What is racism?

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

RE racism course work

Part 1: i) what is racism?

1) The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.

2) Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

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Belief that a particular race of people is better than others.
Hostility towards people of other races.

(Oxford new school dictionary)

Racism occurs when people become prejudice against people who look different to them because of the colour of their skin or have a different religion.

Racism can be from holding and showing strong views against people through verbally abusing people right up physical abuse of people who to them may seem ‘different’ to them selves but actually are not. In modern society there is no excuse for racism, as every body knows that there is no difference between a black person and a white person except the colour of their skin. Christians are raised to know that racism wrong and in the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church disapprove of racism in any form.

Racism is not something new it has been around for centuries. An example of this is in the 1700’s when black Africans were sold to Americans as slaves. Thousands of people have died from acts of racism an example of this is the holocaust, sometimes called ethnic cleansing by Nazis, was an attempt to kill thousands of Jews just because of their religion. Even today people are still dying from acts of racism an example of this is Stephen Lawrence who was beaten eventually to death by a gang of white youths the only reason for this attack was that he was black.

Racism today also takes on some subtle forms for example black people sometimes being by past in promotion in their jobs and some employers are biased towards hiring white people instead of black. It has even been found that there is racism in the police force.

ii) What Christian teaching might be useful in a discussion about racism?

In the world racism is very obvious from insults thrown, too punch-ups. In the bible all this is seen as wrong. As every human is made in Gods image, this comes before whether they are black or white, Jew, gentile. So in Gods eyes racism should not be apparent.

The bible only recognises one human race, and this is shown in the bible in a few places, firstly Genesis where it is said ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.’Genesis1, 27. This says that as God only created two people At the beginning and every one evolved from them then it is only possible that there is one human race. also in genesis the bible says ‘ the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.’ this enforces what I said before in that eve is the mother of all living meaning that it is only possible for one human race.

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Also in the bible there is the story of Noah which if true would also mean that there could only be one human race derived from him and his family..

As humans are made in Gods image so if any one says that they love God and hate their brother, is a liar for he who does not love his brother who he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. All humans are made in the image of God this precedes even the most basic distinction between humans, male, female, black, white, Jew, gentile.

the bible rejects ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

Also in the bible there is the story of Noah which if true would also mean that there could only be one human race derived from him and his family..

the bible rejects the use of statues being shown respect as in the Greek or Roman Gods. because as humans are made in Gods image respecting them would be respecting God.

In the New Testament Jesus’ command “love your neighbour as you love yourself” clearly breaks social and visual differences between people and shows that if you do this then racism should not occur. In Mathew 7:12 it is written ‘always treat others as you would like them to treat you’ this is one of the most important rules in the bible as it shows clearly why it is important to treat others well.

God loves every one and you should give back this love by following the bible. This is explained in Matthew 25:31-45: ‘What you do unto the least of my people you do unto me’. This means that if you insult someone racially or not you are also insulting God. This means that when the Ku Klux Klan insult or kill black people then they are also insulting God meaning that there excuse of being a Christian actually goes against them.

In the bible there are allot of teachings to do with how to treat foreigners an example of this is Leviticus 19: 33-34: ‘Do not ill treat foreigners who are living in your land. Treat them as you would a fellow-Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves.’. This was originally said to the Israelites but it is useful to Christians in a discussion about racism as it says that God treats every one in the same way and so everybody should also have equal respect for each other.

Part 2: How might Christians respond to racism?

Christians might react to racism in a verity of ways, mainly violent or passive. I will tell you how some Christians have reacted and how it was related to their belief.

Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929 and died April 4, 1968. His family were all members of the Baptist church.

Martin Luther King was a member of the national association for the advancement of coloured people. He supported non-violent protests and said they were the way forward. this was a time when many people feared that the situation in America would grow to become similar to that of south Africa where a black persons wages were half that of a white persons.

Martin organised a ‘bus boycott’ which was a non violent protest about the Law that a black person had to give up their seat to a white person if the asked on a bus, the process involved not using on the buses and lasted for 382 days. After this a law was passed meaning that black and white people were able to travel equally on busses without separation.

