Most everyone seems to agree that racism is a bad thing. Unfortunately, that’s about the only common ground to be found on the subject. What then does God think about racism?
The Only Time God Ever Cared about Racial Purity
God decided that a man named Abram – later re-named Abraham – would be the father of a race of people who would ultimately be called Hebrews or Jews. These descendants of Abraham were set apart to be “the people of God.” From that race would come the Messiah – the deliverer God promised through many prophets over many years. We know that Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth.
Abraham had a son named Isaac, who had a son named Jacob. Then Jacob had 12 sons. That launched a period of explosive population growth for Abraham’s descendants. One of those descendants – Moses – formed his fellow Abrahamic descendants into a nation – called Israel. In the formation of that nation, they were given laws that included instructions for them not to intermarry with any of the other nations (Deuteronomy 7:3). All the other nations were called “Gentiles” – which comes from the Hebrew word for “nations” or “peoples.” Gentiles were not subject to the laws Moses gave to Jews and were permitted to ignore the strict legal and moral code imposed on Israel (Acts 14:16).
From the time of Moses forward, Jews observed practices and rituals that distinguished them from all other peoples. When the bloodline distinction between Jews and Gentiles was not maintained, God was displeased and the Jews had to repent (Ezra 9:1-4). Messiah needed to come from as pure a hereditary line as possible because the environment he grew up in would shape his values. Therefore, a strong Jewish culture needed to prevail – not one watered down by the values of other cultures that would have taken place through intermingling races.
Once Messiah came and completed his mission on earth, however, God dispensed with any further concern about the purity of the Jews. Messiah’s role was to rule all the nations – not just Israel. Through Messiah – a worldwide king – God broke down the barrier of the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:11-16; Colossians 3:11). Of course, there are still Jews today, but their DNA is of no concern to God. He sees every single human being as having equal footing before Him (Acts 10:34-35). Thus, the only time God cared about race was the time between Abraham and Jesus. And even then, it was only because He had a specific mission to accomplish – not because He preferred one set of physical characteristics over another. And even then, God gave no rules to the other nations that they should not intermarry with each other. Truly, God’s interest in racial purity was very limited and clearly temporary even in that one instance.
Racism in the Interactions of Humans
While racism has not been a problem for God, the same cannot be said for us. Racism has been a particular problem in 20th- and 21st-century America – mainly because of the legacy left us by slavery. Africans had been kidnapped and brought to North America to provide slave labor on southern plantations. The American Civil War ended their slavery, but the full citizenship they were granted afterward was limited for another hundred years by segregation, “Jim Crow” laws, and prejudice – mainly in the American south.
Civil rights legislation in the 1960’s outlawed segregation and discrimination everywhere in the country. States were no longer able to use their legal power to circumvent the national policy of equality before the law. Of course, people could discriminate, but now they’d be subject to prosecution for doing so.
Having lived through that period, I can tell you that there was a sea change in attitudes among the white population during that period of time. The segregation and prejudice that was socially acceptable among the silent generation in the American South was shed by the baby boomers who followed. In other words, the legislation that crowned the civil rights movement was accompanied by supporting attitudes and behaviors in the region of the country that most needed to change. I don’t think we baby boomers were more moral than our parents; it’s just that the time was ripe for that change. I think the advent of television had more to do with removing regional departures from national policy than any other single factor; it worked in a variety of ways to have a homogenizing effect on attitudes toward race.
Racism in the Human Heart
Civil rights leaders should have declared victory in the 1960’s and retired…because they won! They should not think, however, that they did it on their own because there was a strong tailwind pushing them forward. I’m speaking of developments like Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in professional sports in 1947, and Harry Truman integrating the US military the following year. In other words, the civil rights movement, which began in 1954, was as much a result of changing attitudes towards race as it was a cause of them. Such forces were reinforcing each other and propelling the country forward toward full equality before the law.
Having successfully leveled the playing field, civil rights leaders could have applied their energies to other problems because they had achieved all that was necessary in the realm of politics, law, and government. Oh, there may have been a few mop-up operations that remained, but their war had essentially been won in the 1960’s – just as the war against slavery been won in the 1860’s.
What remains of racism is a matter of human hearts, and that is not a realm that human beings can govern. All government can govern is human behavior; only God can survey the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Trying to convince another human being that you are not racist is a fool’s errand. How could the other guy ever know for sure? Your thoughts and attitudes are invisible to him.
If we don’t allow God alone to heal what remains of racism in human hearts, government and society will make themselves our thought police. That cure is already proving to be worse than the disease.
The Duty of a Man 