Racism in the Church

[Paidion]

Thank you, Homer, for your interesting questions. I would like to comment on some of them.

What if you believe people of another race are generally superior in certain abilities? Is that racist?

Many people declare that this is racist, but I disagree. I think there are "general characteristics" of various people groups. There's a reason for the source of expressions such as "the fighting Irish", "the tight-wad Scotch" (I am one-third Scotch), etc. However, though we notice general characteristics in a race or people group, we must be careful not to generalize.

Would I be a racist if I said that blacks are generally better athletes than other races? That Japanese were generally better students in school? I went to school with a large number of them and very few were not above average students. Was it racist of me to have noticed that?

I say it would not be racist to have noticed that. As a teacher, I saw statistics concerning standardized math tests given to students throughout the world. On the average, Japanese students had the best marks. U.S.A. students, on the average, were among those nations with the lowest marks. I don't think it is at all racist to notice such things. But some think it racist even to compare average abilities among people groups.

Could a person (black, white, or oriental) prefer their child to marry someone of their race without believing their race superior and thus not be racist?

I don't think one having such a preference is racist, but when one goes to the extent of trying to influence their child on that basis, it is racist.

Why is someone considered to be black if they are one quarter or one half black? Why can't they be considered white? Is that, in itself, racist?

It seems racist or at least discrimination, doesn't it?

And not only that, but why is someone with 1/64 Indian blood considered to be an Indian? I see in the news a 6 year old girl taken by the authorities from the foster family that has raised her since she was two, who wanted to adopt her, and sent from California to Utah to live with relatives (not her parents) who are also part Indian. I am 1/32 Indian of the Choctaw tribe, same tribe as the little girl, and it has never crossed my mind that I am an Indian.

I have no idea why someone with such little "Indian blood" is considered and Indian. In Canada, a person is a "treaty Indian" if his parents as treaty Indians. It has no relation to his geneology.

What does the Bible actually say about the issue? It definitely says believers should marry believers, nothing about whites marrying blacks.

Correct

Is it any more wrong the want your child to marry someone of their race than it is to want them to marry someone of their ethnic group or tribe?

Again, it's not the matter of preferences. You may have a reason for your preferences. It's when you take action, that you identify yourself as a racist—when you try to convince your child against it. You might, for example, tell them that there will be problems for their "racially mixed" children, or that there will be rejection or even persecution from society. When you do such things, you are being racist.

When Dwight wrote: "Not wanting my child to marry outside of his (her) skin color is practically the definition of racism, IMO." I had some hesitation in agreeing. For "not wanting" is the opposite to "wanting". It suggests that you would have to WANT your child to marry outside his skin colour in order not to be racist. What I actually thought was racist was an active attempt to prevent one's child from marrying outside his skin colour.

Here's a question for you.
My grandfather said he had a little Irish blood in him, but he hated to admit it. Was he racist?

[dwight92070]

Paidon,

Thanks for the clarification. I agree with your statements. I certainly did not mean that a person must want their child to marry outside their race in order to not be racist. Rather, they should be open to the possibility that their child may desire to marry someone of another race, without objecting to it, strictly on racial grounds.

I don't think your grandfather would necessarily be racist. It depends on why he did not want to admit he had some Irish in him. Was it because he was prejudiced against Irish people, just because they were Irish? Or was it because of the general behavior observed in Irish people; for example, their temper or their drinking,etc?

[Homer]

Paidion,

You asked:

Here's a question for you.
My grandfather said he had a little Irish blood in him, but he hated to admit it. Was he racist?

Now we are in another category because Irish is not a race. They are an ethnic category. Race is based on biology and a person can not change their race but can change their ethnicity because that is a social distinction. And this brings up an interesting question. There are many "blacks" who are one half (Obama) or one quarter black; why are they considered "black". They are neither white nor black. The distinction seems to be based on ethnicity, yet Obama exhibits no characteristics that would seem to place him in the black or white category. Either he has chosen to be black in spite of a white mother and being raised by white grandparents, or has been pushed into the black category by our society ("first black president"). If he has chosen to be black is he racist?

Certainly blacks notice and make a distinction within their race. I recall Mohammed Ali many years ago commenting on blacks from Africa. He said "they are so black they are blue".

So your grandfather made a distinction that was based on social or ethnic considerations. Is that wrong? Did he do so because he thought they were greater sinners than he? I recall a family where I grew up in California. Actually two brothers with families. One bother had a tavern that was known for drunken brawls, a pretty rough place. The other bother was a Christian who, with a son and daughter, sang Christian songs on the local radio station. One time the two brothers were working out in the fields and at the end of the day when they rode back into town the Christian brother hid in the car; he didn't want to be seen with his brother. What kind of discrimination is that?

[Singalphile]

I wanted to comment on this thread, but didn't have the time at the time.

I find the term "racism" to be misleading and potentially confusing. A person might have wrong (or right) opinions about people of other races (or whatever), but who cares? As long as he treats them as he would be treated, with love, kindness, truthfulness, justice, etc., then he's not doing anything wrong, is he?

The real problem is just plain old meanness, whether or not race is a factor. "Racism", in the bad sense that we usually mean it, is just another word for being a jerk. And if a jerk is a jerk to everybody of a certain race (or whatever), then he's probably a jerk to a lot of people in his own race too.

As mentioned already, we should be able and willing to talk about whatever differences seem apparent to us. My opinion, for what it's worth, is that such differences are nearly all cultural.

[Paidion]

Race is based on biology and a person can not change their race but can change their ethnicity because that is a social distinction.

Are there not many ethnic groups within a single nation? Within Canada, for instance, there are Canadian citizens who identify themselves as ethnically Irish, Scottish, German, French, English, Norwegian, Finnish, etc. How can these people "change their ethnicity? For example, can a person who is ethnically German, become ethnically French? It seems to me than one's ethnicity is as much biology-based as race. Indeed I do not see any significant difference between the two, except that ethnicity includes such factors as culture and language.

Wiktionary gives the following definitions of "ethnicity":

1.The common characteristics of a group of people, especially regarding ancestry, culture, language or national experiences.  
2. An ethnic group.
3. (casual, euphemistic) Race; common ancestry.