Of One Blood 1

Of One Blood: Racism and the Role of the Church

Michael Ford

Northern Illinois University

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Abstract

The Church, the Catholic Church in particular, became the vessel in which millions of African

men, women, and children were taken from their villages and sold into slavery with the

“blessing” of the Church in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Protestant Church continued this

travesty from Colonial times until the 20th century by being passive in addressing the issue

of race and racism. This passivity and permissiveness is incompatible with the biblical and

spiritual roots of the Church as mandated by Jesus the Christ who taught all to “Love your

neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31 New International Version). The premise of this paper

is to establish that the Church, both Protestant and Catholic, must come to terms with its

past actions and set the standard for reconciliation.

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Introduction

As history illustrates, the Church, both Catholic and Protestant, has strayed from her

original mission of proclaiming liberty and truth to all nations and, instead, has become a

political and economic entity that forsakes her first love, Jesus and His message. She has been

corrupted. In doing so, the Church became the vessel in which the liberty that was supposed to

be proclaimed to all humankind became a rallying cry to instigate and morally justify the actions

of the race-based African and Native American slave system. The Church became a symbol of

oppression rather than a beacon to point people to the Savior who stood for freedom and dignity

in all its forms, across all artificial social boundaries. Those who claim to be followers of Christ

must address sin in all of its forms. Racism is one of those sins often overlooked by many people

as merely a minor social issue. The purpose of this paper is to bring this issue into the light and

to suggest strategies for reconciliation so that we can be “doers of the Word and not hearers

only” (James 1:22)

Genesis

In order to understand what racism is and how it relates to the concepts of power,

religion, and social justice, racism, it must first be defined. Dictionary.com (2010) states racism

as: “1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine

cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior

and has the right to rule others; 2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering

such a doctrine; discrimination; 3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.” It is

by the second definition described above that the Church became a catalyst in fostering the

ideology of racial superiority. According to Karenga (2002), “Racism is essentially a system of

denial and deformation of a people’s history, humanity, and right to freedom based exclusively
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or primarily on the specious concept of race.” From Karenga’s definition it can be said that

racism is an ideology that is designed to oppress and deny the humanity of persons of color,

whether African, Native American, or any non-European entity. In light of this definition, it is

important to define what the Church is from both the biblical tradition and political standpoints.

It is important to understand the history of the Church from its beginnings in order to see the

evolution from a small, Jewish and Gentile religious sect, to the political and economic dynamo

that reigned from the time of the Dark Ages to the Renaissance, where it expanded into the New

World.

By the end of the 1st century C.E., the biblical institution now known as the Church, was

still in its infancy. Made up of mainly Jewish believers, but not limited to the Jews alone.

In the Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (2001), the word “church”

comes from the Greek “ekklesia” which means “called out”. The original intent of the Church

was to promote and proclaim “The Gospel” to all nations as defined by Jesus the Christ

(Matthew 28:18-20, John 3:16). The Church was scattered throughout the land of Judea and Asia

Minor which included modern day Turkey, Greece, and other areas surrounding the

Mediterranean and Aegean Seas. It was at this time that the Church was considered a new

religious sect dedicated to the worship of a messiah (“savior” or “deliverer”) identified by God in

the biblical narrative as Jesus of Nazareth ( Luke 4:16-19, John 1:1-32, Colossians 1:15,

Hebrews 1:1-14, 1 John 1:1-4). The church as a religious organization had no real political or

social power, nor was she perceived as a formidable threat to the Roman power structure that

was in place at the time. As a result, the church was persecuted by Roman authorities,

specifically the Roman emperors from Nero to Julian the Apostate. The reason for this

persecution was in large part due to the fact that the emperors, by tradition, were deified and
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considered the objects of worship. The worship of Jesus as the Son of God was a direct threat to

the worship of these emperors and, in turn, was a threat to their authority in all of the political,

social, and economic affairs of the Roman Empire. It wasn’t until the time of Constantine in the

4th century C.E. that the Church was accepted as part of Roman society and ended the three

centuries of persecution. According to Encyclopedia Britannica (2010), it was under the

authority of Constantine when the Church became a state organization. It was this transformation

from a biblical organization to a political one that introduced the beginnings of the Catholic

Church. A quote from Encyclopedia Britannica Online goes as follows: “Far more effective in

the minds of the barbarian peoples of the West was the idea of the Imperium Christianum or

