “white” can be subdivided into Anglo, Germanic, Hispanic/Latino, Serbs, Slavs and other ethnic groups. It’s not uncommon for prejudice to be directed at people of similar skin and race. American history is filled with examples of the locals discriminating against newly arrived immigrants in a derogatory way. The term, “Irish need to apply” was common during the Irish migration, and similar attitudes were taken against Italians and other nationalities, people that would normally be described as white. People of Jewish heritage have long suffered for being Jewish, regardless of skin color. So it’s safe to say that while “racism” may strictly refer to race, prejudice extends beyond to any group different from mine.
Of course, our history is also heavily involved in prejudice against people of African and Asian descent, from slavery to strict immigration limits on Chinese to Japanese internment camps during World War II. Prejudice is endemic in America’s culture, and it is difficult to weed out.
What Does the Bible Say about Racism?
For the time of the New Testament, the issue of race really didn’t rear its head. Instead, the differences were along religious lines—Jew, Gentile, Samaritan. The lines between the groups were very clearly drawn, and the enmity between the three was harsh. In the book of Acts, Peter responds to God’s calling and goes to the home of Cornelius. Cornelius was a Roman centurion, and when Peter arrived at Cornelius’ home, he found a house filled with Gentiles. He preached there, and the Holy Spirit descended, bringing salvation to a house full of Gentiles. Peter recognized this and immediately baptized the new believers.
What’s interesting is what happens next. Peter returned home to Jerusalem, and when he got there, he was in for a surprise. “So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, ‘You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them’” (Acts 11:3). Peter went on to explain that God had appeared to him in a dream and that God sent him to Cornelius’ house, where he shared the gospel and the people there became believers as a result. Having concluded his narrative, the Bible says, “Whey they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, ‘So, then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life’” (v.18). In both the criticism and the ending of objections, we can see the prejudice. It’s pretty clear in v. 3, since they accused Peter of something horrible. The prejudice is more subtle in v. 18, but it’s there, nonetheless. “Even the Gentiles” indicates that there was so little thought of Gentiles that their words seem to indicate something along the lines of, “If they let you in, they’ll let anyone in.” That is not a compliment in any way we want to interpret it. They may have accepted it, but there’s no indication they liked it.
While prejudice was strong in the day, Jesus and the apostles were quick to speak out against it. When Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment, He stated it was to love God completely and totally and to love our neighbors as ourselves. The asker responded with a question of clarification—“Who is my neighbor?” Jesus responded with the story of the Good Samaritan (cf. Luke 10:25-37).
It was a familiar tale at the time, only Jesus changed it a little that made an enormous impact on the lesson He was teaching. In the original story, the three characters who come upon the wounded man are a priest, a Levite and a Jewish layperson. When Jesus drops the Samaritan into the place of the Jewish layperson, it must have had jaws dropping all around the crowd who was listening to Jesus.
There was such antagonism between Jews and Samaritans that Jews walked around Samaria rather than take the short route through Samaria (Jesus seems to be the exception). The point of the lesson was that even a Samaritan is worthy of the love for a neighbor. To put it in contemporary terms, instead of inserting Samaritan into the story, Jesus today would probably insert the idea of the illegal Central American, or the married gay couple, or even the Muslim.
In short, Jesus wanted to get the point across that our “neighbor” is any person, created in the image of God, for whom Jesus would and did die. He didn’t address the rightness or wrongness of the Jewish-Samaritan spat, just as He did not condemn the woman caught in adultery.
Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28). In light of the reaction to Peter’s encounter with Cornelius and the more conservative members of the Jerusalem church, it’s not surprising that Paul had the need to write the words of a church that no longer sees divisions, only Christ in us. It’s the same idea behind, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men” (1 Corinthians 11:4-6) and, again, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, Who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).
We could add Jesus’ teaching that we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (cf. Matthew 5:43-48) and the way we demonstrate our love for God through the way we love our brother (cf. 1 John 4:13-21, specifically v. 21).
Conclusion
For those who claim that the United States is a Christian nation, founded on Christian principles, does this not suggest a discord in that claim? As Christians, we are called to live out the Golden Rule—treating people the way we want to be treated. Our actions are not predicated on the actions of others, but on our determination to live out the Greatest Commandment. We treat people the way we want to be treated because we are committed to seeing all people as needing God’s love and grace, just as we were and are.
That goes for the homeless, the person whose skin color is different, who speaks with an accent different from our own, who may not agree with us on anything or everything. A Christian nation, in short, cannot be a racist nation, nor can a Christian nation allow others who claim to represent us to speak in racist tones or metaphors. It is our duty, our responsibility, our calling, to stand against the evil of racism and prejudice. We must do so with conviction, with strength in Christ and with the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
To do less is to deny the very essence of the Gospel, and to deny the very nature of Jesus’ mission in our lives.
© 2019 Glynn Beaty