Many Ethnicities, One Race

I have been thinking a lot about "racial,' or rather I should I say ethnic issues for the past couple of weeks. One source has been the discussion about Barack Obama, my internal speculations about this beliefs, and the "church" he attends. If you want to see a bigot who does realize he's a bigot, just look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdJB-qkfUHc.

Here's an article about Barack's public denial vs. what he practices (attendance): http://tinyurl.com/2sfpgp.

Here's Sean Hannity interviewing Jeremiah Wright about his positions: http://tinyurl.com/327o56

Now. lest anyone think that I fostering divisiveness by drawing attention to this, I will now state that the opposite is true. I am sick of divisiveness in the body of Christ because, of course, it is the opposite of what God desires. But what I didn't see was how the concept of race itself divides. More on that to follow in the article...

Two other sources that have brought "race" to the forefront of my thinking as of late. First, it was the topic at the SEC Men's retreat Dan went on, and from what he tells me it may have been mishandled to a degree. Then I went on an informal homeschool moms' retreat the weekend before last and we had a brief and somewhat disturbing discussion about trans-ethnic adoptions. (<--trans-"racial")

Okay, I was not planning on saying all that, but I wanted to "set up" my discovery of Thabiti Anyabwile. What a brilliant communicator. I discovered him through an article he wrote for boundless. The following is the best article I have ever read about "race" and theology:

Many Ethnicities, One Race

By Thabiti Anyabwile

Perhaps the longest running conversation between Blacks and Whites in America is a conversation about race. It’s a conversation that started in 1619 in Jamestown, Virginia as slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade began. The conversation moved through the Civil War, through Reconstruction, through Jim Crow segregation, and into the Civil Rights movement. And the conversation continues today in battles over affirmative action, racial profiling, and other problems in an increasingly diverse nation. In all of these conversations, the topic is "race." Everyone talks about "race." Lurking behind all this controversy and influencing our very identities are notions of "race."

The rest it here: http://tinyurl.com/32yx8y.

It may stretch you...it certainly stretched me, and I am glad. Christ has set us free from racism. But, some of us don't realize it yet... That, however will change, and I intend to be a part of it.