“Christian Empire,” which took shape after the conversion of Constantine the Great and the

reconciliation between Christianity and the Roman Empire. Not only did the Christian Church

become a state church, including in its liturgy prayers for the empire and the emperor, but it

also brought the Roman Empire into the framework of Christian eschatology, as the last of the

world monarchies whose end would mark the inception of the kingdom of God. Through

Christian iconography and through the liturgy the church’s view of the empire as a vehicle of

God’s will, for the Christianization of the world, became prevalent. It was expressed with

peculiar force in the letters of Charlemagne’s adviser Alcuin.” It was the Catholic Church as a

political body that became the agent and moral authority for most of Europe for hundreds of

years, and it was this political body that would foster the concept of racism and the beginning of

chattel slavery in West and Central Africa.

Ascension of Empire: Beginning of Racism in Europe

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The idea of race and racism as a metaphor for “inferiority” did not exist before the 15th

century C.E. Racism came about as result of the moral justification for the subjugation of native

peoples both in the Americas and Africa as Europe began its expansionist agenda. By creating an

artificial culture category called “savage”, the moral framework in which exploitative

colonialism could take place was created and codified by the state sanctioned Catholic Church.

The moral philosophy of subjugation by race is in direct conflict with the moral principles

revealed within the biblical narrative. One such example is found in the Book of Acts. The

following text from Acts states the following concerning the creation of humankind and our

relationship to one another: “ From one man he [God] made every nation of men, that they

should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places

where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him

and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have

our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ (Acts 17:26-28). John

Henrik Clarke (1994) states what he considered the most heinous aspect of colonization that

came in the form of the complete destruction of the local population’s cultural and spiritual

identity: “The most disastrous of all of their (European) colonization was the colonization of the

image of God. They denied the conquered people the right to see God through their own

imagination or to address God in a word that came from their own language.” Dr. Clarke goes

on to list ways in which the Catholic Church gave early explorers a moral, pseudo-mythological

framework in how to perceive the so called “savages” when they encountered them:

1. “The myth of ‘a people waiting in darkness’”: This gave the explorers the idea of being

“bringers of light to the ignorant”.

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2. “The myth of a people without a legitimate God”: Explorers did not take the cultural gods

and goddesses of the tribes they encountered seriously. It was simply assumed that those

tribal deities were of no value if they did not seem like the God spoken of by the Church.

3. “The myth of the primitive and aborigine”: Tribal people were held up to the political,

ethical, technological, and in this case, biological cultural standards of Europeans via skin

pigmentation.

In her book “Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural Thought and

Behavior”, Dr. Marimba Ani (1994) presents three concepts that accurately describe the

aforementioned ideological shift in the Catholic Church. The first is called “Asili” which is

defined by Dr. Ani as:”The logos of a culture, within which its various aspects cohere. It is the

developmental germ/seed of a culture…the ideological core. Biblically, the logos [principle] is

the spiritual seed, which is. Jesus the Christ and His message, which gave birth to a culture that

is based on biblical ideals, which address existential, moral, and physical realities as is perceived

by those within that culture (John1:1).

The second definition by Dr. Ani is called “Cultural Other” which is defined as “ A

conceptual/existential construct which allows Europeans to act out their most extreme

aggression and destructiveness, while limiting their collective self-destruction on a conscious

level.” The third is “Rhetorical Ethic” whose definition is as follows: “Culturally structured

European hypocrisy. It is a statement framed in terms of acceptable moral behavior towards

others that is meant for rhetorical purposes only. Its purpose is to disarm intended victims of

European cultural and political imperialism.” Biblically, within the context of race, this means

that the concept of one race and the interrelatedness among different ethnicities is diminished.

The brotherhood / sisterhood concept taught within the Christian faith is modified to be in line
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with the “New Asili” of the Catholic Church. Moreover, by merely trading the biblical

principles, uprooting it, and replacing it with the latter which is based on expansionism and

imperialism, the Catholic Church effectively marginalized non-Europeans and justified itself by

misusing the ideology of the Gospel. When this “new” logos was applied to certain passages in

the Bible, such as what is called the “Curse of Ham” found in the Book of Genesis Chapter 9:20-

27. The Catholic Church attached its’new’ logos to the authority of Scripture and became, at

least on a surface level, a “nod from God” to justify racism and the slave trade it created.

