Definition of "White": Without Color

I attended a Roman Catholic private school from Pre-Kindergarten to seventh grade. It may sound ignorant and close-minded, but until I began taking this class, I had never even considered the possibility of Jesus Christ’s skin color to be anything but white. It wasn’t that I wouldn’t have faith in a man of color, but being brought up in a Catholic school left no room for imagination when it came to things like the race of Jesus. I simply could not question what I was taught about Jesus, the Bible, and things of that nature or I would’ve been ridiculed for my lack of faith in religion. Now that this topic has been brought to my attention, I realize how silly it is that I have not wondered about all that I was taught in religion classes.

There is no “picture” of Jesus Christ. The Bible does not describe the physical attributes of Jesus. All we have are portrayals of Him from the imaginations of many men and women of various races.  They had the courage to question what they were told and change the face of their God. Without this freedom of imagination I would not have had an image of a Savior or Messiah to worship while growing up, so for my grammar school to put constraints on the imaginations of it’s students is, in a way, hypocritical from my perspective.

I’m not knocking my school for what it has taught me, because having faith in something, whether it’s God, Muhammed, Buddha, or even a rock, makes life easier to understand or cope with at times. However, I do not think religion should be presented as fact, and I do not think religion should be grounds for conflict. Having known that millions of people have died because of religious beliefs is a troubling thought. To me, religion should be arousing, in the curious sense of the word of course, especially when learning of a religion that isn’t your own. It should be enlightening and satisfying to know what people believe and how their beliefs affect every decision they make.

Religion is hidden all around us. For example, on the bottom of the bags at Forever 21, a clothing store, there is a reference to a scripture from the Bible.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

We cannot escape religion, so we might as well challenge our minds and not only learn all we can about it, but also question all that we learn to better ourselves and to better our understanding of others.