This was not the only law that Martian Luther King helped to make, in 1963 he led a march with ¼ of a million people of both black and white, which was aimed at implementing a new civil rights law to help American black people. This shows that all his work of non-violent protests did work and help to change American society for the better.

Another example of someone who is using non-violent protest to gain rights is Archbishop Desmond Tutu, he was born in 1931 in south Africa and holds the position of honorary doctor in a number of leading universities in the USA, Britain and Germany.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has formulated his objective as ‘a democratic and just society without racial divisions’, and has set some points as minimum demands:

Equal civil rights for all
The abolition of South Africa’s passport laws
A common system of education
The cessation of forced deportation from South Africa to the so-called “homelands”

In 1984 he was awarded a Nobel peace prize and he accepted it on behalf of all those who sought the end to apartheid. (An official policy of racial segregation)

He has now retired from his post of Archbishop and has set up a peace foundation to help with the fund raising for the Desmond Tutu peace trust.

Archbishop Trevor Hudleston was born in 1913 and died in 1998, he was a good friend of Archbishop Desmond Tutu who greatly respected him.

He also protested peacefully, against the mixed marriages Act (Black people were not allowed to marry white people.) and the Immorality Act (Low rights for black people.)

He was also a member of the ANC, African National Congress, and had its highest award. The ANC is a liberation movement trying to free South Africa of racism and gain social, political and economic change.

One of his most famous Quotes is one that says that Christianity is totally against the system in South Africa: ‘Christians are not only commanded to love. We are commanded to hate what is evil, and nothing is more evil than apartheid.’ This sums up the feelings of the Christians in Africa who were subject to the Apartheid.

The Ku Klux Klan is a racist organisation who where white head masks and robes, they are responsible for the murder, torture of black people. They set fire to or “light” the Christian cross at their meetings. They believe that God created heaven and earth, and created the white man, in his own image. They also believe that Darwin’s theory of evolution was responsible for the other races. Using this as an excuse for racist action they claim that they are all Christians and follow what the bible says. The Ku Klux Klan are not against racism, they are for it and believe that violence is the way to do things.

Overall this shows that violence does not achieve things like a change in law and it is not appropriate to use to try to gain rights. All the people who use non-violent protest are listened too more and if people agree with their point then things might be changed. Christians find help in the bible when they are stuck as to what to do as it is a source of knowledge that is useful in many situations.

Part 3: “Violence is an appropriate response to racism” do you agree?

Violence as well as racism is apparent in today’s society, this does not mean that either of them are right separate or together.

Some people who have been physically, racially abused may feel that violence will help them to stop racism. This could partly be due to built up anger specifically at the person who abused them and physical tension stored inside them that they want to release on someone in the same way that they were hurt they may think that after this they will feel better about themselves.

In the bible Jesus teaches about being passive and not responding to violence with violence. Matthew 5:38-48: ‘You have heard it said an ‘eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ this Quote sums up the Christian view of racism and violence. Saying that it is you may have heard the sayings ‘an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth’ but in actual fact it is better not to retaliate and if someone hits you on your right cheek offer them your left cheek to hit as well. The passage also says that you should try to be perfect, in this respect like God, this would probably be an aim for a Christian and something that he/she would try to follow. This means that a Christian’s response to racism is less likely to be a violent one because of this teaching in the bible.
An ordinary person however if they were walking down the street and saw someone being physically racially abused might want to help and if they thought that they were strong enough might try to help the person being abused and using violence to stop more violence occurring.

In this case violence may be an appropriate response to racism, if the person committing the abuse did not listen when asked to stop.

In general I think it depends upon the law, if the law is anti-racist then you can use it to help you against racism. But if the law is racist then a peaceful protest may be enough to change peoples minds, this occurred in America where many laws were racist Martin Luther King using non-violent protest managed to change many of these.

Over all I think that people are more likely to listen to you if you protest non-violently as it is more respect full and it is not against the law so you cannot be stopped unlike a violent protest which can be forcibly stopped by the law.

So I do not feel that violence is an appropriate response to racism.