Furthermore, this passage was used out of context because it was Canaan, Ham’s son that was

cursed, not Ham. Also, the curse was limited, not perpetual as it is always purported to have

been. This was the underlying philosophy that the Catholic Church of the time adopted as its

political doctrine which was in direct opposition to the spiritual, Biblical principle of “Love your

neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31).

Instead of preaching the message of freedom from sin and guilt, which the Gospel

proclaims, it was turned into a device for subjugation and marginalization. It was the

compromise of Biblical principles syncretically mixed with illusions of a resource rich,

theocratic global state that began the horrific march toward institutional racism and the rise of

chattel slavery in the West. In the 19th century, this ideology would become an integral part of

what we know as “Manifest Destiny”, the political philosophy that justified the replacement of

Native American people by Euro-American settlers. The philosophy of racism is non-existent

within the Biblical narrative and, therefore, the historic Christian faith, which is based on the

principles of the Bible; do not promote the idea of racial superiority. As stated earlier, the Bible

declares all of humankind is created equal. According to the Scriptures (Acts 17:26-28), there

never has been a “superior” ethnic group on Earth.

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Age of Reconciliation

The Evangelical Church, which began to develop in early 18th century America began to

look at the issue of human brotherhood and began to wrestle with the fact that the enslaved

Africans were in reality their brothers and sisters. John M.G. Barclay (2007) writes that many of

the plantation owners truly believed that God approved of the subjugation of African peoples

and, therefore, used the Bible as a tool to justify race-based slavery. They insisted that Jesus was

silent on the issue and the Apostle Paul upheld the status quo by sending a runaway slave back to

his master. In their book “Divided by Faith” (2000), Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith

also deal with the issue of the modern Evangelical Church and its dealing with racism. Early

evangelicals were concerned that when they preached the idea of freedom from sin as displayed

in the Bible, they feared slave rebellions. It was their fear that once slaves realized Jesus spoke of

freedom, they would also see themselves as free from the physical shackles of slavery (John

8:36). This was problematic for a culture whose economy was based upon race-based slave

labor. Despite the fact that evangelical Christianity was doctrinally different from the old

Catholic Church, the ‘new Asili’ remained part of its ideology.

One of the main issues concerning race is that quite often Caucasian people do not see the

particular issues that affect people of color in this country. This is because it most often does not

seemingly affect them. They perceive that African-American people are angry, living in the past

and refusing to “let it go”. According to Emerson and Smith (2000) the perspectives of some

White evangelicals interviewed had a common thread: the issue of racism was perceived as a

socio-political in nature as opposed to spiritual. Instead of seeing racism as a sin like adultery,

lying, or theft, it was a social “secular” entity that was outside of the focus of the Church.

Racism was an issue to be fought in the offices of politicians and academics. As for African-
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Americans, this went beyond just being a social issue; it was, and still is, an issue of human

dignity. This is a universal, moral concept that is central to biblical teaching (Genesis 1:26-27),

therefore, it does come under the auspice of the Church.

The Church of today faces the dilemma of not being reconciled to each other within its

walls and by doing so, casts a shadow on the clear message that Jesus spoke of in John 17:20-21

“I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one,

Father, just as you are in Me and I in you.” In order to rectify this, there will have to be a

sacrifice on the account of both groups.

The first part involves a personal and corporate repentance on the part of Euro-Americans

who refuse to look at the issue as a sin. In the United States, it is Euro-Americans that make up

the physical majority of the population. The Euro-American individual should be encouraged to

speak openly about the issue of racism with his family and friends. If one person is reached with

this restorative understanding, then they, in turn, have the capacity to reach many. As people

become aware and are convinced of the disparity, perhaps for those who may be in positions of

power, this reconciliation can affect public policy, and ultimately economic and political

institutional policies that, by their very nature are oppressive to people of color. This should not

be done for financial gain only, but rather, to show the world that the God they claim to worship

is a God of equity and fairness, exactly as the Bible portrays Him (Acts 10:34). It will reveal that

God is not a White American or European that holds dear the artificial social constructs that

European-Americans have created, in effect, agreeing with all of the social policies that govern

those societies. God transcends such things (Colossians 1:15-20; 2:10). In the Scriptures, Jesus

Himself says concerning His Kingdom and this world “Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of

this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be
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delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” (John 18:36, King James

Version). The Eurocentric image of “god”, an idol created in the mind of ancient Europeans who

traded the true God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for a lie, must be

disavowed because it is foreign to the Scriptures.

