Within the Church of England, there are policies, which are again against the idea of racism in the religion of Christianity and the Church of England, and in the wider world community. They have set up a ‘race and community relations committee’ which addresses issues such as immigration laws, unemployment amongst blacks and Asians and black people within the prison system. This is again acknowledging that British society has a problem, in the same kind of way that the United Reformed Church did, and is an example of the Church condoning racism and is trying to take steps to do something about it.
The Church of England also acknowledges that there is racism in the Church and has a committee on ‘black Anglican concerns’. This committee addresses the issues brought up by racism in the Church of England and helps them to be resolved.
One of the ways in reducing people’s prejudices and therefore cutting the number of people who discriminate is by educating. If people are educated about race issues, and are fully aware of the facts, then they can make fair decisions about what they think about people. The Church of England has realised this and produces study packs and other literature on race for local Churches.
The Church of England has acknowledged that there is a long way to go within the Church locally and globally to put an end to discrimination.
It is hard to say that Christianity specifically teaches this or that about prejudice and discrimination, because of the many different denominations who each have their own policies and idea on how this should be viewed. The Bible says, ‘Do not mistreat foreigners who are living in your land. Treat them as you would a fellow Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God’ Leviticus 19:33-34. This tells us to accept people even if they are not living in the place they originally come from.
In the beginning, in Genesis when God created man, he created him in his own image. ‘So God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him. Male & Female he created them’. Genesis 1:26-27. Christians believe that God created them in his own image that is that they are sacred and all life deserves the same respect. ‘Do not judge or you will be judged, for in the same way you judge, you will be judged. With the measure you use it will be measured to you. Matthew 6:14-15. This tells us that we have no right to judge other people, and if we do we will be judged back with the same measure. Later on in the New Testaments, it says ‘from one human being he created all the races on earth, and made them live throughout the whole earth. Acts17: 26.
This is concrete evidence that the Bible explicitly teaches against prejudice and discrimination. Firstly it tells us that we are made in God’s image, that is sacred and all human life should be given the same respect. In Genesis, it tells that we should accept the people living around us, even if they are ‘foreigners’ (different) in Leviticus. In Matthew we are told that we should not judge people, and if we do, we will be judged back with the same ‘measure’ that we gave it. Finally in Acts, we are told that everyone was created from one man and spread about the earth, which makes us all the same.
Christianity teaches that we are allowed to have a high opinion of ourselves and to have self-respect, but at the same time you must respect and honour other people. Lift them up at all times, even if in your opinion they do not deserve it. “Because God has given me al special gift, I have something to say to everyone among you. Do not think that you are better than you are. You must really decide who you are by the amount of faith God has given you. Romans 12:3. This means, do not let the opinion you have of yourself get any higher than the opinions you have of others. Remember God is greater than you, and if your opinion of yourself gets higher than the opinion of others you are likening yourself to God. God is the only thing that is higher than you or any other human being.
Section B
Teachings of Christianity – How followers may put them into practice.
There are some very extreme cases of racism in the Church.
In South Africa there is a Church that is white dominated, called ‘The Dutch Reformed Church of South Africa’ (DRC). This Church argued that God had deliberately separated the
People of the world into different races, and that white people were meant to be superior to black people. The DRC argued that verses such as Galatians 3:28 “There is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between Men and Women, you are all one in union with Christ”, meant that people are spiritually not physically equal.
The DRC believed that the racist apartheid laws in South Africa were God’s will. They argued that races could be kept separate. White people should have better opportunities than black people. That mixed marriages and relationships should not be encouraged so that the different races stayed ‘pure’.
The DRC used the Bible to support its views. It presented God as ‘the great divider’. They used the creation story told in Genesis where God divides everything up into different categories and likened it to whites being divided from blacks and it is meant to be that way. These racist beliefs were used to support the apartheid regime introduced in 1948.
Other South African Christians opposed the racist views of the DRC. In 1982 the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) declared ‘a state of confession’ as a protest against Christian apartheid beliefs. In 1985 fifty people from the black township of Soweto published their beliefs in the Kairos. They wrote ‘The Divider – God, is sinister and evil, a god who is historically on the side of the white settlers, who dispossesses black people of their land and gives the major part of the land to ‘his chosen’ people. The god of the South African state is not merely a false god, it is the devil disguised as – Almighty God – the Antichrist’.
The Kairos, accused of ‘missing biblical texts’ for its own political purposes. These developments helped to change the official views of the DRC who later repented of their views.
