“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” - Galatians 3:28

This text, perhaps part of the Church’s earliest baptismal liturgies, proclaims that race, religion and ethnicity are no barrier to human equality (“Jew or Greek”), neither is social class or economic disparity (“slave or free”), and neither is gender identity (“male and female”).

Genesis 1:27:  “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

This foundational text from the Hebrew Bible’s account of God’s creation of all things testifies to the fact that every human being is “imago Dei” -- made in the image of God.  God’s divinity is envisaged in every human being and there is no hierarchy of value amongst human beings, not by race or any other category.  Every human being is equally created in God’s image.

Acts 10:34-35 NRSV: Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” 

“No matter our place of origin, the same God reaches out to us; the same gospel calls us home. Social boundaries and ethnic differences are no obstacle to the gospel. Such differences are not an irritant in need of remediation or a problem for God's church. In the eyes of God, all of us in our wonderful particularity equally receive the invitation.” - Dr. Eric Barreto, Weyerhaeuser Associate Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary

1 Samuel 16:7 NRSV: But [God] said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for [God] does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but [God] looks on the heart.” 

In Samuel’s search for a future king, God tells Samuel to not choose a leader based on solely on their outward appearance. This text warns of the evil and harm of giving authority to and placing value upon people based on appearance. Today, and throughout history, we have seen the dehumanization of people and the establishment of systems based on race and racism.

“Not by caste, race, or creed, or birth is one noble, but by heart alone is one a noble being.” - The Buddha 

In his time the Buddha was a revolutionary voice against racism and the caste system: “Not by caste, race, or creed, or birth is one noble, but by heart alone is one a noble being.” The Buddhist trainings in mindfulness, wisdom and compassion, create the grounds for wise speech and wise action.  These teachings and practices free our hearts from greed, prejudice and hate and serve an essential role in societal healing, and in the awakening of all. -Buddhist Statement on Racial Justice (2015)

“Although sentient beings are immersed in such sorrows, they rejoice and play. They are not aware, shocked, startled, or disgusted nor do they seek release. Running around in the burning house of the triple world, they experience great suffering and yet they do not realize it.” -The Lotus Sutra, Chapter 3, Section 13a, translated from Chinese by Tsugunari Kubo and Akira Yuyama

In this classic parable, a father pleads with his children to leave their burning house while they ignore him to continue playing. Eventually, in desperation he tricks them outside with lies of the different carts they can ride. However, the Sutra makes clear that these lies were “by no means a deception. Why? Because [the children] were saved from the burning house by skillful means.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter 3, Section 13a). Since its beginning, our society has not “sheltered” all of its members equally. We do not have to reach beyond the stories of Merci Mack, Tony McDade, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery to find evidence that our society is corrupt and failing. Our house is on fire. While some of us have been risking our lives for decades to speak out about it, others of us have been caught up in the toys and joys of our lives. And yet, over a matter of weeks many of us have been shook out of this reverie by seeing police stations and department stores on fire, the protestors out front calling us to freedom from a system that burns us all. What other skillful means do we need now to sustain change? -damaris miller ‘15 

“The Twelve Links of Interdependent Arising and their Extinction are not separate self entities. Ill-being, the Causes of Ill-being, the End of Ill-being, the Path, insight and attainment, are also not separate self entities.” - The Heart Sutra, translated by Thich Nhat Hanh. 

If Avalotikeshvara, the Buddha of Compassion, was giving this teaching today, he might have simply said, “Black Lives Matter.” Our lives are arising in this moment because the lives of all the other beings around us are simultaneously arising. Therefore, when ill-being is arising for one of us, it is arising for us all. If we aim to bring forth liberation, Avalotikeshvara is encouraging us to face the “causes of ill-being” that obstruct freedom, such as the violence of anger, greed, and ignorance. For example, we can apply the Path of insight and attainment (questioning and transforming) to the historical and continued enslavement, brutality, and murder of Black people, as well as the genocide and erasure of people who are Indigenous to this land. Only then might arise the Extinction of oppression and the End of Ill-being. -damaris miller ‘15 

