A New Era of Love: Interracial Dating and Marriage

895 Words2 Pages

“Night and the day, when united, bring forth the beautiful light.”- Victor Hugo. According to a chart presented by the United States Census Bureau, there has been a sharp increase in interracial marriage since the passing of the Supreme Court’s decision that deemed anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional in 1967. This was passed due to the case of Loving vs. Virginia, in which a newly married Virginian couple was arrested because they were of two races; black and white. Interracial dating was the next step in desegregation in America, although there are some who still oppose it today. However, despite the increase in interracial dating and marriages, many people still have negative attitudes towards interracial relationships, including Christians, who are called to be loving towards others (Knox, Zusman, Buffington, and Hemphill, 2000). The high majority of Christian people who oppose interracial dating and marriage today is due not to racism, but because of their misinterpretation of the Bible. The Christian reader will be must be able to decide whether those arguments are wrong, using the actual Bible, as well as other non-secular sources to show why interracial dating should not be viewed negatively, while also showing the benefits that come along with dating someone of a different race of their own. However, it is still up to the reader to decide if the information is beneficial to their belief.
The increase in the proportion of marriages that are interracial, reflects a general decrease in overt racism in the United States over the last several decades. Although racism has declined, many researchers believe that individuals express their negative attitude toward other races through “aversive racism”, defined as personally ...

... middle of paper ...

...ngton, C., & Hemphill, G. (2000). Interracial dating attitudes among college students. College Student Journal, 34(1), 69-71.
Hunter, Cheyanne. "Pros and cons of interracial dating - Atlanta Race and Justice." Examiner.com. N.p., 10 Nov. 2011. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

U. S. Supreme Court, Loving v. Virginia, 388 U. S. 1 (1967)

Peter Enns, Exodus, NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan) 2514

B. Lang, “nkr,” Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, IX: 423–31.
Womens Service and Humans Service Dept. "Benefits of an Interracial Relationship." California State University, Fullerton. CSU, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

Gaines, S. & Leaver, J. (2002). Interracial relationships. In R. Goodwin & D. Cramer (Ed.), Inappropriate relationships: The unconventional, the disapproved, and the forbidden (pp. 65-78). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers

Open Document