All of these extracts have things in common. The messages these give us are telling us that all men and women of any race are equal, that there is only one race and that we have dominion over all the creatures on earth.
A well-known parable, the Good Samaritan, is about a man and a Samaritan who helps him. The Samaritans were a hated people at the time of Jesus. The man was attacked and mugged by some men and left along the roadside. A priest and then a Levite walked past on the other side of the road. Then a Samaritan came along and helped the man even though no one liked Samaritans.
The message of this parable and Jesus’ teachings is that you should help people regardless of their race or creed. Jesus preached against racism and there are many other examples of this like in Genesis.
Baptist:
“The kingdom of God knows no prejudice and no discrimination. In fact, it might be better to say that it discriminates on favour of the poor, the weak and the marginalised. The Church therefore has the responsibility to listen to these groups, to work with them and to support their attempts to improve their own conditions.”
The Baptist statement mirrors one of Jesus’ own teachings, the Beatitudes, one of which says: Happy are those who are persecuted in the cause of right; theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Or Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you because of me and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. The Baptist church says that they have a responsibility to help the poor and persecuted. This is also like the Good Samaritan, or helping those less fortunate no matter what the colour or creed.
Methodists
“Whatever our skin colour or background, we are one in our common humanity and one in Christ.” All are equal before God. Adverse discrimination on the basis of or cultural characteristics contradicts our common humanity and the Gospel. To judge anyone adversely solely on account of his or her membership of a class or a racial group is to violate his or her status as a human being.”
“We reaffirm that racism is a direct contradiction of the Gospel of Jesus. We welcome the multi-racial nature of society in Britain and assert our unqualified commitment to it. We regard it as economically, socially, culturally and spiritually beneficial for human development.”
This is along the lines of Genesis:26-27 and that it is wrong to judge anyone because of their race is to deny them basic human rights. These verses state that God created everyone in his image, and so they are all equal before god. The Bible says, ‘Judge not lest ye be judged.’ They believe that to do so would be against Jesus’ teachings. This church believes in a multi-racial society and that one would be beneficial to human development.
Roman Catholic
The Roman Catholic church’s Pope Paul II denounced those who said that, ‘the inhabitants of the West Indies and southern continents should be treated like animals and used slaves for profit.’
In 1888 Pope Leo XIII denounced the slave trade. In 1989, a statement was released, ‘The Church and Racism’ which had three basic concepts:
- Recognition of diversity and complementarity should lead to respect for differences.
- Charity and justice should be directed that everyone should be able to have dignified living conditions which should lead to a development of a fraternity.
- This in turn should lead to effective solidarity between all races.
The Roman Catholic Church states that there should be a ‘brotherhood’ of all races and that any charity should be equally divided so that everyone can have suitable living conditions (1 Corinthians). No Gentiles, no Jews, no blacks. The Catholic church has been opposed to racism for hundreds of years and denounces slavery.
Unified Reform Church:
“All humans are made in the image of God as the summit of God’s creation. Human beings are made for each other, to live in community and to have corporate responsibility for the whole of creation. But unlike the rest of creation, there are no separate species within humanity. There is only one human race. What we call races are nothing more significant than slight variations of the basic human stock.”
“In Jesus Christ the barriers between humankind and God are broken down. Similarly the division within the human family are destroyed.”
