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Race Relations
369
equal treatment if he believes that he would be penalized for treating
people unequally. Such a person would not be motivated to cease
from discrimination by appeal to his value creed, but he would be
influenced by legal measures which made such practices costly if these
measures were strictly administered. Finally, there is the prejudiced
discriminator, or all-weather illiberal. Appeal to this type of person’s
value creed obviously would be ineffective in reducing his prejudice.
A commitment to a new set of values or loyalties is needed, but under
some circumstances his discrimination might be reduced if the group
norms were changed and if the legal and economic supports of dis
crimination were removed.
Not only are there different types of persons, there are also different
types of situations to which strategy must be adjusted if it is to be
effective. For example, in some areas discrimination is reinforced by
state and municipal laws; in other areas such laws forbid the unequal
treatment of different ethnic groups. In some situations, immediate
decisions and action are called for; in others, there is time for dis
cussion and the preparation of a community for the facing of impor
tant issues. Or, again, there is considerable variation from one situa
tion to another with regard to the educational, economic, and social
differences between the ethnic groups involved. It is also important to
know what groups are supporting the pattern of discrimination and
what their reasons for doing so are. To what extent, for example, is
the question of racial inequality an issue that is used to keep certain
political groups in power, or to what extent is it a tool in the hands
of conservative economic forces to prevent the organization of labor
unions?
Christian ethics is greatly indebted to the social sciences for the
light which the latter have shed upon the complexity and the variety
of the roots of prejudice. They have greatly illuminated both the social
and the individual sources of racial hostility, and in so doing they
offer valuable guidance as to the kinds of attack upon prejudice and
discrimination that have the greatest likelihood of being effective.
THE TASK OF THE CHURCH IN THE
AREA OF RACE RELATIONS
In view of the fact that effective strategy must take into account
the different types of persons and the different kinds of situations with
which one is dealing, no effort will here be made to prescribe detailed