That's the question I was asked this week by the Newsweek and Washington Post editors of the On Faith section, in light of the fact that 33% of Americans admit to racial prejudice and 90% of us claim to believe in God. My immediate response? It's an ancient tradition!
The fact is that one can, and many have, articulated powerful religious systems that posited a divine preference for one race of human being over others. In fact, like many views which we now find repugnant, it was the norm for most of human history. The same can be said for other institutions, such as slavery, which were considered entirely consistent with "good faith" until relatively recently.
Personally, the basis of my faith which renders belief in God and racism mutually exclusive is found in the Genesis creation story. Whether historically accurate or not, I live by the truth that flows from a story which insists that we all share a common ancestor. We are all one family. So to hate one group of people is to actually hate a piece of myself and to deny the truth of that narrative. But of course, people have read that same story for a long time and reached very different conclusions.
Simply assuming that one can not be "genuinely religious" and a racist denies the lived faith experiences of millions. And it's dangerous too. It makes us less able to address them and the sincerity of their positions, and therefore less successful at changing them - about which I have no compunctions.
We can judge religious racists to be wrong or improperly religious. But being shocked by their existence is like being shocked by people invoking the name of God before they pull a trigger. It's horrible, but not surprising. In fact, when our shock replaces our engagement with such people, we find ourselves shouting things like "how can you do that", when what we really mean is "stop". And we know how effective that is.
But if we seriously inquired about how such people hold together multiple beliefs, some of which we experience as so good and others which seem so diametrically opposed, we might actually figure out how to help them see the wisdom of other, more humane positions. It really boils down to whether we want to wrap ourselves in "sacred shock and horror" or get over our own sanctimony and make real arguments in favor of that which we believe in ways that can be heard by those with other beliefs.
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Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of 
The bible,the Koran and the Torah all teach devision and hate.
(Water found on Mars and a Saturn moon.)
Where there is water there is life.
I seem to remember a bit of the idea that an indentured person (read slave) in Jewish culture must be freed after 7 years (hence the old seven-year-contract in Hollywood?), and that said person must be cared for in a humane fashion. I don't remember hate being taught. I do remember being told that the righteous of all nations go to heaven, and that we are all G-d's children. Being 'chosen' does not mean being superior, just being more responsible for the knowledge we received and in dealing fairly with all.
Without wanting to sound anti-Christian or anti- anyone else, the issues of bigotry, at least in European history, arose on the Christian side. The problems of usury, exclusion, otherness, the blood libel, et al, came out of the haters of the new faith against the old, and the so-called superiority of the new. Funny that they didn't realize that if ours was bad, and theirs came from ours, theirs must be pretty bad too. Or, was that rationale the impetus for the hate; focus on others' faults that you are without sin?
That, said, we now live in an enlightened age (I hope) and the rationale for hate is far behind us. I can hope, can't I?
Let's just learn to live together in peace and mutual respect and support.
Yes, racial prejudice and religious intolerance exist throughout the world. Many, many people who call themselves religous are prjeudicial and bigoted. I wish it were not so but this is really how much of the world es. When that prejudice and bigotry become extreme we see the
results in fanaticism and religous extremeism.
The two greatest commandments are these: Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. And the second is to Love thy neighbor as thyself.
In a recent sermon by my pastor, he stated that the most segregated hour in the week is on Sunday morning when folks are in church. I hadn't given it much thought before then but he was right.
Romans 2:11 states For there is no respect of persons with God. If we are truly to be more like God then we must learn to set aside our prejudices bigotry.
One of the "Jewish" sitcoms. Curb Your Enthusiasism, portrays a very politically-correct (and Jewish?) idea of "who" is racist. Larry David, creator of the show, correctly becomes upset and irrate when African-Americans are mistreated. One episode centered upon the use of the hated n- word.) However, in another episode.an African-American rapper, known as Krazy-eyes, recited a rap using bitch, whore, nigga, etc. It was intended to be funny and even slightly serious.
Racism works both ways. I feel shame and anger when African-Americans refer to themselves as "n-". I also feel disrespected when I hear jokes about "white people" who are somehow unhip, just don't get it, or who can't jump or dance. I feel insulted that somehow feelings are so sensitive that African-Americans and whites cannot even have a responsible dialogue regarding Affirmative Action, etc.-- both good and bad. It builds a strong African-American middle class, but dilutes scholarship. There are good reasons why African-Americans are resentful, but there are also good reasons why middle and upper-class whites don't elect to send their children to inner-city schools.
But no one speaks the truth. These dream movies that portray the white star's best friend as African-American are, for the most part, fantasies.
You can say that laughter and lightness are soothing salve, but somehow someone's joke is another man's insult.
B"H
And how is an observant Jew supposed to feel when he's greeted with "Heil Hitler," "F** the Jews," "Jewboy," "Israel is racist," etc. ad nauseum on the subway and on the streets, by African-Americans in Brooklyn New York, the supposed-liberal, open-minded captial of the USA, where we're supposed to be able to worship in freedom?
A "few bad apples," you can excuse, but constant such barrages by so many...how are we supposed to keep our minds open?
After a while, you just get tired of all the hate.
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