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Race Relations
353
based upon intelligence or virtue was common. Aristotle believed,
for example, that, quite apart from considerations of race, some men
are born to be slaves while others are born to be free. Those who
are superior in virtue, whoever they are, should be the masters.
Similarly, Plato believed that the philosophers, those who are superior
in wisdom, should be the rulers. Neither science nor Christianity
denies that there are many differences both between racial groups and
between individuals. Neither affirms that all men are equal in natural
endowment. But, whereas science discredits the idea of a superior
race, Christianity makes a far more sweeping claim, namely that
“those who are naturally unequal are still equal before God, and
that he is concerned about them equally, just as a father cares for his
children whether they have few talents or many and is perhaps es
pecially concerned about those who are weaker.”15
The starting point, therefore, of the Christian understanding of
relationships among the races is the conviction that God has created
all men and that they share equally in His love. He has created them
to dwell with Him in one great family or Kingdom. As we have seen,
the response of the Christian to God’s work as Creator is praise and
gratitude to the Creator and love of His creation. This means, insofar
as relationships among the races are concerned, that man is called
to love his fellowmen and recognize his own responsibility for, and the
privilege of, establishing fellowship and community with all of
God’s children. The Kingdom of God, as Liston Pope declares, is a
“kingdom beyond caste.”16 As Creator, God is forming a universal
community which transcends the lesser communities of family, class,
race, and nation; and men are summoned to work together with Him in
making His will to “be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
In actuality, however, our response to the Creator in the area
of human relationships is usually only a very limited response. Fre
quently, it is not so much hatred of the out-group or pride of one’s
own race as it is a narrow love of family or community or race which
causes us to defend these smaller groups against what we perceive
to be threats to their security, integrity, and well-being, even when
this defense involves violence and manifest injustice to others.17 It
15 Pope,
op. cit.,
p. 155.
16
Ibid.,
p. 159.
17 Rachel Henderlite, “The Christian Way in Race Relations,”
Theology
Today
, XIV, no. 2 (July, 1957), p. 200.