Many anti-apartheid Christians in South Africa faced a bitter dilemma. They believed that the apartheid regime was wrong, but it was supported by the power of the South African Police and Army. To fight apartheid was to be branded a communist or a terrorist, and you were likely to be imprisoned as Nelson Mandela was, tortured or murdered.
The question was whether to fight violence with non-violence or not. Some Christians joined in the armed struggle against apartheid. Many more including South African Church Leader Archbishop Desmond Tutu chose the non-violent method and set about collecting signatures for a petitions. Not only did Desmond Tutu protest against racism in non-violent ways, he later under President Nelson Mandela lead ‘The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ This commission heard from people on both sides who had committed crimes under apartheid and gave them a guarantee they would not be punished for the crimes they confessed. It says in the Bible that if you confess your sins publicly to Almighty God than you will be forgiven. This is the exact Christian principle that the two men introduced.
In the southern United Sates of America in the 1950’s and 1960’s discrimination and prejudice against black people was very common indeed. People feared that the situation was going to escalate and become like that of South Africa, where black peoples earnings were only half those of whites.
Martin Luther King was a Christian and campaigned endlessly for equal treatment of blacks and whites. He refused to support the idea that white people were all evil as some black radicals believed. Instead, he taught that Christian Love was the way forward. ‘Love’ he said, ‘was the only force capable of turning an enemy into a friend. Jesus was king’s inspiration; he supported non-violent protests and said it was the way forward. He famously spoke about non-violence and said ‘If he does not beat you good, if he beats you, you develop the inner conviction of accepting the blows without retaliating.
King often stated that non-violence work for Ghandi ----- he wanted to get the English out of India, so this is why he consistently said that the black community should not fight no matter how they were provoked.
Martin Luther King became the leader of the Civil Rights movement and in 1956 the Government passed a law that made it illegal to separate blacks and whites on buses.
‘I have a dream that one day God’s children, Blacks, Whites, Jews, Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics will be able to join hands and sing; Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty we are free at last.
This was Martin Luther Kings dream and unfortunately it has still not come to pass today as the violence in Northern Ireland shows. Maybe the terrorists should catch onto this dream.
In 1968 a white man called James Earl Ray shot Martin Luther King dead in Memphis Tennessee, he was only 39.
Section C
Everyone is equal and should be treated as exactly the same. Do you agree?
There are many ways in which people can be ‘treated’ they can receive medical help, they can be paid money for working and they can have someone talk about them or have something done to them.
How does your boss treat you at work? Or your teacher treats you at school? I can bet anything that it will not be exactly the same way your best friend who has learning difficulties who is sat next to you. They are obviously going to get more attention from the teacher, purely and simply because they need it to do the work.
People are treated in different ways, and 99% of cases it is not a problem. If someone has discriminated against you for no good reason, then yes, in that situation you and however was chosen over you should have been treated in the same way, but to a large extent it depends on your situation and your capabilities. There is a fine line between when people should and shouldn’t be treated the same, and in some area it is rather hazy and causes arguments etc.
I think that everyone should be treated fairly. How you would define treating everyone fairly I do not know. After all, what is fair? Fair is enough. Enough to eat, enough to drink, a good education, a roof over your head and clothes.
I think that everyone should be treated the same in that, all have enough to live on, without suffering. They are given treatment and fair rights, and only when you abuse those rights or the rights of someone else should you have to suffer and be treated ‘unfairly’, but in fact it is not unfairly because they abused their rights, it’s just differently.
I believe that we are all the same, we need the same things to live and usually psychologically the same, and we are all humans. We should have the same amount of dignity and respect for everyone, and they to you.
If the world were divided up so that everyone had ‘the same’ then I would say that, that would be pretty pointless, but if your respect were divided up between everyone equally then that would not sound ridiculous.
We should not be treated the same with material things, because each person has different needs but with spiritual things such as love, compassion and respect to name a few, should be dealt with equally around the world.
Christianity does not talk about material things when it talks about giving things out equally to everyone. The Bible talks about love and respect. One of the most famous scriptures is from the ten commandments ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ This means we should all have respect for one another as you do for yourself, because we are all neighbours on this earth. The Bible teaches that you should respect yourself, because you are a child of the most high God.
Some people may say that they don’t know half the people in the world, so why do they need to respect them? As long as I respect the people I know, it won’t be a problem.
I would say that you meet new people all the time, and if you didn’t respect them you would never make any friends. The Bible says, if you respect yourself more than someone else then you think of yourself than higher than them and that is wrong, because you are likening yourself to God and no one is as high as God (Romans 12:1-4).
