Why do religions seem to insist there are different 'races' of people?
Upvote:1
Christianity neither insists nor seems to insist, in my opinion, that there are different races of humankind. Quite the opposite. In Paul's sermonette to the Athenians, he said:
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place... (Acts 17:26, ESV)
The New Testament is unconcerned with skin color, and certainly as a way to group or characterize human beings. The major division of humanity discussed in New Testament theology is that between Jew and Gentile. There is a wide range of color within both sets!
Upvote:3
The idea of race is not a Christian construct. It doesn't derive from Christianity. It isn't supported by scripture. If you search for 'race' in the Bible it is only ever used to mean "human race" or "competition to see who is fastest".
Race is, as you say, a social construct, and while it was commonly thought to be useful in a society that also happened to have a majority of Christians, and was used by Christian during a time when race was universally thought to be a valid idea, there is no indication that it was Christianity that drove this. Plenty of atheists used the concept of race in the fifties and sixties.
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