Ethics and christianity.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

R.S course work 2001

Ethics

Throughout the bible there are instances where Jesus performed healing miracles, and when he performs these miracles he is not prejudiced against anybody so he is not racist. I think that the bible teaches that racism is wrong for example in Luke 10 Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan, this story tells of a man who was on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers who left him half dead. Soon a priest came by and saw the man, and walked by on the other side of the road. Also a Levite came along and just looked at the man and carried on. Then a Samaritan came along and “his heart filled with pity”, he took the man and saw to his wounds. He put the man on his animal and took him to nearby inn where he took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. “Take care of him,” he told the innkeeper and when I come back this way I will pay you whatever else you spend on him. I think this story means that that we as Christians should love all our neighbours and not be racist.

In Luke 9 it tells of when Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem he sent out his followers ahead to get everything ready for him, but when they arrived the Samaritans would not let them stay because they were on their way to Jerusalem. When John and James heard this they asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven to destroy them, but Jesus said “No!” This shows that Jesus was completely against being racist.

Another time Paul was telling vast crowds about ‘God’ and how god was to be worshiped he said, “From one man he created all races of mankind and made them live throughout the whole earth.” This means that god created us from the same thing and that we are all alike, so we must not be prejudiced against those who are a different race.

In the book of Luke in chapter 17 it tells of how Jesus was on the border between Samaria and Galilee when ten men approached him with a “dreaded skin disease” at this time in it ...

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In the book of Luke in chapter 17 it tells of how Jesus was on the border between Samaria and Galilee when ten men approached him with a “dreaded skin disease” at this time in it would have been considered to be completely socially incorrect to even talk to this people, In other words people were racist against these people, but Jesus calls out to the men and says “Go and let the priests examine you.” In saying this Jesus is being completely un-racist against outcasts. So I think that this shows that Jesus is completely against racism.

Other people in the bible show that racism is wrong for example in Acts 10 when peter is on the roof of his house and is praying, he suddenly has a vision of a large sheet carrying all gods animals in it. When he is at Cornelius’s house he realizes what this vision mean. He says “I now realize that it is true that god treats everyone on the same basis.” This means that god treats all as equals and that he does not expect us to treat people of different races differently (not to be racist).

In the book of acts it tells of how Herod locks up Peter because it pleases the Jews (being racist). When Peter is sleeping god sends an angel to rescue Peter from the jail, and Peter escapes. This story shows that god does not allow people to be racist.

In the story of Ephesians Paul describes how the death of Christ proved that Jews and Gentiles aren’t different and that they all serve god and god thinks of them all as equals. This shows that god was trying to make all men see that they are equal to him and that they should not be racist.

In conclusion I think that god looks on us all as equals and that god thinks that we should not be racist against each other as we are all his sons.

b) The phrase “White people don’t know anything about us. All they know is that we beat up old women and things like that” means that the person writing thinks that white people are being very narrow minded, but he him himself is being very narrow minded because he is speaking of white people as though all of them are racist. He probably feels this way because he has been accused of committing a crime that another black made had committed. This may affect Christians today because Christians could try to help change the image of the black man by bringing more black Christians into the eyes of the public and showing to everyone that we are equal and by trying to destroy the image of the black man.

The phrase “Ebony and Ivory – living in perfect harmony.” means that all men that are as black as ebony and all men that are as white as Ivory can live in harmony. Christians could act on this by taking to these words and living together with black people (or with white). I also think that if a black Christian and white Christian teamed up to create union between black and white people world over, then the attitude against black people would change a lot. Also if the amount of people that are black increased then the whole worlds attitude to blacks would change.

The phrase “Perhaps if white Americans could accept the oneness of God, then, perhaps, they would accept the oneness of man.” I think that this phrase means that if all people black and white believed in one god then they would be able to live and worship together. I think that Christians could act on this by working with Islam to try and find common points in their religion then they could worship together and become one.

I think that all Christians today could try and help change the common view of black people by welcoming them into worship groups, but on a bigger front I think that Christians could bring more bishops and maybe an archbishop that was black and I think that this would help destroy the image given to black people and then black and white people could live together “in perfect harmony”.

c) I agree that there is no one internationally known Christian that has made any real contribution to the fight against racism. I think this because there are still huge amounts of racism in modern day society, for example in the news I found a story about an African American man who was dragged behind a car until decapitated. Others might argue that the man who has led the fight against racism is Martin Luther King, who had a dream that all blacks were treated better, and that black and white people could live in harmony. I disagree that Martin Luther King was fighting against all types of racism and that he was just fighting against prejudice to blacks and not prejudice against all races, so I think that he was not a person fighting for abolishment of racism. I also think that even though he did lot against racism He did not stand out to do more than over non-Christians like Mohamed Ali who I talk about in a moment.

Another reason why I think there was no main Christian who has led the fight against racism but there were lots for example Nelson Mandela and Ghandi as well as the ones I have mentioned. There is also a lot of non-Christian people who fight against racism, Mohamed Ali Is a man who was a pro boxer and was a champion of the world, he used this title to help him fight against racism even though at first he was a close follower of Malcolm X who thought that racism was part of the white man religion. Some people will disagree that he was someone who worked with Christians to try to abolish racism.

In conclusion I think that that is no one Christian that lead the fight against racism I think that lots of separate people all made a contribution. Also I think that lots of non-Christians also made a big effort to get rid of racism.