If race, as many agree, is a social construct, why are Christians so good at holding on to it as a way to define, describe, and divide ourselves?
I’ll tell you up front — I’m going to talk about race. I know some are tired of hearing about it, and I think that’s mainly because we’ve been hearing about it in the same ways for so long.
There’s surely no dearth of conversation about race among Christians. Websites, blogs, church initiatives, parachurch programs, forums, symposia, conferences, retreats, speeches, books, magazine articles, and everything in between are singing the same song: We have a race problem in the church. And it’s not a “problem” in the same way that dwindling attendance or a string of boring sermons is a problem. It’s a blight, a stain, and a hindrance to others coming to Christ, and to current disciples growing in their knowledge of and obedience to Christ. So the subject does warrant discussion; we just need to deal with the real problem and stop trying to address only the outward symptoms.
The Bible shows us that people’s behavior is a result of what’s in their heart and mind. So rather than keep trying to only manage our behavior, we need to first roll up our sleeves and seriously examine what we think and believe about race. For example, what does the fact that we still have church congregations that are predominantly one ethnic group say about what we believe about the kingdom of God, our fellow sojourners, and Jesus Christ Himself? These are some possibilities:
• Our comfort is more important than our witness to the watching world
• The outward characteristics of a person are the appropriate determinants of how we should view and interact with them
• Our worship and our relationships with fellow believers are separate and not interrelated
• Ethnic considerations supersede spiritual realities and obligations
There’s one belief in particular that bears special emphasis. Christians, along with the rest of the world, are stubbornly holding on to the concept of race as a legitimate label by which to categorize people. Race, as we understand and accept it, is a social illusion.
Ken Ham, founder of the Answers in Genesis apologetics ministry, explains in his Answers to the 4 Big Questions! booklet that if we take two people from anywhere in the world, the basic genetic differences between them would be around 0.2 percent, even if they come from the same ethnic group. And genetic markers that determine what we call racial characteristics like skin color, eye color, etc., “account for only .012 percent of human biological variation.”
In other words, the things we use to determine who we marry, where we go to church, where we live, who we hire, who we vote for, where our kids go to school, what kind of music plays on our Christian radio stations, and practically everything else, stems from a miniscule part of our biological makeup. We are not nearly as different as we insist on believing.
Our behavior as Christians shows emphatically that we believe in the concept of race, and its attendant perceived differences. But scientists, biologists, and a very few Christian sociologists and apologists tell us that it’s not race that separates us. “The criteria that people use for race are based entirely on external features that we are programmed to recognize,” said Douglas Wallace, a professor of molecular genetics at Emory University, in a 1998 ABC News report.
Years and years of social programming have taught us to respond and give sway to skin color, hair texture, nose width, lip thickness, and other racial characteristics. But the Bible stands in stark contrast to our belief system. Nowhere in the Bible do we find a word that we translate as “race,” unless we consider the words translated “humanity” or “humankind.” Rather, the Word speaks of nations or people groups. In a clear and stunning statement, it even says in no uncertain terms that we all come from the same ancestry:
From one man He created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries” (Acts 17:26, NLT).
Do we as Christians really believe this? What are the practical implications of this truth? At the very minimum, it means that we are all one race, not multiple races. We need to educate one another with this fact, and teach one another how to live according to it.
So if it’s not really race that determines our differences, what is it? Even secular sources acknowledge the answer. “What the facts show is that there are differences among us, but they stem from culture, not race,” said Professor Wallace in that ABC report. Differences in language, socialization customs, dress, food, and family dynamics have conditioned us to focus on how we are unlike one another. But these are all temporal distinctions. The kingdom of God is intended to be transcendent, with its own culture of language, socialization, symbols, and family dynamics.
Why haven’t we internalized the kingdom culture? We must first commit ourselves to internalizing at a heart and faith level what the Word of God teaches us about our origins and our priorities. Other Christians are our family, our brothers and sisters. That’s the truth. In fact, if my blood brother is not a Christian, then the law of the Kingdom says he is less my family than someone who is regenerated into the family of God by the blood of Christ. It is that blood that joins us together in a new society, a new culture.
Let’s attack our mental programming and see what lies are lodged there. Let’s change our terminology and see each other differently. I’ll get the ball rolling: I have an older brother, Chris Rice, who is a member of the Caucasoid people group. He is a gifted student of reconciliation and a prophetic voice of our Dad’s to our family on how we should be relating to each other. I encourage you to read his article “The Future is Mestizo.” I’m sure once you get to know more about him, you’ll love him with our Lord’s love as I do.
Your turn.
