Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

The problem with race and words related to race is the lack of a precise meaning and the attachment of strong emotions to certain terms like racist. We can turn to dictionary definitions to find out how people generally use the words, but there will still be local applications that are far from what academics mean. Racist and racism mean different things, but it is certainly an insult in a democracy. Race and Links to the past Before the 20 th century, scientists thought there were different races of human beings. People used to believe humans could be identified by race based on physical characteristics and people believed that traits like personality, intelligence, and morality were the result of their race. The problem is, it is difficult to make a case for different races of human beings. Surface differences like shapes of facial features and skin color are not scientifically linked to traits like personality, intelligence, and so forth. Besides, it is comm...

VIOLENCE ON EARTH   or   PEACE ON EARTH Imagine greeting people with a blessing of “Violence” as in, “Violence to you and your family.” Of course violence has been a part of life for millennia. And we often hear that peace is fragile in some part of the world. But we hope for peace. And some of us work for peace. In the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, peace follows justice. That makes sense. We hear news stories of violent protests following a legal decision that seems unjust. Peace follows justice. Injustice disrupts peace. Future peace is predicated on evidence that the offended people will be treated justly. The image of peace created by the Hebrew prophet Isaiah strikes us as strange. What kind of world would it be if a wolf and a lamb could eat together without the latter being the meal? A wise lamb would flee from the presence of a wolf. In the Bible, many texts admonish people to live righteously and justly. True, biblical notions of justice involve ...