So why is it that the last bastion of open separation between races and ethnicities is within our churches, synagogues, and temples? Is it because we feel compelled to separate by ethnicity for worship? Is the nature of worship itself inherently racist? Do we feel so battered by (un)spoken ethnic division in public that we need the shelter of segregated worship in order to recover? Or is it something else?
I think there must be something deep within us, either installed during our childhood or inherited, that makes us suspicious of things that are different. If you're not familiar with someone else's religion, skin color, or culture, it's easier to be wary of it. Prejudice (i.e. natural prejudgement to stimulus) is not necessarily a bad thing - it can be a helpful survival technique. How we react to it and what lessons we take away from that immediate judgement of the unfamiliar can be very problematic. When we use merely symbolic differences between people as justifications for paranoia (see my last post), that is a serious problem.
To think that the US is free of negative stereotypes and prejudices is ignorance. So what do we do about it? I've been trying to actively examine my reactions and prejudices and come to new conclusions. Only God knows if I'm making things better or just different. I know that staying complacent isn't a healthy option, so I'll keep going and let you know how it goes.
What are you doing and what do you think?
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1 comment:
first, thanks for the recommended link. Race in America - for them most part I think it is "all of the above" what you wrote. However, I feel a majority of the racial divide in church is simply cultural and comfort zones, not simply based on skin color. Compared to other countries, the U.S. has come a really long way in its short life span. Others have had hundreds more, even thousands more years to work on this and are no further along, maybe still behind the U.S. But, we still have a ways to go. ~npp
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