I get the point of this article and generally have not elevated race above my faith. However, in serving in a predominantly white church (I’m black) I was recently offended when a video on Muslim demographics was shown on a Sunday morning. What was offensive to me about this video was the misrepresentation of statistics to fuel an agenda that Muslims are taking over. The narrator’s voice along with the music was very ominous, creating a real doomsday type of mood and essentially drawing up sides between “us” and Muslims. Now what offended me was, as a black person, I thought, “If this is what they think of Muslims, blacks can’t be far behind.” In my mind, once a person feels free to disparage one minority group, others are fair game. In fact, after the sermon, someone in reference to Muslims said, “Does anyone else besides me think it’s a coincidence that “they” come over here and run convenience stores and the Holiday Inn Express?” I was so incensed and hurt by all of this, I talked to no one about it for 2 weeks. I eventually did broach it in a meeting, but the range of emotions I’ve had over this has been immense. It has caused me to question many things and brings home the reality that we can worship together and feel that we’re one big happy family, but what happens with racist or xenophobic feelings raise their ugly head? For me, although I don’t wear my racial heritage on my sleeve, this incident caused it to rise to the surface and I was deeply hurt as a black person first and a Christian secondly. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I find this topic a little more complicated than simply seeing ourselves all as one. Maybe I’m a skeptic in seeing any hope of it ever working on a large scale.
Poem: Show of Hands
——————-
Despite the differences of skin color
and our cultural upbringings,
we’re more than brothers of Mankind –
Technically, we’re kin.
Go to the mountain
preserved by ice and snow
where the revelation of Ararat’s secret
is available for everyone to know.
For the ark’s existence
proves the global flood story is true
and being our brother’s keeper…
Is still a right thing to do.
Descended from Noah
are the many races of Man;
see our palms have the same tint –
By a show of hands.
Joseph J. Breunig 3rd
Author, Reaching Towards His Unbounded Glory
http://www.squidoo.com/book-isbn-1419650513/
To Pat-
Thanks so much for your comment. Your hurt and pain come through in your response, and I understand how you feel. I went to a predominantly white Christian university for law school, so I’ve had my share of painful experiences in the body of Christ. I agree that there are more steps to be taken in reconciling oursleves to each other, but I’m suggesting that we need to renew our minds first. I think your response bears that out. Do you notice how many times you mention what you thought, or what was in your mind? Could the outcome have been different if your thoughts were different? Surely the people who were giving the presentation should have had different thoughts. We can help each other think according to the Bible.
To Joe-
That’s a great poem.
While it is important to understand that everyone and every creature has value because we are valuable to God, denying our cultural heritage is disrespectful to our Creator.
For instance, there are hummingbirds that glisten emerald and royal blue, but others that mesmerize with their ruby chests. Yet still there are ones whose wings are dipped in lavender and backs painted lime. Can you imagine the Creator’s pleasure and happiness? So, much effort put into the details and each unique creation showing the beauty and value of another. Now picture that emerald and royal blue hummingbird deciding that its color is unimportant. Picture it trying to ignore its brilliant colors and the colors of the other birds. How would the Creator feel to have that little bird decide the effort put into the details was imaginary and without purpose. The audacity and arrogance of the hummingbird to assume that its brilliant colors were by happenchance.
We are like the hummingbird. We come in a variety of colors, each shade unique and with purpose. God created each one of use with value not to demean others who look different. But now that some have decided to use this blessing of uniqueness as a way to hurt, we are deciding to ignore our color in some attempt to be accepted? As Christians we should respect God’s creation and the details with which we were created. While we should never allow our physical identity to keep us from loving one another, we should also never be so arrogant as to assume our different races are without purpose.
To Vandy08-
I’m not sure where you’re coming from, but what little I do understand, it seems you’ve misunderstood my point. I’m suggesting we not focus on our differences; I’m not suggesting that we ignore them altogether. The fact that you still use the word race at the end of your comment fairly demonstrates that you have not connected with my point.
No one appreciates diversity more than I do, but we cannot let it occupy the place it does in our collective psyche without diminishing the unity we are Biblically called to live out.
Thanks for sharing this. I found the following very convicting:
Our comfort is more important than our witness to the watching world
• Ethnic considerations supersede spiritual realities and obligations
You definitely have given me something to pray about and are pointing me toward introspection.
I’m white and I went to a racially mixed but primarily black church for many years. It was a blessing. I admit, even though I get very frustrated at the homogeneity of my recent church experience, I feel at home in my church – it speaks my language. And to be honest, I like it that the services are shorter…but to your point in the article. That is about my comfort.
Thanks for the challenge.