What does your faith say and do to promote race unity?

[Dawnofhope]

Building better relationships between peoples of different races has always been an essential part of my faith (Baha’i). The process of race unity accelerated greatly when it was established in North America near the end of the nineteenth century.

As I grew up in a cosmopolitan city I naturally spent a great deal of time round people of different cultures and ethnicities. Working in medicine attracted a racially diverse work force and I eventually married someone from a very different culture and ethnicity.

Currently I’m part of a very multicultural faith community and our community works with our countries police force to sponsor the race unity speech awards each year. The writings of the Baha’i Faith see race unity as an essential element of creating peace in the world. The history of our faith wherever its been established as always had challenges bringing those ideals to fruition. Sometimes the Baha’is have fallen far short of the ideals promoted by the examples of our leaders.

I know that most other faiths these days place an enormous emphasis on not only overcoming racism but race unity as well. I thought it would be timely to hear each other’s stories about the challenges, successes and opportunities for building race unity whether personally or as part of a faith community. So a few questions to get us started:

How important is race unity to you and why?

How important is it to your faith community?

What are some of the steps you or your faith community have taken to foster race unity?

Has your faith community been racist in the past and had to overcome prejudice?

If your faith has scriptures, what do they have to say about race relations?

Any other comments?

Thanks for dropping by.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Building better relationships between peoples of different races has always been an essential part of my faith (Baha’i). The process of race unity accelerated greatly when it was established in North America near the end of the nineteenth century.

As I grew up in a cosmopolitan city I naturally spent a great deal of time round people of different cultures and ethnicities. Working in medicine attracted a racially diverse work force and I eventually married someone from a very different culture and ethnicity.

Currently I’m part of a very multicultural faith community and our community works with our countries police force to sponsor the race unity speech awards each year. The writings of the Baha’i Faith see race unity as an essential element of creating peace in the world. The history of our faith wherever its been established as always had challenges bringing those ideals to fruition. Sometimes the Baha’is have fallen far short of the ideals promoted by the examples of our leaders.

I know that most other faiths these days place an enormous emphasis on not only overcoming racism but race unity as well. I thought it would be timely to hear each other’s stories about the challenges, successes and opportunities for building race unity whether personally or as part of a faith community. So a few questions to get us started:

How important is race unity to you and why?

How important is it to your faith community?

What are some of the steps you or your faith community have taken to foster race unity?

Has your faith community been racist in the past and had to overcome prejudice?

If your faith has scriptures, what do they have to say about race relations?

Any other comments?

Thanks for dropping by.

We should always be good to others no matter what race they are. Humans are Humans

 

[loverofhumanity]

We should always be good to others no matter what race they are. Humans are Humans

I agree fully but my perspective is that in order to overcome problems like racism society needs to be proactive in promoting racial harmony.

Just allowing bad relations to continue or agreeing in words that racism is wrong won’t change anything.

Only by turning on a light does one expel darkness. If society does nothing to promote racial unity then racism won’t go away.

 

[Deeje]

How important is race unity to you and why?

How important is it to your faith community?

Very important and always has been. Even when it was not approved for blacks and whites being gathered together, we knew that God recognizes no race as superior. All are created equal in his sight. What has the color of a person's skin got to do with their character as a person?

What are some of the steps you or your faith community have taken to foster race unity?

If some have come into our faith from a different mindset and background, they soon find that prejudice does not belong in our spiritual family. It must be overcome with love.

Has your faith community been racist in the past and had to overcome prejudice?

Not that I am aware of. But individuals who have come from racially prejudiced churches or families learn how God views all of his worshippers. He is color blind.

If your faith has scriptures, what do they have to say about race relations?

Acts 10:34-35. Acts 17:26. Matthew 23:8. 1 Corinthians 1:10. Isaiah 2:2-4.

Genesis 3:20 says that Eve had to become "the mother of everyone living"....that makes us all related.
There is only one race from God's perspective....the HUMAN race.

 

[Tober Canton]

Same as y'all

And we can look back to the previous dispensation to see Prophet Muhammad (A.S.) with the same boldness (from his famous Farewell Sermon):

"All mankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; a white has no superiority over a black, nor does a black have any superiority over a white; [none have superiority over another] except by piety and good action."

