In a few weeks our thirteen-year old son will be taking the United States Constitution test.  He must pass it in order to move to eighth grade, so over lunch we studied flashcards to prepare.  One question dealt with ‘unalienable rights.’  In the Declaration of Independence these well-known words are penned, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”[1]    
     A few flashcards later the question was posed, “Did the Constitution abolish slavery?”  He quickly said “no,” which was the correct answer.  So much in our human existence consists of juxtaposition.  Our worldviews don’t always line up logically or morally.  The stark contrast of the founding fathers allowing slavery while eloquently stating mankind’s equality is as glaringly opposed as darkness is to light. 
     Just as Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes, “there is nothing new under the sun,” our sinful condition is evident in all periods of time in human history, even now.  Slavery did not begin in the United States.  The first account of harsh bondage of one group to another is described in the book of Exodus when the Egyptians were enslaving the Israelites.  Yet, racism and slavery are grievously unmistakable in our country’s history. 
Slavery, in what became the United States, most likely is traced to the arrival of approximately twenty enslaved Africans to the British colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. It ended legally when the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in 1865.[2]  Some slave buyers, transporters and owners tragically used erroneous “Biblical theology,” designated ‘the curse of Ham,’ to rationalize their heinous deeds. 
     Thousands of years ago, shortly after the global flood, Noah’s youngest son, Ham, sinned against him.  After the incident, described in Genesis 9, Noah cursed Canaan (who was Ham’s youngest son.)  Noah said, “Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren,” In Exodus 9:25. 
     Why did God curse his grandson Canaan if it was Ham that sinned against him?  Biblical scholars disagree on this topic.  Professor James J.S. Johnson theorizes that Canaan may have been to blame for the sinful act, and therefore received the punishment.[3]  Dr. Jonathan Sarfati proposes several possible reasons why Canaan was cursed instead of Ham.  One, God already blessed Noah’s three sons, so Noah couldn’t counteract God’s blessing with a curse.  Two, since Ham sinned as the youngest son, he would be punished with a curse on his own youngest son.  Three, Canaan may have been the perpetrator of the sinful act.  Four, it was an act of mercy, because only one of Ham’s sons was affected.  Five, Noah discerned that the evil that appeared in Ham had developed to a greater degree in Canaan.[4]
     Regardless of the reason, Canaan received the curse.  Why then did people cite the ‘curse of Ham’ when they justified enslaving African-Americans?  David Goldberg, a historian, states that errors were made when interpreting the Hebrew word ‘Ham’ to mean ‘dark,’ ‘black’ or ‘heat.’[5]   The descendants of Ham included the Sumerians, the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, and there is a good possibility it included some of the Asiatic nations of the present as well.[6]   Although not all of these people groups have black skin, (the Canaanites were painted in Egyptian murals to have olive skin), misguided individuals proclaimed that dark-skinned people were doomed to be slaves because of the prophecy given to them from Noah.[7]
     As Tony Evans states, when addressing this issue, “This process is known as sacralization, the development of theological and religious beliefs to serve the interest of a particular ethnic or racial group.”[8]Slave owners dolefully used twisted beliefs to give themselves ‘permission’ to treat others in ways God would not approve.  God is clear in His Word when He tells us the entire law is fulfilled when you love others as you would love yourself.  He does not advocate, anywhere in His Word or express in His character, that slavery is acceptable.  In fact, anyone caught kidnapping a person and keeps or sells him, is to be put to death, God says in Exodus 21:16.  God’s two greatest desires are that we love Him and that we love others.  Anyone striving to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ would honor what He asks us to do.  When Abraham Lincoln said, “slavery is founded in the selfishness of man’s nature,”[9]  he rightfully identified selfishness, and not the curse of Ham, was the root of slavery in America.
 
[1] www.usconstitution.net/declar.html.  Accessed February 10, 2019.
[2] www.nationalgeographic.com/interactive/slavery-united-states.  Accessed February 10, 2019.
[3] Johnson, James J.S..  “Mankind’s Social Dynamics After Eden.”  Institute for Creation Research. 2011.  Page 12-14.
[4] Sarfati, Dr. Jonathan D..  “The Genesis Account.”  Creation Book Publishers.  2015.  Page 621
[5] Lee, Felicia R..  “From Noah’s Curse to Slavery’s Rationale.”  www.nytimes.com/2003/11/01/arts/from-noah-s-curse-to-slavery-s-rationale.html.  2003.  Accessed February 14, 2019.
[6] Morris, Henry M.  “The Genesis Record.”  Baker Books.  2009.  Page 238.
[7] Sarfait, Dr. Jonathan D.  “The Genesis Account.”  Creation Book Publishers.  2015.  Page 623
[8] Evans, Tony.  “Are Black People Cursed?  The Curse of Ham.”  www.epm.org/resources/2010/Jan/18/are-black-people-cursed-curse-Ham.  January 18, 2010.  Accessed February 15, 2019.
[9] www.brainyquote.com/topics/slavery

     One of the things that I remember growing up and going to school was the teaching of evolutionary theory.  We were taught that there were different races of people and some were just better than others.  Fortunately for me, the humanistic philosophy of evolution taught in schools never became racism.  I never really thought much about people being of other races, and I treated them all the same. When my parents were working, a Japanese couple on the Air Force base we lived on took care of me as if I was one of their own.  I’m told they loved me very much.
 
     In high school I was chosen to be my school’s representative at a weeklong cultural diversity camp called “Anytown Arizona”.  At the student union in college, I lunched every day with Asians, Blacks and people from the Middle East.  I ignored “racial divisions” as best I could.  Sometime after my college years I had a deal with a neighborhood friend from my elementary years that if neither of us were married by a certain age we would get married.  Her black skin didn’t hinder me from strongly caring for her.  But there was still a very ugly world out there whose history came directly out of the “scientific” notions of Charles Darwin. 

