PREJUDICE!

He was dark-skinned and of Indian decent. He sat alone on the four-seater couch in the waiting room of the doctor’s office. He appeared stoic, but was well-dressed and was obviously awaiting service. Within minutes the man was joined by a white-skinned family – father, mother and early teenage daughter.

There was just enough space for everyone to sit on the couch. The young lady showed discomfort having to sit next to the Indian gentleman. She exchanged seats with her mother. Even with that change, the father seemed uncomfortable. He then chose to stand, leaving a vacant seat between his wife and the dark-skinned gentleman. Although silent, the family’s body language was very loud.

The family appeared relieved when a nurse invited them to see the doctor with whom they had an appointed. It became increasing uncomfortable when the nurse extended a similar invitation to the gentleman. While in his office, the doctor recapped the delight his staff felt, following the successful kidney transplant of their daughter.

However, that joy was short-lived as the doctor introduced the Indian gentleman as the kidney-donor who saved the life of the teenage daughter. The tension and embarrassing looks were obvious as the gentleman acknowledged the doctor’s introduction.

That online video ably illustrated the heinousness and ridiculousness of prejudice – a preconceived opinion not based on reason or actual experience. The word prejudice comes from the Latin word praejudicium - prae, meaning before and judicium, meaning judgment.

Prejudice usually implies an unfavorable prepossession and connotes a feeling rooted in suspicion, fear, or intolerance. It implies an unreasoned and unfair distortion of judgment in favor of or against a person or thing.

At the root of many of the national social problems we are facing at the moment is prejudice. Imagine someone feeling superior to another because of the color of their skin – how ridiculous.

In less than five minutes one can learn that variations in human skin color are adaptive traits that correlate closely with geography and the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Melanin, the skin's brown pigment, is a natural sunscreen that protects tropical peoples from the many harmful effects of ultraviolet (UV) rays. Skin color has absolutely nothing to do with superiority. The same thing is true of ethnicity, texture of hair or physical features.

That kind of ignorance is at the core of our social problems – our ignorance continues to breed prejudice. Racism is one of the outcomes of this ignorance. Like in our opening story, while living with the kidney of a dark-skinned person, you stupidly consider yourself superior to that person.

In addressing the Athenians in Acts 17, Paul stressed, “from one man God made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live” (Acts 17:26).

Paul knew that the Athenians prided themselves on their heritage from the soil of their native Attica – but this pride was ill-founded. They needed to know that all mankind was one in origin – all created by God and all descended from one common ancestor. Such enlightenment removed all imagined justification for the belief that Greeks were innately superior to barbarians.

The late F.F. Bruce was correct, “neither in nature nor in grace – neither in the old creation nor in the new, is there any room for ideas of racial superiority.” Race is not biological. It is a social construct. There is no gene or cluster of genes common to all blacks or all whites.

Hence, to ignore these truths is to act on a foundation of ignorance – and that feeds prejudice. For a while, step back and assess the carnage caused in America within the last week. Whereas some are blaming the availability others are blaming incendiary rhetoric from politicians.