THE SIN OF RACISM
Since I never watched Seinfeld, I knew nothing about Cosmo Kramer, played by actor Michael Richards. And I had not heard about the incident of Richards’ racist remarks until just now, reading it on the blog of Kirk Wellum. That led to reading this mini-essay by CT editor-at-large Ed Gilbreath, who writes on “Kramer's Sins--and Ours”, which is excellent.
Having come from a Middle Eastern background (my father is a Kurd from Iraq), I experienced significant racist remarks in early High School—one young man insisted on calling me “Arab” and sometimes resorted to calling me by the N-word!—but only through life in Christ can there be healing for this sin. He is the One who breaks down the walls dividing men and women from each other on the basis of race. Ephesians 2 is such a powerful critique of this sin.
Yet even here Christians can fail. One thinks of the racism that underlay the slave trade in which Christians participated. But they were not living in accord with the Gospel! May God the Holy Spirit shine light and truth into all the crevices of our hearts and root out sin in its entirety, including the sin of racism!
Having come from a Middle Eastern background (my father is a Kurd from Iraq), I experienced significant racist remarks in early High School—one young man insisted on calling me “Arab” and sometimes resorted to calling me by the N-word!—but only through life in Christ can there be healing for this sin. He is the One who breaks down the walls dividing men and women from each other on the basis of race. Ephesians 2 is such a powerful critique of this sin.
Yet even here Christians can fail. One thinks of the racism that underlay the slave trade in which Christians participated. But they were not living in accord with the Gospel! May God the Holy Spirit shine light and truth into all the crevices of our hearts and root out sin in its entirety, including the sin of racism!
Hi Michael,
Thanks for your thoughts on this and the link to the post.
I think Act 17:26 is also a pretty powerful testimony to the sense of "oneness" that the human race has, in that all nations descend from one "man" or "blood".
I'm currently reading a book about some of the North American racist movements, such as "Christian Identity", etc. In those movements we find very "extreme" forms of the racism. For example, Bill Gale who clearly had Jewish heritage, hid it and went on to spew anti-Jewish propaganda and label them as the enemy. Probably more common today is a more subtle but just as unfounded form. Perhaps today it deals more with subtle attitudes rather than bombastic declarations or fanciful geneological theories.
I read somewhere that racism is always a taught attitude. I don't think I agree. Sure, where it exists, it probably most often is taught. However, I feel that a sinful fallen heart is in and of itself condusive to racism, and other elitist ideas.
And I don't think it can always be attributed to a totally attributed to downright maliciousness. A certain sort of low-key ignorant/selfish/elitist/arrogant attititude that distrusts those who are different and seeks to distinguish itself at the expense of another group is probably something which can creep into all of our hearts. We may be able to cease from outwardly discriminatory actions without much effort, but I think only by the grace of God can we shake off our deepest prejudices and inclinations towards racism.
Posted by
Anonymous |
2:25 p.m.
Michael, thanks for this post. You allude to the racist slave trade which was supported by Christians. Mark Noll continues to write and publish on the theme of slavery in the history of the USA.
Doesn't this history seriously undermine the piety of Christians, including Reformed orthodox theologians, in the 18th and 19thCs? For example, I don't think I can now read Dabney's work for anything other than 'academic' purposes. When I was first introduced to Dabney, no-one told me he supported a racist slavery, and that he was so angry with the North that he refused in principle to forgive his enemies after the Civil War.
How can Christian historians respond to such problems?
Posted by
David Shedden |
5:29 p.m.