Something that the Christian faith has
in common with mainstream Western culture is an opposition to racial prejudice.
In many ways, of course, Christian and
majority Western values are completely at odds. On issues like abortion and
homosexuality, for example, Christians today have to swim against the tide of
popular opinion. And it is surely true that, in general, Christian and Western
values are moving further and further apart.
But on racism we side with the majority
Western outlook. We reject any form of hatred or discrimination based on
people’s ethnicity.
TWO KINDS OF RACISM
It is too simplistic to think of racism
as a single thing that always involves the same sort of attitude. We can
actually distinguish between two common kinds of racism. First, there is hating
someone because of their race. And second, there is looking down on someone as inferior
because of their race.
The first kind of racism,
hating or despising someone because they belong to a certain race, is obviously
an evil thing. God is love (1 John 4:8), and human beings have been created in
His image (Genesis 1:26-27). So for us to hate each other is to act in
opposition to God’s created order.
It should be obvious too
that hatred can lead to all sorts of hostile actions that harm the people who
are hated. For another reason, then, hating people of a certain race is a bad
thing.
The second kind of racism,
looking down on people of a certain race as inferior, is also wrong. There is
no reason whatever to think that in God’s sight any ethnic group is superior to
another.
The New Testament makes it
clear that even ethnic Jews, the people God chose
in times gone by, are not superior to Gentiles. In the first century, many Jews
believed that they were superior human beings to all other people. However, in
Romans 2:1-29 Paul sharply criticises this thinking. Similarly, in Acts
10:34-35 Peter says that God shows no partiality towards people of any nation,
and he is certainly including the Jewish people in this.
If even Jews are not granted an ethnic
superiority, it makes little sense to think that any Gentile ethnic groups
should be granted this.
Just as importantly, there is no
biblical passage which teaches that any Gentile races are superior to others.
And in the absence of support for this idea, it should be firmly rejected.
THE TWO KINDS OF RACISM DON’T ALWAYS GO TOGETHER
Although many racists are guilty of
both sorts of racism, there are many who are guilty of only one of them.
Some of those who hate people of a
certain race don’t look down on them as inferior. In fact, sometimes the hatred
is actually caused by jealousy that is due to subconsciously viewing people of
the hated race as superior.
On the other hand, many of those who
look down on people of a certain race as inferior don’t hate them at all. In
fact, racists of this kind can often be loving and caring towards those they
regard as inferior.
This sort of attitude was common in the
time of the British Empire, for example. Many British people in positions of
authority in various parts of the world were genuinely concerned for the
well-being of the indigenous population. They went out of their way to help
them if needed. But there was still often a sense that the “natives” were
inferior human beings, and that white people, especially British white people, were superior to the rest.
Watching historical documentaries of
the period gives a strong impression that this type of racial prejudice was common
at the time, and not just among the British but among most Caucasians too.
Paradoxically, racism that involves
looking down on people as inferior doesn’t only occur when one person regards
another as inferior. There are occasions when people actually regard themselves
as inferior, i.e., are racist towards themselves!
I have a good Ugandan Christian friend who
is a leader in a church in Uganda, and he has told me that some people there
have this attitude. Because European countries colonised much of Africa,
including Uganda, subconsciously some Africans tend to regard white people as
superior, and my friend has had to correct this mistaken thinking.
IT IS NOT RACIST TO REFER TO PEOPLE’S ETHNICITY
Having said a little about
the types of racism that exist, it is worth saying a few words too about what
racism is not.
To begin with, it should be
obvious that it is not racist to refer to a person’s ethnic group. Yet people often
clearly feel very uncomfortable doing this.
For example, I have
witnessed the following sort of situation:
A group of men, comprising
several white men and one black man, are doing something. For some (good)
reason, someone at a distance wants to refer to the black man. By far the
easiest way to single him out is to refer to his race and say something like, “You
see the black guy over there?” However, the person chooses instead to refer to what
the man is wearing as a way to distinguish him from the other men in the group,
even though this is a much more difficult way to point him out.
If you think about it, this
is actually quite a strange way to behave. Those who will not mention the fact
that a person is black almost make it seem as if they think that being black is
something to be ashamed of.
I am sure that the vast
majority of those who avoid speaking about ethnicity don’t in fact think in
this way. Instead, they are afraid that the people listening might think there
is something inappropriate about referring to someone’s racial group.
Regardless of the precise
reasons for refusing to mention ethnicity, however, it is a shame that anyone
feels there is something wrong with referring to people’s races in non-critical
ways. This attitude doesn’t make sense.
IT IS NOT RACIST TO FIND CERTAIN RACES LESS
ATTRACTIVE
Second, it is not racist to
find people of the opposite sex, who belong to certain races, less attractive
than those of other races.
Just as there is nothing
wrong, for example, with being more attracted to short people rather than tall
people or vice versa, so there is nothing wrong with finding people of a
certain ethnicity more or less attractive than others. Racism involves hating
people or looking down on them as inferior. It has nothing to do with sexual
attraction.
This is an area where
Western society is really quite confused about what racism really is. It is
clear that modern Westerners tend to be very uncomfortable saying that they
find people of one race more attractive than people of another.
For example, if you ever
see an interview of a single, Western man who is looking for a woman, and he is
asked what sort of woman he is attracted to, the list of features that he gives
will almost certainly not include ethnicity. If he were to say that he finds
women of a certain race relatively unattractive, he would surely be accused by
many of being racist. This, however, would be very unfair.
MIXED-RACE MARRIAGES
This brings us to
mixed-race marriages.
I can remember a brief
conversation I had a few years ago with a Christian who was opposed to
mixed-race marriages. He said that God had created distinct races, and that people
should therefore aim to preserve the distinctions by not having mixed-race
children.
