Chapter 42—Counsel Regarding Intermarriage
[
Note: these messages were written by Ellen G. White in 1896
and 1912. Repeated statements from her pen concerning racial
relationships clearly indicate that her counsel on interracial
marriage is not an issue of racial inequality; but essentially a
question of advisability or inadvisability stemming from
circumstances and conditions that could result in “controversy,
confusion and bitterness.” See appendix 2, “Important Factors
in Choosing a Life Companion.” Ellen G. White has repeatedly
reaffirmed her understanding of, and firm belief in, the equality
of all races and the brotherhood of mankind. See appendix 3,
“The Brotherhood of Mankind.”—White trustees
.]
We are one brotherhood. No matter what the gain or the loss, we
must act nobly and courageously in the sight of God and our Saviour.
Let us as Christians who accept the principle that all men, white and
black, are free and equal, adhere to this principle, and not be cowards
in the face of the world, and in the face of the heavenly intelligences.
We should treat the colored man just as respectfully as we would treat
the white man. And we can now, by precept and example, win others
to this course.
But there is an objection to the marriage of the white race with
the black. All should consider that they have no right to entail upon
their offspring that which will place them at a disadvantage; they
have no right to give them as a birthright a condition which would
subject them to a life of humiliation. The children of these mixed
marriages have a feeling of bitterness toward the parents who have
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given them this lifelong inheritance. For this reason, if there were
no other, there should be no intermarriage between the white and the
colored race.—
Manuscript 7, 1896
.
Answer to an Inquiry
Dear Friend,
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