Here’s a prayer, taken from my recent book In a World of Tears and Sorrow, for all victims of racism. Such prayers are not an optional extra for the Christian, nor those of any other religious traditions. They should be at the very heart of our faith and devotional life, for wherever prejudice and discrimination on account of the colour of someone’s skin is allowed to persist, it is an affront to God and denial of his love.
God of all,
hear our prayer for all who suffer as victims of racism.
We think of places where racial differences remain
stark and divisive,
where people are daily victimised and persecuted on
account of their skin,
where they walk in fear for their lives,
where there have been attempts at systematic genocide.
Wherever such division remains,
may your love unite.
We pray for those who face racial prejudice and
discrimination –
those who are denied their human rights,
who are treated as second-class citizens,
who are harassed, abused, ill-treated.
Wherever such division remains,
may your love unite.
We pray for victims of anti-Semitism,
so long a blight on our world
and remaining all too real today,
lessons of the past still not learnt.
And we pray also for the Middle East,
racked by so much hatred, suspicion,
intolerance and injustice.
Wherever such division remains,
may your love unite.
We think of victims of racism in our own country –
against Asian communities, exacerbated by fears of
religious extremism,
against black people, perpetuated by negative stereotypes,
against migrants, fuelled by political scaremongering.
Wherever such division remains,
may your love unite.
Help us to see the racism that lurks within ourselves,
typically unacknowledged,
pushed to one side,
often unrecognised,
sometimes denied,
but subtly influencing our attitudes
and potentially alienating us from others.
Wherever such division remains,
may your love unite.
Help all to see beyond the colour of people’s skin,
the nature of their dress,
the tenets of their religion,
the characteristics of their culture,
and to see the person underneath,
beyond race or culture.
Wherever such division remains,
may your love unite.
Amen.