“Adam named his wife Eve, because she was to become the mother of everyone living.”—Genesis 3:20.

WHAT EXPERTS SAY

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) states that “all human beings belong to a single species and are descended from a common stock.”—Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice, 1978.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS

God created two humans, Adam and Eve, and he said to them: “Be fruitful and become many, fill the earth and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:28) Thus, Adam and Eve came to be the father and mother of all humankind. Later, when a flood wiped out most of the earth’s population, four couples survived—Noah and his wife along with their three sons and their wives. The Bible teaches that all of us descended from Noah’s sons.—Genesis 9:18, 19.

“[God] made out of one man every nation of men to dwell on the entire surface of the earth.”—Acts 17:26.

WHAT SOME HAVE SAID

During the 20th century, a number of groups adopted racist ideologies. The Nazis, for example, argued that there was a biological basis for beliefs concerning racial superiority. On the other hand, the UNESCO document cited earlier recognized “the essential unity of the human race and consequently the fundamental equality of all human beings and all peoples.”

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS

Acts 10:34, 35 states: “God is not partial, but in every nation the man who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” For this reason, nobody can rightly consider one race to be superior to another.

Jesus set the standard for Christians when he said to his disciples: “All of you are brothers.” (Matthew 23:8) He prayed that his followers be united and be “perfected into one,” not divided or segregated.—John 17:20-23; 1 Corinthians 1:10.

“In the final part of the days, the mountain of the house of Jehovah will become firmly established . . . , and to it all the nations will stream.”—Isaiah 2:2.

WHAT SOME THINK

Ongoing racial tension leads people in many lands to question whether society has made any significant progress in dealing with racism. Some conclude that they will never see racial equality.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS

God will not tolerate racial hatred indefinitely. On the contrary, under his Kingdom, men and women “out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues” will serve him in unity, demonstrating genuine love for their fellow man. (Revelation 7:9) God’s Kingdom is not some abstract condition of the heart. Rather, it is a government that will have profound effects on our earth—the very place that God intended for all peoples to dwell without racial barriers. *