Love Notes

(Facebook and Blog Posts by Larry Love)

“Is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Biblical?”

March 10, 2025

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is taking a hit these days as many states, government agencies, and private corporations are dismantling their DEI initiatives.  Given my background as a Christian Church pastor, I tend to think about such issues theologically and biblically…and I must admit these three words strike me as decidedly biblical concepts.  Here are some of my thoughts on diversity, equity and inclusion.  Let’s look at the three words in order.

Diversity—It seems that God is a huge fan of diversity.  Just look at the amazing array of diversity in God’s good creation all around us.  My wife, Nancy, and I drove through the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge near Maxwell, California a few weeks ago and we were amazed, and delighted, at all the different species of birds present in the refuge, including eight different species of ducks (the Cinnamon Teal was quite unique).  But more amazing, there are something like 165 species of ducks in the world.  In a recent episode of the television series “The Americas,” host Tom Hanks noted there are over 1,000 species of orchids just in the rain forests of Mexico.  There are something like 73,000 species of trees…and more to be discovered.  Scientist’s estimate the number of insect species to be in excess of 5.5 million, maybe up to 30 million.  Paul, in Romans 1:19-20, says we can know some things about God by observing creation.  By observing creation it’s obvious God loves/delights in diversity…including, especially, diversity within the human community.  There are currently more than 8 billion human beings on this planet…and not one of them is exactly the same as any other.  If God didn’t like diversity, all 8 billion of us would look exactly alike…but we don’t.  The ethnic diversity is mind boggling as is the number of languages and dialects…and God revels in it all.  If God delights in all this human diversity (and God does), then we are standing in opposition to God when we want to limit the diversity in our workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, city councils, state and national legislatures.  We are turning our backs on one of God’s precious gifts—the diversity within nature and the human family.

Equity—Equity is about treating people fairly so everyone has a chance to thrive in their workplace or field of expertise or in life in general.  The basis for equity is the reality that all of us are created by God in the image of God and are loved by God equally.  At the heart of equity is God’s desire for unity and friendship and warm and gracious connection among all people.  We cannot be fully human, all that God created us to be, without such connection, without sharing life together.  Also at the heart of equity is God’s desire that all have access to the basic necessities of life (including dignity and fair treatment) that will enable them to thrive here in God’s world.

In the book of Joshua, after the Israelites have taken the land of Canaan, the land is divided among the twelve tribes…and each family in each tribe is given a plot of land that will be their family’s land for all time.  Should they ever fall on hard times and need to sell their land, there was a provision in the Law of Moses that said every fifty years, the Year of Jubilee, the land had to return to its original family.  That way every family would always have the means, the resources, the land to provide a decent livelihood, and, if the Israelites followed the “Jubilee” law (which they never did as far as we know), there would never develop within Israel a class of landless poor without the means to make a decent living for their families.  That provision is equity.

The biblical basis for equity is also articulated by the prophets in the Hebrew Bible.  Micah 6:8 declares, “God has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?”  Justice in the Hebrew Bible is that which is fair and equitable and life-giving for everyone.  The phrase “to love kindness” is actually a call to live in covenant with all other people seeking their well-being, so they can thrive.  That is equity.

The prophet Elijah, calls the Israelite king, Ahab, on the carpet when he and his wife conspire to kill Naboth in order to steal Naboth’s ancestral land, the land that was supposed to remain in Naboth’s family for all generations to ensure equity for that family.  God, and God’s prophets, were serious about equity, fairness, justice.

A further sign of equity is seen in the Apostle Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) when he quotes the prophet Joel who prophesies of a time when God’s Spirit is poured out upon everyone no matter who they are.  Joel says, “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy [preach], and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.  Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”  God says here that men and women, young and old will receive the gift of God’s Spirit and be able to speak God’s word to the people of this world.  That is God-given equity.

In Galatians 3:28 Paul says “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”  We are all equal and deserve to be treated with equity.

In 1 Corinthians 10:24, Paul writes, “Do not seek your own advantage, but that of the other.”  When we are willing to give up something of our advantage for the good of another, that serves equity.

Equity matters to the God who made us all and loves us all.

Inclusion—Jesus was a master of inclusion, including people others wanted left out.  His disciples included a tax-collector who colluded with the Roman occupiers of the land and a zealot, who wanted to violently drive the Roman occupiers out of Jewish territory.  They were polar opposites.  Those at opposite ends of the political spectrum were included.

Once when Jesus was traveling from Judea in the south to Galilee in the north, the Gospel of John says, “[Jesus] had to go through Samaria.”  Jesus didn’t have to go through Samaria.  Most Jews so despised the Samaritans that they went out of their way not to travel through Samaria when they journeyed from Galilee to Jerusalem and back…even though Samaria was the shortest route.  Instead, they would add 26 miles to their trip by traveling east to the Jordan River valley, walking 67 miles down the valley to Jericho, and then hike 15 miles (with a 2,986-foot elevation gain) to Jerusalem—all to avoid Samaritans.  But Jesus had to go through Samaria because he knew the work of God in this world would not be complete unless Samaritans and Jews ended their hostility, were reconciled with the Samaritans included among the people of God.

In the Book of Acts, the early church went on an inclusion rampage. In ever-widening circles they added to their traditional Hebrew-speaking Jewish community the Greek-speaking Jews, even more Samaritans, an Ethiopian eunuch, a Roman army captain (a Gentile) and his whole household—all people formerly excluded. 

The leadership of the church in Antioch included Simeon (also called Niger—a black man), Lucius of Cyrene (another African), Paul and Barnabas—Jews who grew up in Gentile cities, and Manaen who grew up in Herod’s court.  They were all included in one church’s leadership.

Paul’s whole ministry was about the inclusion of Gentiles in the church.  The only reason we have Paul’s letters to the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians and Philippians  is because he wrote those letters advocating for the full inclusion of all people within the people of God.  Much of his theology was offering the case for the inclusion of Gentiles (non-Jewish persons).

In the Letter of Revelation there’s a worship scene in heaven which John describes like this, “After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white….  They cried out in a loud voice, saying ‘Salvation belongs to our God…and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10)  That’s pretty inclusive. 

And in the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, John affirms that the city is large enough to hold every human being who has ever lived, and it has twelve huge gates, three on every side to welcome people from every part of the earth.  Verse 26 says, “People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.”  People from every nation and tribe will bring in all the goodness and beauty of their culture—food, dress, songs, language, dances, stories, etc., and it will all be included.  The city, like some Caribbean resorts, is “all inclusive”.

 

Inclusion is a huge deal for God and for the church of Jesus Christ!  And when we are not including a diversity of people in our churches, workplaces, universities, government agencies, in our circles of friends and family, we are living contrary to the revealed will of God.

 

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (the much maligned DEI) is very much a God thing, a Jesus thing, something we are called to live in every aspect of our lives and life together.