The Bible On Race and Diversity

I have been a part of the American Church now for a while, and I am loving it. There are some reasons why I am loving being a part of the Body of Christ here in the States. For one, Christians here are largely sincere people. Those who choose to believe in Christ do so faithfully, trustingly. Another reason is the generosity of the body of believers in the country. They have done a lot in helping spread the Word of God to other parts of the world. I count myself blessed to be a part of such giving and sacrificing people of God.

Yet, there are a few things that make me concerned about the Church in the US. Some of these issues include race and racial relations, the church's participation in partisan politics, and the question of homosexuality. To be sure, these issues are in no way peculiar to the American Church. By the way, by 'American church' I mean the entire body of Christ represented by the Christian community in the US. There is technically no such thing as American church or Nigerian church or British church. The phrase is used only in the sense of identifying the christian community in a particular region of the world. One more thing, I am not going into these discussions as one who is a judge, or one whose understanding of Scripture in this area is infallible. Far from it. I love the Christians I have met in this country, and out of love seek to share these concerns with you, brother to brother. In fact, looking back now, I see that the same issues of race or ethnicity largely bedevilled the Nigerian Church from which I came. Isn't it interesting how it is easy not to notice our own faults or mistakes? Often times, it takes an unbiased 'outsider' to see things the way they really are, and point our attention to it.

The Church and Racial Relations
So, let's begin our dialogue with race. Yes, I know, many people are uncomfortable with even the mention of that word. That is the first observation I have made as a stranger, and it may well be wrong. But the impression I have had living and worshipping with Christians is that the first rule about racial relations is 'never talk about race-related issues directly; and if you must talk about it, do it in such a manner that only the enlightened inner cycle actually has a clue about what you talking about.' But talk about it, we must. After all, the Bible we hold dear as God's word to us is full of direct discussions on racial relations, and brotherly fellowship with diverse groups of people.

I have visited all-white churches in communities with whites, blacks and Hispanics. I have also visited all black churches in the same communities. Yet, the American Church acts like race is no issue at all. To be quite frank, the church in American is not alone in carrying on as though racial relations need no improving. I am originally from Nigeria. In that great country, Christianity is going through a huge revival. Yet, ethnicity plagues the nation and the church almost equally. It is still very important even in the church whether you are Ibo, Yoruba, Hausa/Fulani, Itshekiri, or Ibibio, to mention only a few of some of the ethnic affiliations. I hear of some American missionaries talk about tribal divisions among African peoples, and the wars it so easily engenders. They are right, and how sad it is. But the truth is that, right here in US, the nation and the Church are not free of race problems. And the amazing thing is that we either don't see it or we have chosen not to acknowledge it.

Let's Confront It
But we have to agree that perhaps we have a problem, yes, even with race. I have visited a number of churches where people were genuinely warm. I have also visited a number of churches where people are condescending to an annoying degree. And even congratulate themselves that they are so good as to stoop low to talk to someone of a different race, or of a particular race. I have sat back in some churches and observed as the greeters or the host pastor welcomes some people of a different race, almost as a matter of duty. I have also watched as these same persons spontaneously embrace some other people of a different race. Yet we can almost swear with our lives that we are not racial. In fact we feel insulted by the mere suggestion that racial feelings could be at work. May be we are not 'racial'. But perhaps we need to admit that we have a racial problem. That may be a good place to start. After all, even the most 'nonracial' person may well have some racial tendencies.

The Church has got to confront some of these things through teachings from the word of God. Even the early church had problems of race and ethnicity and diversity. They did not know how to deal with it at first, but one thing they did for sure was confront it directly. The nation in which the church was birthed was steeped deep into national pride and exclusivity. They were Jews, all others were gentiles. And let me remind you, 'gentiles' connotes sinful, and somewhat inferior set of people. To say that they were proud of their Jewish heritage is to put it mildly. So, when the Church of Christ was born, there was still a carry-over of this national sentiment and racial pride into the church; to the degree that although they genuinely believed that Jesus Christ is the only salvation for the world, yet they questioned Peter for going to preach to Cornelius, a gentile; and huddled themselves in Jerusalem until persecution sent them out to other places.

Tolerance or Love?
Not to worry, I will go into the history of race and racial problems in the Christian Church soon, but for now, let me conclude that it does not help to deny that we may have a race problem. We have to confront this in order to grow in this area. I wish that some of our 'mighty' preachers preached a little more on racial equality and true fellowship among all peoples in Christ. We have preached and practiced 'tolerance'. Perhaps that is what we don't need. Who wants to be 'tolerated'? We all want to be celebrated. May be, we have confused our tolerance of each other as love for one another. Dictionary online defines 'tolerate' as: "1. to allow the existence, presence, practice, or act of without prohibition or hindrance; permit. 2. to endure without repugnance; put up with: I can tolerate laziness, but not incompetence." Can you tolerate your spouse and congratulate yourself on being a great partner? When did tolerance of one another become a christian benchmark of love and brotherly fellowship?

Brother, sisters, we have a problem with racial relations. Let's begin to examine our hearts and ask God for repentance. In the next posting, we shall continue our discussion on how Paul confronted Peter, yes, on racial hypocrisy. It's in the bible, yet we act like race problems have never been an issue with us.