Although there are far
fewer Christians holding this view than there used to be, a number still
believe this.
In the case of the man I
spoke too, it has to be said that there was nothing remotely racist about what he
said. In no way did he hate or look down on anyone because of their ethnicity. He
was simply concerned that people fall in line with God’s creation.
Nevertheless, I am sure
that his view was mistaken. The Bible doesn’t speak against mixed-race marriages
per se, and at times it implies that they meet with God’s approval.
The Old Testament
It is true that in the Old
Testament we sometimes find Jews being forbidden to marry Gentiles (e.g., Deuteronomy
7:3-4; Ezra 9:1-10:44). But the big concern with Jews marrying Gentiles in Old
Testament times seems to have been a moral rather than an ethnic one. There was
a grave danger that these Gentiles would lead Jews to worship false gods (e.g.,
Deuteronomy 7:3-4; 1 Kings 11:1-8).
Even in the Old Testament,
however, we find examples of Jews in mixed-race marriages that seem to be
approved by God.
Numbers 12:1-8 is a
relevant passage. In 12:1 we are told:
“Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.”
(Scripture readings in this
article are from the English Standard Version.)
There is a debate about the
identity of the Cushite woman in this verse. It is possible that she was from
Ethiopia. However, in view of verses like Habakkuk 3:7, which links Midian and
Cushan, many scholars think she was from Midian or a region close to Midian. If
so, the reference may be to Moses’ Midianite wife Zipporah (Exodus 2:21 etc.).
Regardless of whether the
Cushite woman was from Midian or from a region near Midian or from Ethiopia,
she was not an ethnic Jew. So Moses’ marriage with her was a mixed-race one.
We are told in v. 1 that
Miriam and Aaron criticised Moses because of his marriage to the Cushite woman.
The most natural interpretation is that they were critical of him marrying a
woman of this race.
In verses 5-8 God rebukes Miriam
and Aaron for their attitude to Moses.
It is true that God’s
rebuke seems to be at least mostly because they were assuming more importance
than they should have, not specifically because they had criticised Moses’ mixed-race
marriage.
Nevertheless, we should
note that there is not the slightest hint in this passage that Moses’ marriage
was displeasing to God. In fact, in v. 7 Moses is described as “faithful in all
my house,” which fits very poorly with the idea that he had done anything wrong
in marrying the Cushite woman.
Numbers 12:1-8, then, stands
as a good piece of biblical evidence that mixed-race marriages are not in
themselves displeasing to God.
The book of Ruth is another
strong piece of evidence for this. It tells of how the Jew Boaz married Ruth, a
woman of Moab ,
and that their child, Obed, became David’s grandfather.
The book of Ruth views this
mixed-race marriage entirely positively.
The New Testament
Given that even in the Old
Testament there are examples of mixed-race marriages involving Jews that seem
clearly to be acceptable to God, it is no surprise that the New Testament
nowhere suggests that people should marry only those in their own racial group.
What is more, 1 Corinthians
7:39 seems to imply that Christians may marry people of any race. In this verse
Paul says:
“A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.”
Paul’s words most naturally
imply that matters of ethnicity are irrelevant when a widow is contemplating
remarriage.
Mixed-race marriages are morally acceptable
In view of biblical passages
like the ones I have mentioned, and in the absence of passages that teach
otherwise, we should have no hesitation in saying that mixed-race marriages are
not morally wrong.
Of course, there might
sometimes be specific challenges involved in a mixed-race marriage, just as
there might be, for example, in a marriage where the man and woman are of
different nationalities or of very different ages. But marrying someone of a
different race or having children with someone of a different race are
absolutely fine in themselves.
Everyone is mixed race to some degree
It is worth noting too
that, strictly speaking, every person alive today is of mixed race.
DNA analysis of ancestry is
very popular these days. And results always seem to show that a person has a
mixture of ethnic groups in their ancestry. At most, people’s ethnic make-up is
mostly from a certain racial group.
But, to my knowledge at least, it is never exclusively
from one group.
And this, of course, means
that, strictly speaking, every marriage today is a mixed-race marriage and
every child is a mixed-race child.
RACE IS VERY UNIMPORTANT
When all is said and done,
in a Christian perspective ethnicity is a very unimportant thing. What is vastly
more important is the state of our relationship with God. Whether or not we are
one of His saved children is what counts.
I do think that the Bible
teaches that God still has unfinished business with ethnic Israel. If that is
correct, in some sense the Jewish race still has great significance in God’s
sight. But this is in no way because Jews are superior human beings to the rest
of us.
APOLOGETICS AND EVANGELISM
In present-day Western
culture, as I have mentioned, most people are opposed to racial prejudice. Christians
side fully with this view, and we should make the most of this similarity in
our apologetics and evangelism.
In Acts 17 we find Paul
stressing similarities between the Christian faith and the views of the people
he is evangelising. He speaks in a way that consciously echoes Stoic philosophy
(Acts 17:28) and he quotes a pagan poet approvingly (also Acts 17:28), all for
the purpose of “bridge-building” with those he intends to share the gospel with.
Of course, we should never
build bridges with people by compromising on our values. There are plenty of
differences between Western culture and the Christian faith, and we must always
stand firm for what is right. Many people are hostile to our faith because of
things they dislike in it or because of what they would have to give up if they
were to become a Christian, and we mustn’t water down the truth to get more
people on side.
Nevertheless, it makes
perfect sense for Western Christians to follow Paul’s example by emphasising
the ways in which we side with Western society.
Mainstream Westerners hate
racism. So do we, and we should make sure that everyone knows it. Doing this should
in some cases make the Christian faith seem that little bit less distant from
people and make the gospel that little bit less of a stumbling block. For some
people, it might make the difference between a decision to accept Jesus as Lord
and a decision not to.
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