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December 13th, 2013
09:30 AM ET
Call Jesus (or Santa) white? Expect a big fightOpinion by Edward J. Blum, special to CNN (CNN) - Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly sparked outrage this week by insisting that Jesus and Santa Claus are both white, saying it's "ridiculous" to argue that depicting Christ and St. Nick as Caucasian is "racist." "And by the way, for all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white," Kelly said, "but this person is arguing that we should also have a black Santa." Kelly was responding to an article in Slate that said St. Nick needs a makeover from fat, old white guy to something less "melanin-deficient." The Fox News host would have none of it. "Just because it makes you feel uncomfortable doesn't mean it has to change," Kelly said. "Jesus was a white man, too. It's like we have, he's a historical figure; that's a verifiable fact. As is Santa, I just want kids to know that. How do you revise it in the middle of the legacy, in the story, and change Santa from white to black?" Arguing about St. Nick, who was originally Greek before Currier & Ives got their hands on him, is one thing. But as for Jesus, people have been arguing about his skin color since the earliest days of American history. You might even call it an American tradition. What's new about this latest brouhaha is how swiftly Kelly’s remarks were attacked. Thousands of people have rebuked her through blogs, articles, Twitter posts and Facebook updates. Comedian Jon Stewart accused Kelly of "going full Christmas nog." “And who are you actually talking to?" Stewart said on "The Daily Show." "Children who are sophisticated enough to be watching a news channel at 10 o’clock at night, yet innocent enough to still believe Santa Claus is real — yet racist enough to be freaked out if he isn’t white?” It seems that now, if you want to call Christ — or even Santa — white, you should expect a fierce fight. The immediate and widespread rebuttal showcases how much America has changed over the past few decades. The nation not only has a black president, but also has refused to endorse the Christian savior as white. Since the earliest days of America, Jesus was thought of as a white man. When white Protestant missionaries brought Bibles and whitened images of Jesus to Native Americans, at least a few mocked what they saw. Taking the imagery seriously, the Shawnee warrior Tecumseh asked future President William Henry Harrison, “How can we have confidence in the white people? When Jesus Christ came upon the earth you kill’d and nail’d him on a cross.” It was not until around 1900 that a group of white Americans explicitly claimed Jesus was white. Concerned that large numbers of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, especially Jewish immigrants, were “polluting” the nation, anti-immigrant spokesmen like attorney Madison Grant asserted the whiteness of Jesus to justify calls for exclusionary legislation. READ MORE: From science and computers, a new face of Jesus Making Jesus white was a means to distance him from Judaism. “In depicting the crucifixion no artist hesitates to make the two thieves brunet in contrast to the blond Savior,” Grant wrote in his xenophobic best-seller "The Passing of the Great Race." “This is something more than a convention,” Grant continued, and suggested that Jesus had “Nordic, possibly Greek, physical and moral attributes.” Even Martin Luther King Jr. claimed that Jesus was white, after being asked why God created Jesus as a white man. King responded that the color of Christ’s skin didn’t matter. Jesus would have been just as important “if His skin had been black.” He “is no less significant because His skin was white.” READ MORE: Turkish town cashes in on Saint Nick legacy Challenges to Christ’s whiteness have a long history, too. Famed evangelist Billy Graham preached in the 1950s, and then wrote emphatically in his autobiography "Just As I Am," that, “Jesus was not a white man.” But Graham was far from the first American to contradict the whiteness of Jesus. That honor goes to Methodist and Pequot Indian William Apess. In 1833, he wrote to white Christians, “You know as well as I that you are not indebted to a principle beneath a white skin for your religious services but to a colored one.” Almost 100 years later, the Jamaican born, “back-to-Africa” spokesman Marcus Garvey told his followers, “Never admit that Jesus Christ was a white man, otherwise he could not be the Son of God and God to redeem all mankind. Jesus Christ had the blood of all races in his veins.” In our age, the color of Christ has become both politically dangerous and the butt of jokes. In 2008, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s words “God damn America” and “Jesus was a poor black boy” almost derailed