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PREFACE: As a number of you know, I was very involved in the civil rights movement in Berkeley in the 1960s, and I have remained deeply concerned about race issues. In our work in THE STATESMEN PROJECT, we have just added to our Public Policy Focus Group a subgroup called, “Equality and Wealth Creation.” In this group, we will be dealing with these issues from a biblical perspective. This foundational essay is our entry point into this issue, so charged with chaos and division. Please pray that we can make a difference.
“And [God] hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth…” —Acts 17:26
Since the corruption of man in the Garden of Eden, mankind has been in conflict within itself over many issues. The core of these issues probably boils down to these few: 1) the fear of loss, 2) the coveting of resources, 3) the misuse of power, and 4) the need to control. Racism—that is, the attitudes, behaviors, and social structures designed by one ethnic group to control another ethnic group—has a long and grievous history. It has been fueled by the “big four” listed above and has existed between virtually all differing ethnic groups at some point in their history. The European ethnic groups, the Asian ethnic wars, and African tribalism, among the more notable, have driven wars, slavery, and the theft of land for thousands of years. Over the last centuries, the hatred of the Jews, the enslavement of the Africans, and the endless wars between various sections of Europe have engulfed us with tragedy and unspeakable abuses of one group against another.
Putting all these abuses of humanity under the category of “racism” is not completely accurate since other factors such as class differences, historical customs, and nationalism all deserve their “credit” for ungodly abuses. In current times, racism often gets top billing, at least in the United States, as the “mother of all that is unjust.” In some ways, this is a strange gift since the cures for racism may be the least challenging when compared with the complexities of re-engineering systemic economic inequities and eliminating failing, inordinate nationalism. At the end of the day, racism will diminish and disappear structurally when the actual “alikeness” of us all is supported scientifically, attitudinally identified, and purged by genuine, active repentance. However, racism must be repeatedly identified as a social plague which diminishes life, liberty, and prosperity for all of us cast together as a social system of people, locally, nationally, and globally.
As many have already pointed out from various perspectives, it is the supreme issue of our common “alikeness” that cuts off the ability of any one ethnic group to lay claim to racial superiority. If all humanity is, in fact, from a single blood line as both the Scriptures and modern science have absolutely proven, the primary, conceptual source of racism—the misplaced notion of evolutionary superiority that produces significant differences between ethnic groups—is cut off forever at its source. Indeed, what makes us scientifically different as human beings is less than 1% of our total DNA makeup, and none of that difference is proven to be linked to innate character issues or intelligence possibilities. In terms of our created differences, they are tied at the core to God’s choices for specific ethnic engiftments. Our sociological differences are the results of the foundational differences in our social cultures, family histories, exposure and access to quality education, guidance into lifestyle skill sets enhancing lifetime educational hunger, economic opportunity, and apprenticing. The compelling fact that our Creator dearly enjoys creating uniqueness and specialty in each individual is something God expects us to embrace rather than reject because He values our differences. Once again, these realities are scientifically verified and sociologically affirmed. Where did this notion of many races and racial superiorities come from? The answer is simple: ignorance, bad science (the notion of racial evolutionary specialties) and the “big four” foundations of human sin previously mentioned: 1) the fear of loss, 2) the coveting of resources, 3) the misuse of power, and 4) the need to control.
“And you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” —John 8:32
In this prophetic and historic social moment, one of the Church’s highest callings and gifts to the world is the mandate to enlighten the blind, free the slaves of fear and hate, and liberate humanity from this demonic notion of multiple races, bloodlines, and innate superiorities within those racial distinctives. The very moment a person or group of people utter the word, “races,” the steel trap of hate, subservience, and strife is socially released again to work its work of division and spiritual death. To those of us who see this, if we truly do see this, we are compelled to take the keys to these steel traps and, not only free the captives, but infuse within them the zeal and skill to acquire their own sets of keys to rapidly multiply the call to truth and freedom. Let the one-blood and one-race movement find its most virulent carriers quickly! Freedom from racism is the reality of one blood and one race, and that is…