     According to the book, Darwin’s Plantation, “Biological arguments for racism may have been common before 1850 but they increased by orders of magnitude following the acceptance of evolutionary theory.”[1]  Darwin did more than anybody to give people an excuse for racism based upon physical differences through his books “On the Origin of Species and The Descent of Man.[2]  Because he “proved” that humans descended from apes it was natural for scientists to theorize that some races had descended further than others.[3]  In his opinion, some races (i.e. the white ones) had left the others far behind.  Particularly pygmy people, according to evolutionary thought, had hardly matured at all.[4]

      Of course, we know sin is the ultimate cause of racism. But Darwin’s theories gave people scientific “proof” that some people were just inferior to others.  Darwinian scientists have been trying to place some races closer to apes and others higher on the evolutionary scale since its inception.  The justifications are formed solely on outward appearance, even though modern genetics have clearly proven our slight differences are no deeper than our skin color.

     Humanistic ideas are most dangerous when put into practice.  The concepts of evolution were put into a social framework by Friedrich Nietzsche, who strongly believed in the “science” and the concept of a “master race.”[5] Sound familiar?  Well, it should.  Adolf Hitler was an ardent evolutionist, as were Stalin and Mao.  Sir Arthur Keith, one of the twentieth centuries premier evolutionary anthropologist’s, said, “The German Fuhrer…has consciously sought to make the practice of Germany conform to the theory of evolution.”[6]  I won’t go into great detail of Hitler’s genocide against the Jews, Gypsies and others who he saw as inferior.  He was just following Darwin’s so called “science” of evolution and putting it into practice for his own gain.  While Darwin saw darker skinned people as inferior, Hitler expanded the concept to other Europeans.  Evil knows no bounds and will use any intellectual concept of man to further its agenda of serving the “god of this world.”

     One of the great, but lesser known, atrocities of Darwin’s time was the genocide of the Aborigines who were “studied” with the desire of finding the “missing link” between apes and humans.[7]  As a side note, there has never been a verified “missing link” anywhere along the evolutionary tree.  Skeletal remains of perhaps ten-thousand Aborigines were sent to British museums as evolutionary “scientists” engaged in a feeding frenzy of study.  The Smithsonian Institute in America holds over fifteen-thousand remains.   Unfortunately, grave robbing did not satisfy these evolutionists.  Edward Ramsay, who was curator of the Australian Museum beginning in 1874, not only put out a pamphlet on grave robbing but also described how “…to plug bullet wounds from freshly killed ‘specimens’”. Ken Ham further describes in his book Darwin’s Plantation that at Ramsay’s request a scientist sent him the skulls of the last two members of the Bungee Blacks tribe that he had shot. [8]

     Unfortunately, there are many more horrible examples of evolutionary racism in action.  Ota Benga, a Pygmy from Africa, was put on display at the 1904 St. Louis World’s fair after his family was slaughtered. [9]   This despite evidence that pygmies were actually very intelligent and monotheistic.  Those facts, among others, didn’t suit the evolutionary dogma.  Racism continued strongly in practice with groups like the Ku Klux Klan and policies like “Separate but Equal.”  It continues now in the hearts and minds of individuals because no law can convince them that “… all men are created equal, that they are all endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights…”

     So, why didn’t I go down the path of racism since I was a person who really enjoyed science and was taught evolution? I would have to say it had a lot to do with my parents, who were Christians, Jesus who is my Savior, and His word.  God’s word contains no reference or support for racism.  What it says is exactly the opposite, “…there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all…”.  Romans 10:12

     Tragically, some people with racist philosophy have tried to use scripture to support their arguments.  Genesis 4:3-8 is misinterpreted to be the curse of Ham, which some have used to justify slavery, and we will address this in a separate blog.  Instead, the Bible talks about “nations, peoples and languages” in scriptures like Revelation 7:9 and Genesis 10:5 showing us that God created many different people groups.  Modern science shows there is little difference between any two people genetically, perhaps 0.1 percent.  Only a fraction of that percentage deals with racial differences.[10]  Of course, God created language divisions, Genesis 11:9, at the “Tower of Babel”.  But the intent wasn’t to discriminate but instead to get people to obey his command to “fill the earth” in Genesis 9:1.
​   
     The Bible’s intent is born out in the New Testament in the book of Acts which says, “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings”[11].  The language of the Bible is one of love, hope and promise for all people.  The only real division in the Bible is between those who know Him and those who don’t.  Let’s live as a people not divided, but united, through the one blood of Christ.

[1] Ham, Ken and Ware, Charles A.  Darwin’s Plantation.  Master Books.  2007, p. 91. 
[2] Ibid, pp. 90-91.
[3] Ibid, p. 91.
[4] Ibid, pp. 16-21.
[5] Morris, Dr. Henry M.  “Evolution and Modern Racism.”  www.icr.org/article/evolution-modern-racism.  Accessed January 21, 2019.
[6] Morris, Dr. Henry M.  “Evolution and Modern Racism.”  www.icr.org/article/evolution-modern-racism.  Accessed January 21, 2019.
[7] Ham, op. cit. p.  91.
[8] Ibid, pp. 24-25. 
[9] Ibid, pp. 16-21.
[10] Ham, Ken.  “There’s Only One Race.”  www.answersingenesis.org/media/audio/answers-with-ken-ham/volume-129/only-one-race.  Accessed January 21, 2019.
[11] The New King James Version. (1982). (Acts 17:26). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.