 

[Twilight Hue]

Building better relationships between peoples of different races has always been an essential part of my faith (Baha’i). The process of race unity accelerated greatly when it was established in North America near the end of the nineteenth century.

As I grew up in a cosmopolitan city I naturally spent a great deal of time round people of different cultures and ethnicities. Working in medicine attracted a racially diverse work force and I eventually married someone from a very different culture and ethnicity.

Currently I’m part of a very multicultural faith community and our community works with our countries police force to sponsor the race unity speech awards each year. The writings of the Baha’i Faith see race unity as an essential element of creating peace in the world. The history of our faith wherever its been established as always had challenges bringing those ideals to fruition. Sometimes the Baha’is have fallen far short of the ideals promoted by the examples of our leaders.

I know that most other faiths these days place an enormous emphasis on not only overcoming racism but race unity as well. I thought it would be timely to hear each other’s stories about the challenges, successes and opportunities for building race unity whether personally or as part of a faith community. So a few questions to get us started:

How important is race unity to you and why?

How important is it to your faith community?

What are some of the steps you or your faith community have taken to foster race unity?

Has your faith community been racist in the past and had to overcome prejudice?

If your faith has scriptures, what do they have to say about race relations?

Any other comments?

Thanks for dropping by.

I live in a multicultural area as well as my workplace. The beautiful thing is race doesn't even come into anybody's minds we just call each other by our names and honestly I don't even think anybody notices who's different and who's not. We just talk about everyday affairs and crack jokes and vie for a couple of beers when we get out.

That's why I maintain God , aka Morgan Freeman is right. You just don't talk about it. And yes, it does go away.

 

[Spirit of Light]

I agree fully but my perspective is that in order to overcome problems like racism society needs to be proactive in promoting racial harmony.

Just allowing bad relations to continue or agreeing in words that racism is wrong won’t change anything.

Only by turning on a light does one expel darkness. If society does nothing to promote racial unity then racism won’t go away.

Spreding the Dafa (teaching) is my way of helping to stop all evil

 

[Samael_Khan]

Building better relationships between peoples of different races has always been an essential part of my faith (Baha’i). The process of race unity accelerated greatly when it was established in North America near the end of the nineteenth century.

As I grew up in a cosmopolitan city I naturally spent a great deal of time round people of different cultures and ethnicities. Working in medicine attracted a racially diverse work force and I eventually married someone from a very different culture and ethnicity.

Currently I’m part of a very multicultural faith community and our community works with our countries police force to sponsor the race unity speech awards each year. The writings of the Baha’i Faith see race unity as an essential element of creating peace in the world. The history of our faith wherever its been established as always had challenges bringing those ideals to fruition. Sometimes the Baha’is have fallen far short of the ideals promoted by the examples of our leaders.

I know that most other faiths these days place an enormous emphasis on not only overcoming racism but race unity as well. I thought it would be timely to hear each other’s stories about the challenges, successes and opportunities for building race unity whether personally or as part of a faith community. So a few questions to get us started:

How important is race unity to you and why?

How important is it to your faith community?

What are some of the steps you or your faith community have taken to foster race unity?

Has your faith community been racist in the past and had to overcome prejudice?

If your faith has scriptures, what do they have to say about race relations?

Any other comments?

Thanks for dropping by.

As an ex JW from South Africa, a country which has big problems racially, I can say the the organisation went to great lengths to create racial unity. The JW's on the forum might not know this, but a few years ago in South Africa, the organisation noticed that different races were not mixing enough between congregations because of racial stigma. White congregations generally remained white and black congregations generally remained black, which is a South African thing except in a few places. So what the organisation did was they organised a "buddy" situation in which different congregations from different communities were paired with each other. A white congregation was paired with a black congregation etc especially with rich communities being paired with poor ones as the rich tend not to hang out with the poor. They had to regularly visit each other, preach together and host each other at gatherings. It really forced peoples minds to open.

Also, the active preaching work itself opens peoples eyes to others plight because it forces those preaching to empathise. The circuit overseers have different territories as well and their duty is to preach in dangerous places and are naturally exposed to other races.

The JW's have a long history of racial unity despite culture.

In the Rwandan Genocide for instance, even though there was strong racial persecution, brothers and sisters of the race who were doing persecuting actually died protecting the brothers of the race being persecuted.

