Why Christianity is perceived as the white man's religion | Olivia Pierce | TEDxEdina

[Music] close your eyes when I say Jesus what picture comes to your mind now open your eyes does he look something like this as a Christian and an african-american I've been asked many times why I associate myself with the white man's religion but my response is that religion doesn't have a race there is no form that requires you to fill in the bubble for your ethnicity before you can become a Christian so why is it that so many people see color when they think of God the answer is the devastating lack of representation in the visuals generated by the church Christianity is incorrectly perceived the white man's religion because unconscious bias leads to a disparity between perceived reality and verbal messages now you may be thinking I'm not Christian why should the speech matter to me but the truth is lack of representation is everywhere not just within the church ironically unconscious bias does not discriminate it affects our schools our communities our workplaces and our places of worship if you are working to create an inclusive atmosphere in any area of life then my speech applies to you so let's get started if you were to look up Adam and Eve or Jesus on Google Images the majority of the photos would look like this these characters have been depicted as white Europeans for hundreds of years but is there anything in the foundations of the Christian faith to justify this to investigate I went to the Bible the very first book is Genesis which is where the story of Adam and Eve takes place Genesis to 10 through 14 states that a river went out from Eden to water the garden from there it divided and became the source of 4 rivers the third river is the Tigris which runs east of Assyria and the fourth River is the Euphrates the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were in a location called mess tinea theologians believe that it is based on this evidence that the Garden of Eden was in Iraq in the Middle East if we look at Jesus's birth place we see a similar pattern the Book of Luke writes that Joseph went with his wife Mary into the City of David the town of Bethlehem in order to be registered along with all of his people while they were there Mary gave birth to his son and his name was Jesus Bethlehem borders the Gaza Strip on the left side which is in Egypt which is in Africa biblical evidence shows that these major stories which make up the cushion faith actually take place in Northeast Africa and Western Asia not in Europe so if not from the Bible then right is this misconception come from that Christianity is primarily the white man's religion this incorrect perception is caused by an overwhelming lack of diversity in the Christian mission field in order to reach those who may be hearing their message for the first time missionaries intentionally go to countries where people know little about their religion therefore they're perceived as a sample group for Christians everywhere and if the only missionaries one sees are white it is perfectly logical to assume that all missionaries are white and that it is therefore primarily the white man's religion let's look at some examples these are three teams from local churches who went to Kenya Nicaragua and Haiti this past year let's take a closer look this is my mission team we were only in Haiti for eight days but I found myself wishing that I could stay forever I fell in love with the bright colored buildings the vendors riding donkeys on their way to the market the joy of calling to strangers in the street bonesaw good afternoon the red dirt that I could taste between my teeth and feel between my toes after playing games with little kids in the dirt and the call of roosters waking me up at four o'clock in the morning so I could watch the Sun rise over the mountains Haiti is a beautiful country and we were there not just to admire the scenery but to tell people about Jesus in order to do this we used a wordless picture book to overcome the language barrier between us in the Haitians this is the very same book that we used and on every page Jesus is depicted as white I noticed this while we were training for our trip but I didn't want to bring any attention to race because out of the 22 students and leaders on my team I was the only one who wasn't white therefore I convinced myself then maybe I was just overreacting and the color of our cartoon biblical characters wasn't really that important but I soon saw the danger of this lack of visual representation we shared this white book with a black man on the side of a dirt road he listened intently to what we were saying and when we finished he said I understand your story why is Jesus white and we said he's not worth Jesus has no race and he said then why have you drawn him is white and there was nothing we could say ultimately he rejected Christianity because he didn't see himself represented in our story and this was not the only way that we witnessed the lack of visual representation and the power that has while we were in Haiti my team visited an organization set up by missionaries from Minnesota that provides education for Haitian youth the leader of the school introduced us to some of her students before informing us that most of them would have to quit school in the following year so that they could get jobs to provide for their families a common saying he or she said is that the Haitian dreams for the block these kids have gone dependent on white missionaries to survive her words broke my heart for as long as I can remember I have been surrounded by successful black lawyers missionaries entrepreneurs and corporate leaders their presence alone showed me that I was capable of creating a future for myself this vital catalyst for success believing that you can be successful was taken from the Haitian kids and the fact that they saw primarily white missionaries after an earthquake struck Haiti in 2010 a USA Today article noted that over 10,000 non-government organizations