![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/racism-300x200.jpg\")
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash<\/p><\/div>\n
If racism is wrong, then it must be wrong on the basis that there is an objective, universal moral standard to which all people are amenable. If there is no objective, universal moral standard, then it cannot be said that racism is wrong for everyone. If it is not wrong for everyone, then we are back to subjective preferences. That is not acceptable.<\/p>\n
But racism is wrong for everyone. There must be an objective, universal moral standard.<\/p>\n
If you don\u2019t believe there is such a standard, then don\u2019t tell us that racism is wrong. You have no moral credibility at that point to tell others what they should or should not think about moral issues. All you can do is try to enforce your personal preferences on everyone through gaining power. That, too, is wrong.<\/p>\n
Why is racism wrong?<\/p>\n
The answer lies in the truth that human beings are made in God\u2019s image.<\/p>\n
If human beings are not made in God\u2019s image, but are, instead, products of mindless, purposeless, accidental chance processes, then the reality would be, as Dawkins expressed it, that there is, \u201cat bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.\u201d Morality would be an illusion and there could be no ultimate justice. In this case, it cannot be said that racism is wrong. It would only be a matter of personal, subjective preference. People will either agree or disagree with the preference, but agreeing or disagreeing is not what makes something right or wrong.<\/p>\n
But racism is wrong for everyone. I don\u2019t mean simply that I don\u2019t personally like it. Rather, it is a moral evil that is based upon, at the bottom, an objective, universal moral standard grounded in the truth that there is a God and human beings are made in God\u2019s image.<\/p>\n
Because human beings are made in God\u2019s image, racism and the effects that flow from it are a violation of the dignity and honor that fundamentally belong to all human beings. We can know that it is wrong to \u201ccurse people who are made in the likeness of God<\/em>\u201d (James 3:9). We can know that it is right to treat others as we would want to be treated (Matthew 7:12). We can know that it is right to love one another and that \u201clove does no wrong to a neighbor<\/em>\u201d (Romans 12:10).<\/p>\n Because human beings are made in God\u2019s image, racism not only violates the dignity of other human beings, but also violates the glory, honor, and nature of God who made human beings in His image. This is why it is so important for us to love God with all our hearts and love our neighbors as ourselves. Everything hinges on these. How we treat others is how we are treating God.<\/p>\n It matters what we think about who human beings are and where we all come from, for God \u201cmade from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth<\/em>\u201d (Acts 17:26). Because of this, we can also know that God desires all to be saved, that all nations are welcomed to Him, and that acting in a way contrary to this is sinful (cf. James 2:9).<\/p>\n Someone might still say, \u201cI don\u2019t believe in God but I still think racism is wrong and I think I know why. It is wrong because we should not mistreat fellow beings.\u201d<\/p>\n That is true. We should not mistreat fellow human beings, and I do hope all can agree there, though many betray this through the unjust treatment of others. Yet that answer still comes up short because all it is doing is pushing the line back. Why should we not mistreat fellow human beings? What is it about human beings that makes it so that we should treat them with honor, dignity, and respect? Why is it actually wrong? If, at the bottom, there is no right or wrong, then we are back to the initial problem. After all, we shouldn\u2019t mistreat animals either. What is it that makes human beings so special?<\/p>\n Racism is wrong.<\/p>\n Do you know why?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Doy Moyer Racism is wrong. Do you know why? If you say that it is wrong, but do not ultimately know why, then all you are doing is expressing either your own personal preferences or mirroring the preferences of others. That is not acceptable, for preferences are subjective expressions, not objective moral statements to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[184,38,214],"class_list":["post-23429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-atheism","tag-morality","tag-racism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":84617,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/standards-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":23429,"position":0},"title":"Standards (Moyer)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Standards are common. The term can refer to a commonly accepted value, a recognized authoritative model, or something acceptable though not top quality (dictionary). In all these cases, there is a recognition that expectations of some kind are to be met and accepted by more than just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88561,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-telling-the-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":23429,"position":1},"title":"Who Is Telling the Truth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jerry Falk A friend on Facebook recently asked, \"How do you know 'facts' are truth or lies?\" Apparently, he was referring to the current political climate in the United States. I took his question a step further. If we reject the existence of God and dismiss biblical morality, on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/questioning-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":23030,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-failure-of-moral-relativism\/","url_meta":{"origin":23429,"position":2},"title":"The Failure of Moral Relativism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer (By \u201cmoral relativism,\u201d I mean in this context the idea that morals are merely human conventions and are relative, non-absolute, and changing according to our own personal or societal situation and desires. Morals are subjective, with no ultimate line or standard by which moral behavior is to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":93437,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-we-all-believe-in-right-and-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":23429,"position":3},"title":"Why Do We All Believe in Right and Wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer via InLight Media Across cultures, times, and worldviews, humans share a deep sense of moral obligation-a feeling that some things ought to be done and others ought not. But where does that sense come from? Is morality something we invent as societies\u2026 or is our conscience discovering\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Video"","block_context":{"text":"Video","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/video\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29555,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/negotiable-morals\/","url_meta":{"origin":23429,"position":4},"title":"Negotiable Morals","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Do we, mere humans, get to negotiate with each other what morals, standards of right and wrong, should be? Can we negotiate changes over time? If so, the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were treated wrong. They negotiated their standard and their negotiations brought them to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/railings-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7259,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/arent-you-dancing-around-the-issue-of-racism\/","url_meta":{"origin":23429,"position":5},"title":"Aren’t you dancing around the issue of racism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You surely did a huge dance around the \"racism\" issue. [See \"The Broadening Definition of Racism.\"] Since you condemned all of the other sins in other articles, why didn't you condemn racism as a sin as well? Instead, you linked a religious body's (the United Church of Christ's) condoning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u201cSo God created man in his own image,<\/em>
\nin the image of God he created him;<\/em>
\nmale and female he created them<\/em>\u201d (Genesis 1:27).<\/blockquote>\n