There are still racial problems in congregations in South Africa but that is not due to lack of trying to fix the problem on the part of the leaders.

 

[Aupmanyav]

In India, we do not believe in unity but in diversity. People may belong to any race, ethnicity, religion or tribe; they are welcome to live together and continue their special traditions. I compare the situation to a stained glass window or kaleidoscope. Each segment resplendent in its own color and contributing to the whole. We do not force them to merge with the majority. Even if their numbers are as low as Jews, Zoroastrian or Gujarat Africans, just in some thousands out of a total of 1380 million, they should feel at home. This also is a unity of its own kind. As you know we have Sentinelese, between 50 and 200 people (exact number not known), in Andaman island living in stone-age conditions and some times killing other people on approach. We have let them live in their own way and not forced them to adopt the ways of the other people (converting them to Hinduism, Christianity, Islam or Bahai). If they were in any other country, they would have been killed. The British killed thousands in Andaman Islands, eradicated whole tribes.

 

[Aupmanyav]

Adrian: "The writings of the Baha’i Faith see race unity as an essential element of creating peace in the world." Under the banner of ...
Loverofhumanity: "Only by turning on a light does one expel darkness." (Bahai?)
Deeje: "We knew that God recognizes no race as superior." You did? I had heard that at one time your people were debating if the blacks had souls.
Tober Canton: "An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab." Don't tell that to Saudi Arabians or Gulf people.
Amanaki: "Spreding the Dafa (teaching) is my way of helping to stop all evil." The new kid in the town.
Iseal Khan: "Active preaching work itself opens peoples eyes to others plight because it forces those preaching to empathise." But that is done basically to get adherents. Empathy is not the first concern. If it happens, well and good.

To all people: Let us not fake it.

 

[Sirona]

I currently cannot meet with my Hare Krishna group, but besides the Germans we have Eastern Europeans, travelling preachers from various countries and of course the Indians and Sri Lankans you would expect to find there. I think its easier to "overcome" racism in a smaller religious group, because (speaking in exaggeration) the "enemy" is the outside (unbelievers') culture, so united "we" stand. In this situation, members from various ethnicities see themselves having something in common (the "one true religion"), pulling together, rather than being different.

Racism is a complex topic. In my eyes, it can only occur to be brought up if various other, more basic needs have been fulfilled first, like food, shelter, safety. At the borders of the European Union, there are plenty of refugees from the Middle East waiting to get in. Assumed we had the facilities to help them all, the German social security system would likely collapse with so many people demanding welfare and free health-care, and hardly anyone working. So, is it "racist" not to let them in? @adrian009 and all the other Bahais, how much would you personally spend to feed and clothe a person you don't know, continually, knowing that they probably may be dependent on you forever? Would you sell your car, for example, in order to get the money your guest needs? Or do you just give them some warm words, saying: "Oh, I'm a Baha'i, I think racism is bad."

 

[stvdv]

The writings of the Baha’i Faith see race unity as an essential element of creating peace in the world

I agree:
Seeing Unity is needed to get WorldPeace IMO.

I have seen Mother Meera declaring the same:
"She teaches the unity of all religions. Everyone can go their own ways. It is only important to be connected with the light (the personal spiritual role model) every day by praying, reading or meditating."

I have seen Mother Amma declaring the same:
Unity is Peace: Amma's address on 50th anniversary of the UN - Amma, Mata Amritanandamayi Devi

The writings of Sai Baba also focus on this:
There is only one religion, the religion of Love;
There is only one language, the language of the Heart;
There is only one caste, the caste of Humanity;
There is only one law, the law of Karma;
There is only one God, He is Omnipresent.
(source: Sathya Sai Baba Quotes - Religions and Faiths)

Maybe there is still hope for peace. Good to see, that there are so many teachers teaching "Unity" now. But I also see the negative forces pulling hard nowadays. Interesting times; soon we might know. Maybe the harder the negative pulls the stronger the positive forces get too.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

Building better relationships between peoples of different races has always been an essential part of my faith (Baha’i). The process of race unity accelerated greatly when it was established in North America near the end of the nineteenth century.

As I grew up in a cosmopolitan city I naturally spent a great deal of time round people of different cultures and ethnicities. Working in medicine attracted a racially diverse work force and I eventually married someone from a very different culture and ethnicity.

