Rev. Mary Ranger In a recent Globe and Mail there was a great spread on a book that is now fifty years old, and going strong. To Kill a Mockingbird is still on our grade nine English curriculum, and long may it stay there. There has been controversy over the teaching of this book in some school boards, but I have to wonder if the people who have objected to it have actually read it! Set in the American South before the civil rights movement began, it is a real indictment on the racism that was rampant there. Yes, it uses the word “nigger”, a word we decades ago erased from decent speech, but it is used by people whose thinking goes against everything the book is trying to say.

Many of you will have read the book or seen the movie. You will remember that the story is told through the eyes of young children whose lawyer father dares to defend a young black man accused of assault on a white girl. The young man is innocent, but not in the eyes of the racist mob who not only try to lynch the young man in an attack on the jail, but go so far as to try to harm the children of the man who would defend him. It’s a shocking story of racism gone to an extreme we find hard to imagine, and yet we know that this kind of hatred has

real basis on truth, how things were back then in the Southern States.

How easy it is for us up here in our northern land to be smug, shake our heads, and say and say this kind of thing could never happen here. Sadly, however, racism is alive and well in our country. Racist jokes are a big thing among our young people, and though racist jokes may seem innocent enough, they depersonalize the targeted group. And then there are the endless emails! There is never a week goes by that I don’t receive at least one e-mail telling me how our country is being ruined by all these newcomers who are so different from ourselves, and not assimilating with the rest of the population. The racist message is almost as full of hatred as the racism we decried in the south. Rather than sending on such e-mails as requested to other “good” Canadians, I admit I delete them instantly.

From a purely practical point of view, how are newcomers from other cultures ever to assimilate and become good citizens if we discriminate against them? But this article is meant to give a Christian perspective.

We shouldn’t have to look too far to see what our Lord would say about all this. When asked what is the greatest commandment, his instant reply was, “Love God, and love your neighbour as yourself”. Jesus didn’t qualify this and say, “So long as your neighbour is like you!” Chances are your neighbour is not just like you. It’s easy enough to love someone who looks like you, talks like you, thinks like you and worships like you. But that isn’t enough, and deep in our hearts we know that.

As Christians we believe that God created all things. He is the Father of all people. Sadly there are those who do not believe this, and others who understand Him differently from the way we do. But he is the Father of all humankind, and He loves all His children, however indifferent or wayward we may be. That is why he sent Jesus to show us his love. And we are told quite clearly (1 John 2:1-2) that Christ died not just for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world.

If we believe this, surely it must follow that we must find it in our hearts to love those of our neighbours who, though they may seem very different from us, are still God’s children, and our brothers and sisters.

I know that this will not sit well with many people. There are certainly many problems to be addressed, most particularly the matter of sharia law which must never be allowed in this country. But let the jokes and e-mails, so full of racist fear and hatred, have an end. Let’s learn to live together as God’s children, however we may understand Him.