"The Bible Teaches Racism!"

Image Credit: Media from Wix

In my previous post, I said that I would cover and refute a video on YouTube from an ex-Christian. And I still plan on doing so, but now in a different way: namely, by just describing the arguments that the ex-Christian in question gave in the video. Because 1) I'm not directing traffic to anti-Christian influencers and 2) the arguments are what matter, not the people making them. Now, someone may argue that, if I don't link to the video, then I'll be able to strawman the arguments made in the video, and that's an understandable concern. Yet, it's generally easy to read an argument and tell whether it's the actual argument that's being addressed or a caricature of it, and I trust that you'll be able to read the arguments I will present in this and following posts and tell that I am presenting actual, non-strawmanned arguments. Anyway, without further ado, let's move on...

The first argument that the ex-Christian made in that video that I want to address is the accusation that the Bible teaches racism. Now, especially but not only because "racism" has become a muddled term from people using it in different senses, I want to clarify what "racism" means. Racism is "when a person is treated worse, excluded, disadvantaged, harassed, bullied, humiliated or degraded because of their race or ethnicity" [1]. Furthermore, "Race or ethnicity includes people’s colour, and nationality (including citizenship) ethnic or national origins" [1]. So, essentially, racism is when a person is mistreated because of their skin color, nationality, citizenship, and ethnic or national origins. So, with that in mind, does the Bible say that people should be treated less than others because of such factors? Well, first off, the Bible teaches that man (as in "mankind," both men and women) have been created by God in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-28, 5:1-2), a fact that remains true even after the sin of Adam has warped that image in man (Genesis 9:6, James 3:9). And since this is true of man as man and not man as Christians, it is a truth of both Christians and non-Christians. Second, God made all nations ("nations" as in ethnic groups) from one blood (i.e., Adam's blood) (Acts 17:26). So, since all nations share the blood of Adam, the first man, all nations are equally part of mankind, and therefore all are equally made in God's image. Furthermore, in the context of the Christian community, the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, says "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28, KJV). And, when Jesus is asked which is the greatest commandment in the Mosaic Law, He answers that the first is to love God with everything you are and have and the second is to love your neighbor as you naturally yourself (Matthew 22:35-40, 7:12). When He was asked by one man who his (the man's) neighbor was, Christ answered with the Parable of the Good Samaritan, which shows us that our neighbor is whoever we come across, regardless of ethnicity (a point He specifically makes by casting a Samaritan in the role of the one who loved his neighbor, a Jew, which was highly controversial in a historical context when Jews and Samaritans were bitter ethnic enemies-John 4:9) (Luke 10:25-37).

I think all those points sufficiently answer the question of whether or not the Bible teaches racism.

But one may object by bringing up how God commanded the Israelites, when they were coming into the Promised Land, to wipe out all the Canaanites. But, if you read all the reasons that God gives to the Israelites for this command to wipe out the Canaanites (which command, for the record, was only for that particular time in history), the command is based purely on the evil practices of the Canaanites. It's based on immorality, not ethnicity, unless one wants to argue from an ironically racist standpoint by stating or implying that the Canaanites' wicked practices were somehow intrinsic to their ethnicities [2]. Yes, God judged them as nations, but it was because they, as nations, were participants in these wicked acts, not because their particular nationalities were abhorrent to God. Further confirmation that God judged them for their unrepentant wickedness (and not because of their nationalities) and would have spared them if they repented was His sparing Rahab the harlot because of her repentance and trust in the God of Israel (Hebrews 11:31), as well as the fact that God gave the Canaanites MANY years to repent before judging them through Israel's conquest of Canaan (Genesis 15:16, which specifically mentions the Amorites).

Okay, now I think I have sufficiently made my case!

[1] https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/equality/becoming-anti-racist-city/racism-definition

[2] I think it's likely I got the idea that the command to wipe out the Canaanites was based on their immorality and not their ethnicity, as well as the quip about how it is ironically racist to make the Canaanites' immoral practices intrinsic to their ethnicity, from a comment or other online source (or perhaps multiple online sources) that I'm unable to retrace to find.