then-Sen. Barack Obama from winning the Democratic primary. Now, Kelly bears the brunt of attacks and, in no surprise, was pilloried by comedians like Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Few Americans went on public record against King when he asserted Jesus had white skin in the 1950s. Today, thousands upon thousands from virtually every race and tribe of Americans have taken Kelly’s words seriously and seriously disdained them. All the chatter about Jesus being white (or not) shows how much America has changed. There used to be “whites’ only” restaurants and schoolrooms. Now, even Jesus cannot be called white without repercussions. What the debate hides, however, is what Jesus of the Bible actually did and how he related to people. The gospels are full of discussions about Jesus and bodies. He healed the blind and those who suffered from disease. He touched and was touched by the sick. His body was pierced by thorns, a spear and nails. And he died. READ MORE: What all those Jesus jokes tell us The phenotype of Jesus was never an issue in the Bible. Neither Matthew, nor Mark, nor Luke, nor John mentioned Christ’s skin tone or hair color. None called him white or black or red or brown. Obsessions about race are obsessions of our age, not the biblical one. When asked what mattered most, Jesus did not say his skin tone or body shape. He instructed his followers to “love the Lord your God with all your heart” and to “do unto others as you would have done unto you.” Maybe this Christmas season, we can reflect not so much on whether or not Jesus was white and instead consider what it meant for him to be called the “light” of the world. soundoff (7,485 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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If you are worried about what color skin Jesus had you have problems.
Jesus spoke English, though, right?
Yup, Jesus spoke Alabama Southernese. Drank budweiser and hung out at the Jerusalem 500 NASCAR, uh, NASCAMEL races.
LOL!
I gotta tel ya, this thread is so funny already! I think you have a shot at standup comedy.
Na bro, he spoke ebonics, drank 40's and hung out in the LBC at swap meets....
No, you ignorant hillbilly, he spoke Seattle PC English, drank Starbucks lattes, drove a Prius and hung out in public parks, getting high and bashing others that don't agree with our obviously superior point of view...
Get a grip...
I was born without a sense of humor or a brain. That's why I vote Tea Party.
I was gonna say that is funny before the first reply hit. It is now hilarious.
Anyway, Jesus Christ spoke Aramaic.
So you think that Jesus spoke a language that the people of Jerusalem couldn't understand? That's rather stupid way to win converts. Maybe, just maybe, he would have spoken Hebrew? You know, a language the people could understand?
Jesus was prepared, of course. He brought that sign interpreter from the Mandela funeral so that the people of Jerusalem could understand him.
Most biblical scholars believe that Jesus spoke Aramaic, as well as Hebrew and probably some Greek.
No, it's totally possible that Jesus was white. I mean, he could have been an albino. Caucasian? No, absolutely not, not a chance in hell, and believing that he was caucasian is proof that you're an idiot, but white? Sure.
Albino Jesus? Well I guess that isn't any more ridiculous than what the Bible says, so yeah, sure.
Those red eyes would have really set things off.
You can do albino hamster Jesus if you like. All good with me.
Jesus was of a single color...whatever the color. But what He had to say had nothing to do with color. Although I believe it is an error to consider Jesus was a black man or a Chinese, it does not matter. Those who make an issue of it are unlikely really concerned with Jesus -- just poking racist comments is most important to them.
Black Jesus was the reason the slaves were freed, so it does matter.
use your mind people. whee was he from? what did his peers look like? that is probably what he looked like.
I just watched the video posted by Jib76 earlier, and it was astounding!
That is really astonishing. I cannot help but reflect on it; God communicates with us in so many ways that we can understand. It is my belief that God poured out such an enormous talent into such a young person along with the inspirations (note that God can inspire an image of Jesus in the flesh that is demographic) just to connect with us.
It's fun to use your imagination like that, isn't it?
Well, I believe it is more of an inspiration than mere imagination.
Imagination by any other name is still as imaginary.
I guess if you verify things long enough using the Vic method, you'd be as excited as Vic too!
It works like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YIj4rLYo0c
Hey, what do you know, hamster is the only rodent I like.
You are just an anti-bunny bigot.