Those of the African Diaspora also have a part to play. Diasporans must be willing to

forgive and in time, embrace those who seemed to be either purposely or in ignorance opposed to

us. In their article “Undoing Racism in America” (2002), Erika Vora and Jay Vora write the

following: “All of us have a responsibility to be agents of change toward facilitating nonracist

ways of thinking and acting. To undo racism now and for future generations, we need to be

involved in this process so that our attitudes and communications will change toward racial self-

acceptance without any feelings of ethnic superiority.” Diasporans also need to dispense with

false idols that were given in place of the God of the Bible. These idols were created to look like

Europeans. False images of a European Jesus were forced upon those who were enslaved and

were designed to make them treat their oppressors as God. Diaporans must go back to what the

Bible actually teaches and renounce the social constructs and myths which pit White against

Black, Asian against Hispanic, and Jew against Gentile. We must learn to deal with people on an

individual basis and not as a group of people. Much patience is needed and much pain will come

with reconciliation, but the price for not doing so is far worse.
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Summary

The Church, the Catholic Church in particular, became the vessel in which millions of

African men, women, and children were taken from their villages and sold into slavery with the

“blessing” of the Church in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Evangelical Church continued this

travesty from Colonial times until the 20th century by being passive in addressing the issue of

race and racism. Racism is one of those sins overlooked by many people as merely a minor

social issue. The original intent of the Church was to promote and proclaim “The Gospel” to all

nations as defined by Jesus the Christ. It was the Catholic Church, as a political body, that

became the agent and moral authority for most of Europe for hundreds of years; and it was this

political body that would foster the concept of racism and the beginning of chattel slavery in

West and Central Africa.

By creating an artificial culture category called “savage”, the moral framework in which

exploitative colonialism could take place was created and codified by the state-sanctioned

Catholic Church. The moral philosophy of subjugation by race is in direct conflict with the

moral principles revealed within the Biblical narrative. The brotherhood / sisterhood concept

taught within the Christian faith practice, is modified to be in line with the “New Asili” of the

Catholic Church. The Catholic Church attached its ’new’ logos to the authority of Scripture and

became, at least on a surface level, a “nod from God” to justify racism and the slave trade it

created. This political doctrine was in direct opposition to the biblical and spiritual principle of

“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Despite the fact that evangelical Christianity was doctrinally different from the old

Catholic Church, the ‘new Asili’ remained part of its ideology as well. Racism, for African-

Americans is an issue of human dignity; a universal, moral concept that is central to biblical
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teaching, therefore, it does come under the auspice of the Church. The Euro-American individual

should be encouraged to speak openly about the issue of racism with his family and friends. It

will reveal that God is not a White American or European that holds dear the artificial social

constructions that European-Americans have created, in effect, agreeing with all of the social

policies that govern those societies. God transcends such things and His kingdom is not like the

world’s kingdoms. African Diasporans must learn to forgive and eventually embrace those who

oppressed willingly or out of ignorance. We must learn to deal with people on an individual basis

as not groups of people.

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References

Ani. Marimba, (1994). Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European Cultural

Thought and Behavior. New Jersey: Africa World Press Inc.

Barclay, John M. “`Am I not a Man and a Brother?' The Bible and the British Anti-

Slavery Campaign,” The Expository Times, October 2007; vol. 119: pp. 3-14

Clarke, John Henrik (1994). Christopher Columbus and the Afrikan American

Holocaust: Slavery and the Rise of European Capitalism. New York: A&B Publishers Group.

Racism. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved October 19, 2010, from Dictionary.com

website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racism

Emerson, Michael D., & Smith, Christian (2000). Divided by Faith: Evangelical

Religion and the Problem of Race in America. NewYork: Oxford University Press.

Holy Roman Empire. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 09,

2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/269851/Holy-Roman-Empire

Karenga, Maulana (2002). Introduction to Black Studies (3rd ed.). California: University

of Sankore Press.

The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, red letter ed., s.v.

“Ekklesia.”

Vora, Erika and Jay A. Vora Undoing Racism in America: Help From a Black Church

Journal of Black Studies March 2002 32: 389-404,

Addendum: Even thought it was officially Emperor Theodosius that Christianity was

made into the official Roman state religion, it was under Constantine that the Christianity was
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made “acceptable”. This lead to the eventual conscripting of the Christian faith as a state

sponsored religion that became the Catholic Church which wielded political power over time.