flooded the nation in order to help including churches volunteer teams and charities that consisted mostly of white affluent Americans while the works that they were doing was incredibly helpful their overall presence showed the Haitian children that they would never be able to provide for themselves and that they would always be the ones in need there was no one to show them and they could want me to be successful and support themselves regardless of your religious viewpoint please hear me when I say that what people see when they look at you will always speak louder than your words while unconscious bias is a very complex and difficult issue to solve we can begin to tackle this particular facet concerning the lack of visual representation in three steps first do your research it is impossible for one person truly and accurately depict multiple and diverse perspectives with only their own experiences to draw from we have to educate ourselves on the ideas we wish to portray on our visuals before we make them any good English teacher will tell you that you need more than one valid source to write a good essay the same principle applies in the case of Christianity we have already examined that there is no evidence in the Bible for all of its characters to be portrayed as white this information is easily accessible Christians simply need to choose to actively educate themselves on the images that they wish to portray rather than using their own experiences as the only source for their visual representation second check your work because unconscious bias is by nature unconscious there is no way for any of us to actively and accurately identify our own personal prejudices we need the outside opinions and sober judgment of other people with different perspectives to evaluate our images to revisit my experience in Haiti the unconscious bias of our where this book prevented us from truly and passionately advancing the message that we were trying to portray in our visuals had we actively pursued outside opinions while we were still creating our visuals our unconscious bias could have been identified and so many conflicts would have been avoided finally be intentional in order to truly root out unconscious bias we have to be intentional in creating a space where people feel safe enough to voice their opinions without fear of consequence let me give you an example I've been running on the Edina girls track team for two years now it is by far one of the most inclusive and rewarding activities I participated in so far at the high school through personalized notes on our lockers before meats and encouraging speeches our coaches inspire us to run after our goals and do our best in addition to this the captains and leaders all work hard to create an environment where people people feel safe enough to make new friends and meet new people there's a lot of intention that goes into making the track team an inclusive environment this year our coaches wanted to try something new to further of lift our team they created a mascot Edna she was similar to an American Girl doll when our coach first introduced her to us she held her out in front of the group and said this doll represents every single runner jumper and thrower on our team we have girls of all different sizes and body types and raceless on our team one look at these pictures would tell you that visually and it does not represent every single athlete on our team the idea of a team mascot still worked really well but after talking with some of the other athletes I found that I wasn't the only one who noticed that Edna didn't visually represent us as a whole fortunately my coaches conducted anonymous survey at the end of each season to discuss things that well things that went well and things that didn't without any fear of consequence this allows me the freedom to redress issues like a lack of visual representation or unconscious bias without worrying about whether or not I will lose my spot next year something as simple as this can serve as a solution to lack of representation therefore this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed then not enough people are talking about and although it can be daunting to address the lack of visual representation it is vital that we do confront it had I found the courage to talk to my mission team about my apprehension concerning our way this book while we were still in training again a lot of conflicts could have been avoided therefore the question is not should we address unconscious bias but rather how do we address it it requires respect from both parties you cannot point out an issue like the lack of visual representation with the intent of just shaming someone else in making a scene rather you have to want to move forward and actively look for a solution alternatively when people approach you in a respectful attempt to address a lack of visual representation don't get defensive and don't get offended instead when they feel safe enough to come to you recognize the opportunity for growth in conclusion lack of visual representation causes damage and communities across the globe it creates a divide between those who see themselves and those who don't but it doesn't have to unconscious bias may feel like too big of a fight for us to take on but you have so much power at your fingertips the next time you make a PowerPoint presentation or a video or sign or a poster you have a choice to make it could be as simple as choosing a different stock photo because our visuals really do carry that much weight will you join me in raising awareness by correcting the lack of representation in our visuals or will you close your eyes and refuse to see what's right in front of you thank you you [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 144,331

Rating: 4.5463405 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Global Issues, Art, Christianity, Design, Personal growth, Race, Religion

Id: ex0v7IXlz5w

Length: 12min 40sec (760 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 12 2018