“All living beings,in their multiplicity of forms, are born of the same cosmic womb, and I am their seed-giving father...” (Bhagavad-Gita 14.4)

“The truly wise possess equal vision, seeing the same spiritual essence within all beings-- the learned high priest and the so-called outcaste, the cow, the elephant, and the dog, and so on..” (Bhagavad-Gita 5.18)

“Recognizing the one undivided spiritual essence of all living beings, though they may be divided into innumerable forms—that is true knowledge…”  (Bhagavad-Gita 18.20)

In these well-known passages from the Gita, Sri Krishna, the Divine, proclaims that all living beings are his beloved children and are therefore kin. The same spiritual spark is within us all.  He reminds us that  true wisdom is the ability to recognize and honor the inherent spiritual equality and dignity of all living beings

“Rejecting all prejudices of caste, creed, class, color, sex, or race, a true swami [realized devotee] follows the precepts of human brotherhood. His goal is absolute unity with Spirit.” (Paramahamsa Yogananda)

“The insect of prejudice is eating away at our society. If we remain quiet, we will certainly invite inauspiciousness. Our social strength, heroism, and good fortune are gradually diminishing...those who have good hearts lament as they discuss this. Those who do not have good hearts live without anxiety and gradually degrade themselves.” (Kedarnath Datta Bhaktivinode Thakur

"O humanity! We made you from a man and a woman, and We made you races and tribes so that you may come to know one another. Truly, the noblest of you in God's sight are those who are most conscientious. Truly, God is all-knowing, fully aware." -Qur'an 49:13

This passage from Islam's holy book implies that we ought to be in joyful relationship with one another across our diversity and that it is the content of our character that matters most to God. 

"And among the signs of God is the constitution of the heavens and the earth, and the diversity of your languages and colors. Surely there are signs in that for those who know." - Qur'an 30:22

Diversity is cause to celebrate God's wonder and a sign of divine beauty. It should never, thus, be a reason for division or enmity.

“Verily, God Almighty created Adam from a handful which He took from the earth, so the children of Adam come in accordance with the earth. Some come with red skin, white skin, or black skin, and whatever is in between: thin, thick, dirty, and clean. -Tradition from the Prophet Muhammad

This hadith implies that human beings have a common origin and a unity from the very beginning of our creation.

You shall not wrong a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not ill-treat any widow or orphan. - Exodus 22:20-21

“Though we long for a simple storyline, to be a Jew is to embrace paradox: we are protected and vulnerable, we are confident and afraid, we are powerful and powerless, we are surrounded by allies, and, we are forever lonely. This feeling goes way back: 36 times in the Torah we are told to protect the stranger because WE were once strangers in the land of Egypt. Another paradox: Today, we are powerful enough to protect others, but the commandment is rooted in remembering our weakness." (Rabbi Dara Frimmer)

If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
And when I am only for myself, what am I?
And if not now, when? (Pirke Avot 1:14)

There are moments when we must take care of ourselves.  And there are moments when we cannot only take care of ourselves, but must also look beyond our own individual and communal needs and take care of others who are vulnerable or in distress.  Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of the UK and the Commonwealth, once said that the victim cannot adjudicate the crime.  It’s up to others in society to defend those who are vulnerable and oppressed and to seek justice.  And the time for this is now.  

It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it... (Pirkei Avot 2:16, Rabbi Tarfon) 

The work of activism and social change can be exhausting and overwhelming.  There is a tendency to look at the magnitude of the work and to say - I can’t get it done, so I won’t do anything. Along comes Rabbi Tarfon to say: Just because the work is overwhelming doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do what you can to move the needle.  Maybe the contribution you make - along with all of the contributions that everyone else will make - will be enough to bring about real and sustainable change?!

The reason people think it’s important to be white is that they think it’s important not to be black. - “Letter from a Region in My Mind” by James Baldwin, November 10, 1962

“From my point of view, no label, no slogan, no party, no skin color, and indeed no religion is more important than the human being.” - James Baldwin, “The Price of a Ticket,” 196