Racism. I plan to address the nature, different types and reasons for racism, and also describe the teachings of Christianity,

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-Emily Johnson 10M1 Religious Studies Coursework

RACISM

Part A

Introduction

 Racism is the belief that there are characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to each race. I have chosen racism as my topic as racism was a destructive reality in the past, and continues to be in a modern society. Although it is often denied, minimized or ignored, racism continues to shatter and destroy many people’s lives and I believe that more people should be made aware of this important and controversial issue.

I plan to address the nature, different types and reasons for racism, and also describe the teachings of Christianity, including how Christians have not always had a very good record in the history of racism. I am going to address the idea of Christian beliefs being put into action, exploring why Christians believe that fighting against racism and injustice are important, and the different ways in which Christians have fought against racism.  I will study different Christians who put their beliefs into action, and discuss what situations they found themselves in, how they overcame difficulties to combat racism and what effect they had on their particular situation. I will also discuss what the Christian Church is doing to combat racism.

Finally I am going to give my own opinion on the violent response to racism, and give reasons as to why others may disagree with my views. I will also back up all of my opinions and viewpoints with Christian principles provided by Biblical evidence.

 Interviews on the topic of Racism

I have decided to ask three people of different ages three questions on the topic of Racism. I am interested to see whether people of different ages have diverse viewpoints.

The first question I asked was What do you think racism is? I asked this as I wanted to see how far people’s ideas on racism differed from the textbook definition. I first asked the question to a thirteen year old friend, who replied “I think racism is when people show discrimination towards people who are a different colour to themselves. I think people who are white sometimes show prejudice towards black people and also the other way around. Racists are often violent”

I was given a more sophisticated reply from a twenty-five year old who responded “I consider that racism is the belief that some people are better than others for reasons only related to the characteristics and abilities held by different races. This is very similar to the dictionaries definition.

The final person I asked was a fifty year old who answered “I believe racism is when people impose unfair treatment or violence to people who belong to a different race to themselves. It is the belief that some races of people are better than others.

I asked these people a second question, which was; Do any events in the past stand out to you as being predominantly racist? 

The first reply was “Yes, in World War Two the Germans were really racist. They thought that they were better than everybody else and that everyone else was a second-class citizen. I think the Germans liked people with blonde hair and blue eyes best, and they didn’t like Jews, black people or disabled people. Loads of Jews were killed in Concentration Camps.”

The second response I acquired was “Of course, one that sticks out is

slavery. This was a typical example of people taking advantage over others, simply for the addition of power and wealth.”

The final answer I received for this question was “yes, in America there was an organization called the Ku Klux Klan which was really strong just after the American Civil War. It was a white supremacy movement, and particularly hated black people. Many black people were killed and tortured because they were apparently dangerous and raped and killed white women, but this was really just a horrible myth.

The third and final question I asked was Can you think of any Biblical evidence that opposes racism?

The first reply I received was “I think in the Bible it says that you should love your neighbour, and if your neighbour was a different race to you then you should not be cruel to them because of this, you should always accept them, and this goes for everyone you know.”

The next response was “I suppose the Bible has the story of the Good Samaritan, this was a story told by Jesus about how a man helped a man of a different race, even though two other likely people had passed by on the other side, showing we should care for each other no matter who we are.”

The final answer I received was “the Lord looks upon everybody equally, so we are all equal in the eyes of God. Due to this, there should be no discrimination between races in a religious sense.”

The Nature of Racism

I am going to discuss the different types of racism, the first being Overt Racism, most people are familiar with it since it is easily detectable and takes the form of direct behavioural or verbal racially discriminatory acts, also Covert Racism, which is more subtle, yet occurs more often than overt racism and is more easily hidden, denied, or discounted.

 Another example is Individual Racism, which is an individual's belief in the superiority of one's own group's physical, social, and cultural characteristics, and the inferiority of those of other groups. An Overt example could be an Arabic male student who is brutally murdered out of hate. A Covert example could be an employer who decides not to hire an Asian employee because she believes that the employee might drive away business, but tells the person that there are no more openings available.

An important and relevant example is Institutional Racism, which is the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. An Overt example could be a country club that has clearly written rules, which do not allow any non-White members. A Covert example could be an academic curriculum that only focuses on a particular country’s history and does not address the history of other ethnic or cultural groups.

My final example of a type of racism is Cultural Racism, which is prejudice by those with power against another racial, religious or social group demeaning their culture, at times attempting to change it, substitute their own over another or eradicate it. An Overt example could be the extermination of Jews in the Holocaust or the enslavement of African Americans. A Covert example could be stereotypical portrayal of ethnic minorities in the media, e.g. asylum seekers.

Children are not born racist, but rather racism is a learned social phenomenon, because of family, education, religion, the law, and the media. It is difficult to grow up in society without adopting the worldviews and biases of the society. The reasons people become racist are due to past experiences, copied attitudes from racist parents, fear, which makes people want to feel powerful (a form of bullying), poverty or unemployment and because people want somebody to blame for their problems.

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Christianity’s Teachings about Racism

Christians have not always had a very good record in the history of racism, for example slavery. Many of the slave owners were prominent members of the Christian church. They justified their actions by saying that black people were not really human, so that Christian teaching about treating other people equally did not apply. Jesus made the church "a house of prayer for all peoples" (Mark 11:17), showing that everybody can go to church, and therefore everybody is equal. "There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, the same Lord is Lord of all and ...

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