Currently I’m part of a very multicultural faith community and our community works with our countries police force to sponsor the race unity speech awards each year. The writings of the Baha’i Faith see race unity as an essential element of creating peace in the world. The history of our faith wherever its been established as always had challenges bringing those ideals to fruition. Sometimes the Baha’is have fallen far short of the ideals promoted by the examples of our leaders.

I know that most other faiths these days place an enormous emphasis on not only overcoming racism but race unity as well. I thought it would be timely to hear each other’s stories about the challenges, successes and opportunities for building race unity whether personally or as part of a faith community. So a few questions to get us started:

How important is race unity to you and why?

How important is it to your faith community?

What are some of the steps you or your faith community have taken to foster race unity?

Has your faith community been racist in the past and had to overcome prejudice?

If your faith has scriptures, what do they have to say about race relations?

Any other comments?

Thanks for dropping by.

Since I'm not religious, i'll answer your question as if it read "what does your worldview say to promote race unity?"

And the answer simply is: we are all homo sapiens. We are all humans.
To me, in my worldview, "race unity" needs no promotion because "race unity" is my default stance...

I don't require any arguments or reasons to see black people as equal to white people.
To me, it's the default stance that they are equal.

 

[Dawnofhope]

Adrian: "The writings of the Baha’i Faith see race unity as an essential element of creating peace in the world." Under the banner of ...
Loverofhumanity: "Only by turning on a light does one expel darkness." (Bahai?)
Deeje: "We knew that God recognizes no race as superior." You did? I had heard that at one time your people were debating if the blacks had souls.
Tober Canton: "An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab." Don't tell that to Saudi Arabians or Gulf people.
Amanaki: "Spreding the Dafa (teaching) is my way of helping to stop all evil." The new kid in the twon.
Iseal Khan: "Active preaching work itself opens peoples eyes to others plight because it forces those preaching to empathise." But that is done basically to get adherents. Empathy is not the first concern. If it happens, well and good.

To all people: Let us not fake it.

I have never visited India but it seems one of the strengths of Indian culture appears to be people are more at ease with diversity of beliefs and cultures than some Western countries.

 

[Kenny]

Building better relationships between peoples of different races has always been an essential part of my faith (Baha’i). The process of race unity accelerated greatly when it was established in North America near the end of the nineteenth century.

As I grew up in a cosmopolitan city I naturally spent a great deal of time round people of different cultures and ethnicities. Working in medicine attracted a racially diverse work force and I eventually married someone from a very different culture and ethnicity.

Currently I’m part of a very multicultural faith community and our community works with our countries police force to sponsor the race unity speech awards each year. The writings of the Baha’i Faith see race unity as an essential element of creating peace in the world. The history of our faith wherever its been established as always had challenges bringing those ideals to fruition. Sometimes the Baha’is have fallen far short of the ideals promoted by the examples of our leaders.

I know that most other faiths these days place an enormous emphasis on not only overcoming racism but race unity as well. I thought it would be timely to hear each other’s stories about the challenges, successes and opportunities for building race unity whether personally or as part of a faith community. So a few questions to get us started:

How important is race unity to you and why?

How important is it to your faith community?

What are some of the steps you or your faith community have taken to foster race unity?

Has your faith community been racist in the past and had to overcome prejudice?

If your faith has scriptures, what do they have to say about race relations?

Any other comments?

Thanks for dropping by.

Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Race is gone in the first group, economic difference in the second, gender in the third.. we are all God's children - one together in Christ Jesus.

It just plays out when lived. No one is without work or in need (new believers take a little time to readjust thinking and reaching that position), interracial marriages are common, and love covers it all.

 

[Dawnofhope]

I currently cannot meet with my Hare Krishna group, but besides the Germans we have Eastern Europeans, travelling preachers from various countries and of course the Indians and Sri Lankans you would expect to find there. I think its easier to "overcome" racism in a smaller religious group, because (speaking in exaggeration) the "enemy" is the outside (unbelievers') culture, so united "we" stand. In this situation, members from various ethnicities see themselves having something in common (the "one true religion"), pulling together, rather than being different.