Jesus was half jewish, therefor of Caucasian descent. The Bible would have talked about Jesus if he were black. To be honest with you, What does it matter? Race baiting, uneducated idiots are the only ones offended by such crappy reporting. If you cant take an insult, stay out of the kitchen.
Really? Sure about that?
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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Let's think about this. Jesus had a Jewish mother and the Father was God. If memory serves me correctly God made the stars, the moon and the earth. He then populated the earth with man and all other creatures. Let's see now. Man comes in an array of colored hues, red, black, white, yellow and purple–so I guess if would be a safe bet that God comes in all colors too. Therefore Jesus must share a wide array of colors himself and cannot be solely aligned to one race or color. If this is the case then Jesus must a man of all colors.
So he's of Benetton?
Speaking of racism, why hate on whites? So Santa was white, why is that a big no no? Answer, the racists want everything good (instead of so much bad) to be attributed to blacks. Who is it that gives so much to charities? Whites, that's who. They are following in Santa's footsteps.
Your fear sustains me.
White people give to charities so they can write it off during tax season and the money they give usually goes right into the pockets of the white people who started the charities rather than the people who need it so congrats
Jesus was white... The Middle East is full of white people.
Lol.
How can you prove the race of a person or even say the person has a race when the actual existence of that person can't even be proven? Common sense unless you if there was a Jesus and he was Jewish, which he is supposed to have been, then he would not be blond and blue eyed although I have seen some Arab children with blond hair and blue eyes apparently from Crusader genes.The whole thing is stupid.There is no way to prove any of this so if you are a Christian and white, then Jesus is white.If you are another race, then Jesus is that race. As for Santa, this is a myth anyway and he can be what ever you want him to be, but I believe he was written as a white man.It's all so stupid and racist to talk about the color of one;s skin.
by the way there are jews that are as balck as coffee
Santa & Jesus are same with Americans, there's black and white.
Balck coffee?
Yes there are, Sammy Davis jr was a prime example
Megyn Kelly defended herself and Fox News on this evening's show. She pretty much ignored her comment about jesus and focused primarily on the Santa part. Some spin is going on . . .
jesus is white because white folks would have a stroke if jesus appeared and he was as dark as any African (sub saharan)
Jesus was half Jewish on his mother's side
and half whatever the father was.... which was more likely the blacksmith than a sky fairy.
The love you feel for others, is just a chemical reaction in your brain.
Nothing else.
never been laid, huh FraK
Jesus could not have been white because he preached tolerance and humility, and santa must be white because he has a race of enslaved people who do work for no pay... so she was half right
You win the prize for most racist comment – You do know that the black slaves brought to America were purchased from their black owners in Africa. There is no part of human nature that does not exist in people of all skin color
Not every slave was bought from african owners and slavery had been around since the begining of time however white people were the only ones to try to justify it by saying it was because of race... thanks though I learned my racism from WASPs
PS I am not african american, black or any derivative just a witness of the system
WASPs = racists? These very FEW folks that you've associated with and witnessed racism from are NOT true followers of Christ if that's what you're inferring PAL. The only accurate part of you statement is that they're skin color was white...
We will liberate ourselves from the fascist tyranny of the fat old white guy! Death to the fascist insect that preys upon the life of the elves! We are readying weapons made from candy canes . . . some technical difficulties there, but we will overcome them! The revolution is near! We will overthrow the obese tyrant soon, after milk and cookie time, maybe later after apple pie time. Oh, and after the nice nap and Paris Hilton sex tape. Sometime. But soon.
Is Jesus white? In the Western tradition, yes. In other traditions, no. They can have their tradition. Let us have ours, please. Stop this PC crap!
In other words, the truth is PC and bad.
Jesus was Jewish. You cannot have your own tradition about his skin color, not that it is important.
A peace to remember
Colors of the skin make a person see envy jealousy hatred... Though not a just accord it is color, though color is bearing of weight, and though weight is power, but through life I shall ascend touching the everglades of heaven reaching for the stars,
Just as I defy all gravity, I shall correct my port, I shall sail in a land of beauty and fret not but what of death, but what of life I shall find and of simple days I shall again, yet again and again love not of what I have lost, but what I have gained in my heart and in my arms.
Christ