Racism is: "Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different based on the belief that one's own is .” 1. WHAT IS A ‘RACE’? Results of Darwin's Theory “Scientists at the National Institutes of Health recently announced that they had put together a draft of the entire sequence of the human genome, and the researchers had unanimously declared, there is only one - the .” “If you ask what percentage of your genes is reflected in your external appearance, the basis by which we talk about race, the answer seems to be in the range of percent.” “The criteria that people use for race are based entirely on external features that we are to recognise.” “Race is a concept, not a one.” 2. THE BIBLE AND ‘RACE’ Genesis 1: “Then God said, “Let Us make human beings in image, to be like ." “They will the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” “So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; and He created them.” “Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and . Fill the earth and govern it. the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground’.” “Then God looked over all He had made, and He saw that it was !” In the original languages, the Bible never uses the word “ ” as the dictionary defines it. “seed” = / “kinsmen” = “people group” = “From man / blood God created all the nations throughout the whole earth.” (Acts 17:26) “nations” = “people who join together who practice a similar or similar ”. 3. THE ANSWER TO RACISM People's hearts must be transformed, from to . "But how can they call on Him to them unless they in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone them?” (Romans 10:1-14) " " is a myth, but is real. Jesus teaches: “Anyone who does the will of My Father in heaven is My and and !” (Matthew 12:50) Jesus said: “Now I am giving you a new commandment: each other. Just as I have you, you should each other. Your for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.” (Matthew 12:50) “This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Jesus Christ came into the world to save ” — and I, , am the of them all. But God had on me so that Jesus could use me as a prime example of His great with even the sinners. Then others will realise that they, too, can in Him and receive .” (1 Timothy 1:15-16) DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Have you experienced racism? What happened? How did you feel? Genetically, all human beings are 99.99% the same: “There is only one race: the human race”. How does this change how I view others? Who will you talk to about Jesus this week? REFERENCE LIST Stephen Jay Gould, Ontogeny and Phylogeny, Belknap-Harvard Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1977, 127–128. Ernst Haeckel, The History of Creation, 1876, 363–363. Arthur H.J. Keane, “Anthropological Curiosities - The Pygmies of the World”. Scientific American Supplement 64, no. 1650 (August 17, 1907): 99. Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. 1871. James Hunt, On The Negro’s Place in Nature, 1864, (Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland), 52-55. Cecil Rhodes, as quoted in John E. Flint, Cecil Rhodes, 1974 (Little Brown and Company). Henry Keylock Rusden (Secretary of the Royal Society of Victoria) as quoted in: Tom Frame, Evolution in the Antipodes: Charles Darwin and Australia, 2009, (University of New South Wales Press), 104. Lee Dye, “We’re all the same”, American Broadcasting Corporation, September 10, 1998. Natalie Angier, “Do Races Differ? Not Really, Genes Show”. The New York Times. 2000. Genesis 1:26-31, New Living Translation. Acts 17:26, New Living Translation. Megan Gannon, “Race Is a Social Construct, Scientists Argue”. Scientific American. 2016 Simon Worrall, “Why Race Is Not a Thing, According to Genetics”. National Geographic. 2017. Elizabeth Kolbert, “There’s No Scientific Basic for Race – It’s a Made-Up Label”. National Geographic. 2018. Romans 10:1-14 (summarised), New Living Translation. Matthew 22:34-40, New Living Translation. Matthew 12:50, New Living Translation. 1 Timothy 1:15-16, New Living Translation.