Article August 24, 2009 Issue

THE QUESTION OF RACE AND A MORE SOLID BROTHERHOOD

JEREMY CARPER

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

WHATEVER ONE'S TAKE on the recent incident involving the African-American Harvard professor, the Cambridge, Massachusetts, policeman, and the subsequent comment by President Obama, it's clear that America still has a long way to go in letting go of its fixation on race.

Although the occupant of the White House is a man of color, old attitudes and perceptions haven't changed in some hearts. And as a dad, I can attest that there have been many moments of sincere prayer on my part to protect my sons, now confident young men, from the effects of racial profiling, taunts, and slurs, coming sometimes from unexpected places. The president has referred to this incident as a "teachable moment" for all of America. If so, we need to move from the concept of just reconciling one side with another (which implies that there will always be sides), to putting the brotherhood of all on a more solid basis than that of human idealism. Then we'll need to prove it, to walk the talk.

The inspired Word of the Bible begins with the scientific account of creation, where it's recorded that God "created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them" (Gen. 1:27). There's no mention of race here. This generic man, including male and female, is the image of God, the very likeness of Spirit. There are no warring camps, no sides, no ethnic divisions. Many years later, the Apostle Paul wrote in a letter to the Galatians, "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" (3:28). In Christ, there are no chips on the shoulders, no smoldering resentments, no expectations of brutality, and no "otherness."

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