The rise of modern racism and the Christian answer

Racism is a growing trend and problem in our society. The emergence of free trade and a more global economy have resulted in the migration of workers to Western nations, which means greater cultural interaction between ethnic groups.

Since people's tendency is to prefer familiar and similar peoples as neighbors and friends, a common result of this forced integration is fear and distrust.

But there's another problem that's causing the rise of racism: the way we define our identities as people.

The primary way people define themselves today is through Functionalism.

Functionalism says, "you are what you do." Your station in life, your own purposes, they define who you are and they determine your value.

In the West we championed this philosophy out of the belief that any of us could become anything we dreamed to be. We've tried to take away limits of what we can do and attempted to view freedom as meaning the power to become anything we want. We've even tried to apply this to gender and sexuality, saying we can all choose what best for us to do and then define ourselves that way.

Here's the problem, Western culture is also largely built around science, and the science of race and ethnic genetics is presenting problems to Functionalist doctrines.

Namely, genetics limit what we can actually become, and genetics also impact the traits of entire people groups. For instance, different ethnicities have consistently different scores on IQ tests, world champion sprinters are predominantly of Western African descent, so on and so forth.

It's readily apparent to everyone that much of our strengths and weaknesses come from our genetic code. Another huge chunk comes from our upbringing, which also brings ethnicity and race into the equation.

I can't choose to become a champion sprinter, both my nature and my nurturing say no.

Now, since we tend to build identities on what we do, we also tend to value some identities more than others. The dramatic increase in numbers of people pursuing college degrees and post-grad degrees demonstrates a society of people falling into the trap of Functionalism in trying to prove that their own personal identities are grand. We all have delusions of grandeur and are constantly attempting to justify them.

A likely consequence of studying genetic differences between people groups for a Functionalist society is that each ethnicity pumps its chest out about it's own strengths and uses those as a reason for why they are superior to other races.

There are no easy solutions to this problem and it causes many people today to simply ignore issues of race or genetic patterns because they destroy Functionalist utopian ideals. We don't talk about race and we are terrified of offending people or being labeled a racist but behavioral trends reveal the truth.
The trap ensnares and we have a divided and unequal society instead of the ideal and people are regularly made to feel bad about their identity.

The good news, this simply isn't a problem in the Christian worldview, because Christian conceptions of personal and cultural identity are different.

Instead of defining ourselves by what we do, we are defined by our relationship to God. Namely, we are his beloved children and we embrace his purposes and gifts for us. Christian worship and community already contains the answer to genetic strengths and weaknesses because we have the concept of the body of Christ:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

-1 Corinthians 12:12-27

If we try to puff ourselves up in the Church based on our role in the body we make a mockery of ourselves. If we have strengths they are there to serve others. If we have weaknesses it's not a big deal because praise God! he's provided people with strengths in those places to help us out.

Different races are then free to take ownership of strengths and weaknesses, submit themselves to God, and allow his purposes to flow through them. In all likelihood, this will actually create more equal stations in life than a Functionalist society where everyone is looking to seize power and wealth for themselves out of a need for self-justification.

Christian teachings on living in relationship in which we are submitted to God first, and then each other, and are defined by our relationships to others necessarily rules out Functionalism and all its terrifying traps.

The only problem is that we have to submit to the will of God for our lives instead of acting in rebellion and hoping to make ourselves gods who are in competition with other gods.

Racism is only likely to increase in our post-Christian world because different people groups are being brought together and a post-Christian society isn't equipped to handle it with love but is instead conditioned to respond with insecurity and fear.

As Christians, we have to show the more excellent way, of love and submission.