The Education of Whoopi Goldberg and Race in Christian Culture

Whoopi Goldberg was suspended two weeks from The View for stating on air that the holocaust was not about race. The Atlantic characterized the comments as follows:

Yesterday, celebrated actor and TV host Whoopi Goldberg caused a minor meltdown on ABC’s The View when she asserted that the Holocaust “isn’t about race.” Later that day, she joined The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and expanded on these remarks in an uncomfortable exchange, insisting that “the Nazis were white people, and most of the people they were attacking were white people.”

Personally, I am not sure she should have been suspended. What she said was ignorant and insensitive, but such statements do foster discussion, education, and eventually enlightenment. If we constantly penalize one another for saying stupid things, we will eventually stop talking with one another altogether.

Race is a mirage.

The melting pot of western culture, especially in the US with all of the intermarriage and mixtures of race makes defining people by race untenable. In an article for Persuasion, Shay Khatiri, makes exactly this point.

Race is a mirage in the sense that everyone sees it differently—and many seek to redefine it at will depending on what is expedient at the moment. Whoopi Goldberg was obviously viewing race solely on the basis of African skin tone and features. Hitler had a broader definition. Some see Asians as a separate race, and some just lump them in with white people. Hispanics are considered white by many whites (and blacks)—but most Hispanics see themselves distinctly.

Biblically speaking, all “races” are equally descended from Adam, and even after that Noah. Language—not skin color–according to Genesis 11 was the first ante-diluvian division among human beings. Our distinct human features based upon regions of origin were caused by genetic isolation due to language and geography.

So, technically speaking, we are one race with various genetic characteristics, languages, and ethnicities.

Prejudice is real.

I am not saying that prejudice is not real. It most certainly is and results from various sinful root causes. Skin color is an odd one but very real and seems to be nearly universal. I was surprised when I traveled to South America to find that people with darker and more native skin tones/features were discriminated against in very much the same way black people have been in our own nation. People prejudge based upon looks and it is ungodly. The Bible soundly condemns it along with all other forms of prejudice.

We do have to face the uncomfortable truth that respect of persons (as the Bible terms it) might be unknowingly part of our thinking.  Many believers have grown up in a racist environment and just took it as the way things are, not as something that was wrong or sinful.  An honest Psalm 139:23-24 self-revelation prayer should be our response to allegations of such.

Culture is what truly divides.

However, many of the systemic identifiers that Critical Race Theory seeks to expose really have little to do with skin color.  Many people of color hold a system of values that are much in common with many white people. And there is not even close to one single system of values or beliefs among white people.

These distinct ways of viewing the world and responding to it are a result of family, community, education, religion, upbringing, and many more factors. Many Black Americans have a fairly identifiable culture that is distinct from recent immigrant blacks and those have differing cultures based upon their countries of origin.

Various regions of the United States have differing cultures and there is a huge difference between the rural and urban cultures. Chinese, Filipinos, Iraqis, Eastern Europeans and more also all have their own cultures. This melting pot of cultures makes our country a fascinating place in which to live but forces upon us huge challenges.

Christianity is a culture of its own.

About twenty years ago I got a call from a Christian man who also happened to be black—an FBI agent—who was being transferred to our area. He asked if I would accompany him as he surveyed the area looking for housing. Throughout the day of driving around town, our conversation ranged over a lot of topics. Finally, he asked me the zinger.

“Are you opposed to interracial dating and marriage?”

He asked the question because he knew I was a graduate of BJU. I explained to him carefully why I did not believe that position was scripturally sustainable and therefore why I did not, and our church did not oppose interracial dating and marriage.

“Good,” he said.

He went on to explain that he was much more interested in seeing his young daughters marry godly Christian men, rather than just black men. Skin color was not on his priority list.

Racial colorblindness is an impossibility but race does not have to be our priority.

Our physical features, as well as our ethnic backgrounds, are undetachable aspects of who we are—who God created us to be. However, as believers, we must have a value system, and a system of viewing one another that completely supersedes any notion of prejudice based upon skin color, ethnic background, or even ethnic status.

Most of the conflict we presently see is not really about race. It is about a Bible-based worldview as opposed to an atheistic or secular worldview. This explains the intersectionality idea that CRT promotes uniting various anti-Christian worldviews.

Historically, Western civilization is based upon a biblical worldview. This is what Jordan Peterson was talking about last week.

Jesus invented Christian Culture.

Contrary to popular opinion, white people do not own this worldview. It was invented by an olive-skinned middle-eastern man named Jesus. We choose to follow Him. We believe He is Who He claimed to be.

The first great challenge of the early church was to unite two contradictory cultures—Jew and Gentile—in one church body. There were greater differences between those cultures than what we face in our present society. They looked different too—in features, dress, habits, lifestyle, foods, and worship. Jesus was the uniting factor.

It is essential to see ourselves as followers of Christ before and above any other identity. We must never let Satan drive wedges between true believers based upon constructs that oppose the Book. Regardless of color or ethnic background, we must be patient with one another, listen to one another, care for one another, love one another, and stand with one another in the face of forces that would pit us against one another.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. –Galatians 3:28