| What is the only
answer to racism?
When we look at the
ugliness of racial division in the Cincinnati area in 2001 (and, sadly, around the world still today), and how wrong thinking has fueled racism, we want to share the
antidote: applying Biblical principles and scientific facts.
To address the problem
of racism, we must first ask the question: “Where did the different people
groups (or ‘races’) come from?” Accepted scientific principles
and the teachings of the Bible provide easy-to-understand answers about
the origins of people—and the answer to racism.
Unfortunately, and
largely as a result of Darwinian thinking over the past 140 years, most
people today think in terms of different “races’ around the world. Consciously
or unconsciously, many people have ingrained prejudices against certain
groups of people. While this is not to say that all evolutionists are
racists, Darwinism has given many people a justification for their racist
attitudes. Darwin himself was very much a racist. The subtitle of his
famous book On The Origin of Species was The Preservation of "Favoured
Races" in the Struggle for Life.
Abandon the word “race!”
Scientists
are now agreeing that, biologically, there is only one “race” of humans.
For example, a scientist at an Advancement of Science Convention in Atlanta
declared: “Race is a social construct derived mainly from perceptions
conditioned by events of recorded history, and it has no basic biological
reality.”1 The word “race,” therefore, should
be abandoned—it is meaningless.
The Bible does not
even use the word “race” in referring to the various people groups. Instead,
it describes all human beings as being of “one blood” (Acts 17:26). This,
of course, emphasizes that we are all related, for all humans are descendants
of the first man and woman. Some people think there must be different
“races” of people because there appear to be major differences between
people groups, especially skin color.
The
truth, though, is that the so-called “racial characteristics” are only
minor variations among the people groups. Scientists have found that if
one were to take any two people from anywhere in the world, the basic
genetic differences between these two people, even within the same group,
would typically be around 0.2 %. Furthermore, the so-called “racial” characteristics
that many people think are major differences (skin color, eye shape, etc.),
account for only 6% of this 0.2% variation—which amounts to a mere
0.012 % difference genetically!2 In other
words, the so-called “racial” differences are absolutely trivial.
We're all the same color!
Furthermore, all people
have the same skin color. You see, we all have the same coloring pigment
in our skin called “melanin.” If we produce a little melanin, it means
that our skin will be a very light brown (or “European white”) If our
skin produces a great deal of melanin, we will be a very deep brown (“black”
if you will).
 If
Adam and Eve were middle-brown, as is most likely, one can explain all
the different shades of brown skin that we see in people today. Surprisingly,
we find that an entire range of “colors,” from very “white” to very “black”
can result in one generation, if beginning with this particular type of
mid-brown parents. Some readers may recall a newspaper photo a few years
ago of twins, one of whom was very light and the other very dark.
Scientists have also
shown through the study of mitochondrial DNA that all people today trace
their ancestry to a single mother. Why should we be surprised that the
Bible records such a woman, Eve, whose name means “to become the mother
of all living!” Although evolutionists are at pains to point out that
they are not saying that this “mitochondrial Eve” is the Eve of the Bible,
they are forced to agree that, at the least, this evidence confirms that
all the groups of people alive today are astonishingly closely related.
The Bible and science
are in remarkable harmony—there are no different “races” of people today!
Conclusion
Racism is morally,
socially, scientifically, and Biblically wrong. The more we realize that
we are all of “one blood,” the more peace, freedom, and opportunity all
people in the Cincinnati area—and all over the world—will have. The only true, lasting change will come, however, when citizens recognize their sinful
condition, and then if they receive
Jesus Christ as their Savior and Creator, not only will they live
with Christ in eternity, but will have access to God's strength to lead
better lives here on earth. They will also discover the principles of
leading a fruitful and purposeful life—including loving their neighbor—as
the Bible commands. The Word is relevant to us today in this area!
- Robert
Lee Hotz, "Race has no basis in biology, researchers say,"
Los Angeles Times, February 20, 1997. [RETURN
TO TEXT]
-
Susan Chaves Cameron, "Journal of Counseling and Development,"
76:277-285, 1998. [RETURN TO TEXT]
The article above
was authored by the Bible-upholding ministry of Answers in Genesis, located
in the Cincinnati area in Petersburg, Kentucky.
Further information about
racial issues...
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