Racism is a complex topic. In my eyes, it can only occur to be brought up if various other, more basic needs have been fulfilled first, like food, shelter, safety. At the borders of the European Union, there are plenty of refugees from the Middle East waiting to get in. Assumed we had the facilities to help them all, the German social security system would likely collapse with so many people demanding welfare and free health-care, and hardly anyone working. So, is it "racist" not to let them in? @adrian009 and all the other Bahais, how much would you personally spend to feed and clothe a person you don't know, continually, knowing that they probably may be dependent on you forever? Would you sell your car, for example, in order to get the money your guest needs? Or do you just give them some warm words, saying: "Oh, I'm a Baha'i, I think racism is bad."

It would have been interesting to hear about the Hare Krishnas where you live. In my city they have their own community centre and provide low cost vegetarian food to the university students. One of my work colleagues became a Hare Krishna about 10 years ago and he started handing out nuts and Hare Krishna pamphlets on the street. Its quite a jump in culture but if it works it works.

I do volunteer work for a free medical clinic for those most in need and we often coordinate with the food bank, night shelter and social services to meet peoples needs.

Racism is a real and serious problem where I live. Often its an institutional problem and certain groups do poorly. Beyond providing food and shelter the provision of high quality health care, education and work opportunities are pivotal.

 

[Dawnofhope]

Maybe there is still hope for peace. Good to see, that there are so many teacher teaching "Unity" now. But I also see the negative forces pulling hard nowadays. Interesting times; soon we might know. Maybe the harder the negative pulls the stronger the positive forces get too.

Good to hear from you. I agree there has been an intensification of forces pulling people apart everywhere over the last 10-15 years, especially the last few years. It just creates a stronger need to focus on what is positive and good.

 

[Vinayaka]

I think racism is more in the individual than in a group. But yes the individual can help the group, and the group can help the individual. But there is a lot of other stuff going on simultaneously, complicating things even further. Age, gender. languages, economic class, and more. In a lot of groups there is the old guard (people who have been members of that group for a long time, holding to habit patterns well established in their brains) versus the new guard, or younger members. That makes it challenging to institute change. It's not racist, but it often is discrimination based on 'something'.

I belong to a couple of groups. Neither does much actively as a group, but each has a ton of people that don't think along the lines of race, due to the teachings of the faith. I've only heard about some act of racism a couple of times.

Very complicated topic, and I see actions over words. Words are meaningless, unless followed up.

With regard to the incident that brought this to the forefront, yesterday I heard a suggestion, a larger one, that made sense to me, and that would be NFL players association going on strike to ban FOX from broadcasting their games. That would put your money where your mouth is.

 

[Aupmanyav]

But I also see the negative forces pulling hard nowadays. Interesting times; soon we might know. Maybe the harder the negative pulls the stronger the positive forces get too.

Teressa wanted everyone to die a Christian - of course, she had no interest other than the after-life of the dying person, though the dying person may not have been interested in that.
If world peace could have come through the teachings of these people it would have already come. It has been going on for the last 2,000 years. Lt us not have false hopes.

 

[Jainarayan]

How important is race unity to you and why?

How important is it to your faith community?

What are some of the steps you or your faith community have taken to foster race unity?

Has your faith community been racist in the past and had to overcome prejudice?

If your faith has scriptures, what do they have to say about race relations?

1. To me personally, very important. Discrimination in any form is abhorrent. Do I practice what I preach? No, not always. I freely admit I have my biases, preconceptions and prejudices, but I don’t act on them, and I actively try to eliminate these feelings. It’s a struggle, having been raised in a very opinionated, prejudiced and biased, and I dare say racist family. Moreover, being gay I’m the last person who should ever show any kind of discrimination or hatred.

2 & 3. I think @Aupmanyav explained it perfectly.

4. Not being born into Indian and Hindu culture and religion, coming into it only within the past 10 years, I can’t speak on that.

5. Nothing about race specifically, but about the unity of everyone and everything. For example, the Chāndogyopaniṣad says sarvam khalvidam brahma, “All this verily is Brahman [God, if you will]”. In the Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna shows Arjuna His divine form. In it are all creatures and beings, gods, humans, all living entities. He describes Himself as being such, as well as intangible concepts. I think one can extrapolate and take away from it that there is no room for any sort of discrimination or differentiation, or prejudice.