> Racism comes from the sinfulness of man. It does not come from anywhere
> else.
Racism comes from human sinfulness, but (as with many sins) it
should be possible to get a better understanding of its history &
secondary causes. Glenn is right - trying to ascribe racism to
evolution is absurd. (Note that Gould & others "evolutionists" are now
arguing that the whole idea of distinct human races is artificial.) But
- at what point in European culture did the type of racism especially
problematic today - directed against black Africans and Native Americans
- arise?
Contrary to some popular belief, there is very little notion of
a _biologically_ chosen people in the Bible. In fact, the Bible
throughout shows virtually no interest in _physical_ differences between
peoples - as distinguished from linguistic, geographic, cultural, &
especially religious differences. & slavery in the Roman Empire was
economic, not racial - unlike the situation in the US, you couldn't tell
which was slave & which was master by skin color.
So where & when did racist attitudes develop - over & above
common fears of what is "different"? I can't imagine that detailed
studies of this haven't been done, but I don't know of them. Is it too
simplistic to say that the desire to exploit people of other races,
beginning with the voyages of discovery in the 15th century, came first,
& that "theories" of their inferiority &c developed (perhaps
subconsciously) as a way of justifying such exploitation?
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@imperium.net
http://www.imperium.net/~gmurphy