What’s Wrong with DEI?
What’s wrong with DEI?
You might have heard that there is concern about DEI, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, in our culture today. DEI is nothing new. It’s been around a long time, since the Civil Rights years of the 1960’s.
I have read that DEI was created because marginalized communities have not always had equal opportunities for jobs. How are minority people integrated into a work force? Does it just happen? Have you ever been in a minority? The single woman in a male dominated workforce? A white person in an all black church?
Change happens when you consciously focus on something. As a nation we realize the future of America is not solely white Christians from a European descent. Can we do better at integrating different people, for the health of America?
The church has a role to play in this, but critics argue that Sunday Mornings are the most segregated hour of the week! Whites like to worship with Whites, and Black like to worship with Blacks…
Elon Musk, who last year called DEI “just another word for racism”, makes an interesting point. If diversity in the work place is forced, is it racism? Would I want my heart surgeon to be accepted into medical school solely because he is Irish? Of course not. What about his other qualifications? DEI is not about throwing important qualifications aside.
The classic Bible passage on the importance of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, is the passage written by the Apostle Paul. He is writing to a church in which people are arguing because they don’t all agree. His point is to appreciate difference, and to include that difference.
1 Corinthians 12:14-16, 19, 25-26 14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body. But God has so arranged the body, 25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
Whenever I don’t appreciate difference, I remember this passage. I like my whole body, I appreciate the difference between my thumb and my nose, and I want both included in my body.
Can we think of humanity the same way? Rich in diversity, all people created equal in the eyes of God, and all included in a greater whole.
We know that diversity is vitally important for life. Thank God we have more to eat than prunes….We all want to be included. We are all equal in regards to our humanity.
I’ve heard it said the opposite of DEI is, Uniformity, Inequality, and Exclusion. Is that what we want to be about?
St. Paul points us in the right direction as followers of Jesus. We can make a better church and a better world, when we appreciate difference, include all people, and value them as Children of God, as we ourselves are.