The E-catechism: December 1998
	Christmas Archives	Racism

		Each month the team working on this catechism presents you with two texts, and we hope that with your help and cooperation they will improve. Any suggestions you may have would be most welcome, as would ideas on subject matter. We look forward to hearing from you. CHRISTMAS   Christmas is a very popular festivity in traditionally Christian countries. Christmas has been turned by our consumer society into a time of Christmas trees, oxes of chocolates, presents, fairy lights in the towns not to mention Christmas Eve parties. It´s a family holiday, one in which children are king. But where is the spiritual imension to all this? The angel of Bethlehem said to the shepherds: "I've come to tell you the good news which will bring great joy to all mankind: today is born unto you a saviour." (Luke 2,10.) Christmas is a birth. Mary brought into the world her new born child Jesus. God for us, God among us. God who entered into our history and who from now on is part of the human family. It´s pointless to look for him where he isn´t. Christmas is God in our lives. It (could be he - as in God) is brought to the world in the same way as Jesus was. It is his rebirth which offers (offered) the world a new way. Christmas is a celebration of mankind. If God came to live among us, if he took the image of man then each of us is priceless, each of us unique. Nobody is worth less (lit: nobody is too much effort/in the way)   At the end of this century where mankind has never been so despised, trodden underfoot, manipulated and excluded, Christmas testifies to and reveals our incomparable dignity. If God is made like each one of us (as in his image), we can´t keep on destroying man, humiliating and torturing him. Jesus is a true man and a true God. From now on he who touches man touches God. He who wounds man wounds God. Christmas is a light in the night. The child in the cradle at Bethlehem came among us so that we would have life. The glory of God is the living man.
		Top

		RACISM   Racism is the fear of another, as if the other was wearing an unpleasant mask. I don't accept the color of his skin, his way of living, his religion, his choices. These differences threaten me. They are not perceived as part of life's rich tapestry, rather as something menacing. The other person reflects an image that I can´t cope with because it undermines my own certainty. This image calls into question my identity and rights. Fear of the other leads to his rejection. Racism smolders (here snoozes) in all of us. It never disappears. It only requires a trigger (the "flick of a switch") to awaken it. Like when society generates ("bad living") with an economic or social exclusion.   In actual fact the amount of discrimination against foreigners is on the increase and getting more and more serious. To get work or a place to live is more difficult. Identity checks tend to me more frequent when you happen to be called Mamadou or Mohammed. This kind of exclusion offers fertile ground for racism. When people see their (the immigrant's) rights scoffed at, it becomes difficult for them to respect the other, especially when he is an immigrant. A scapegoat logic is able to flourish. This is why the fight against racism is also linked to the fight against exclusion. We´ve got to fight against racism and against the system which created it. In France, foreigners which provoke the worst reactions (antipathy) are the Maghrebins, especially the Algerians. In the various countries of Europe Gypsies understand rejection. As for anti-Semitism - this is a sentiment which endures. Today racism is commonplace. One doesn't have to apologize any more for being racist. One simply explains why he has become racist. Schools, trade unions (associated movements) and the church all have a role in the fight against racism. Particularly in this awareness of the exclusion of the other, it is something in ourselves that we exclude. How can we accept the other if we can't accept ourselves?
		Top

		Archives E-catechism November 98 E-catechism October 98 E-catechism September 98 E-catechism August 98 E-catechism July 98 E-catechism June 98 E-catechism May 98 E-catechism April 98 E-catechism March 98 E-catechism February 98 E-catechism January 98
		Top