RE

RE

1. People sometimes say that discrimination is created when prejudice is combined with power. Prejudice is the attitude of someone whose opinion is not based on fact. Prejudice can be triggered by differences of religion, race, colour, sex, language, disability or age. Prejudice is not illegal, as an attitude can’t be illegal, but discrimination is illegal.

2. Christian: prejudice and discrimination

   • Discrimination and human rights
     • All forms of discrimination go against the first two Articles of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights:
       • Article 1 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
       • Article 2 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
   • Christian attitudes towards prejudice and discrimination
     • Christianity teaches that everyone is equal in the eyes of God. Therefore there is no reason to treat people differently. Christian teaching about other people is based on love and this is stated by Jesus:
       • I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. John 13:34
       • You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Matthew 22:39
     • There are also two important teachings in the writings of Paul about this:
       • From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. Acts 17:26
       • There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28
     • No one can follow these teachings perfectly, and there will be occasions when Christians, like those of other faiths, are guilty of prejudice and discrimination. But there are many examples too of Christians challenging injustice when they see the laws of God being broken. John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, is from Uganda where he was a lawyer and judge until 1975 when he was forced to flee to Britain when President Idi Amin started a reign of terror against his own people. Archbishop Sentamu has done a lot to raise awareness of racism in British society and in the Anglican church.