"Though Christianity is not the sole source of contemporary racism, this societal plague didn’t arise in a religious vacuum."

Slavery began and has operated continuously since 4100 BCE (probably even before then, but the earliest records show African slaves being sold to Egypt to build infrastructure during that time) and continues to this day. For most of history, societies operated under a hierarchical system where the lowest level were slaves often the result of prisoners taken in war from different ethnicities.

Racism is a natural result of identity groups conflict where the more powerful identity group abuses the weaker ones. When that abuse occurs between groups we define as different races, we call it racism. Previous it is more accurately viewed as ethnic bigotry, since race was a relatively modern term. The term "slave" is derived from Slavs (whites). There were so many Slavs in bondage in ancient Rome that the term "Slav(e)" became synonymous with what we think of as slave.

The more interesting link between Christianity and slavery was that the spread of Christianity throughout the west was largely the result of slaves and soldiers embracing it as a religion.

Soldiers facing death and slaves facing a lifetime of hardship found the idea of life after death free of chains and living in Heaven extremely appealing. When Christianity began to spread upwards towards the upper classes, they did not suddenly embrace slavery, it had always existed.

In contrast to what you wrote, the abolitionist movement began in Europe after the Reformation. Thanks to Martin Luthor and his preaching that God had a personal relationship with every human being liberalism (as an ideology) emerged, whereby God granted each person the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

So, at the time America was being settled by Europeans, you had two conflicting ideologies. That ideology of Catholic Europe and to some extent the Church of England, that inherited the traditional belief that slavery was "natural". An ideology shared across nearly all of the globe at that time. And then the radical beliefs of Protestant groups influenced by Luthor, who held that slavery was an abomination.

And so, early on, you see the second group settling in the northern states. Protestant groups like the Puritans, Methodists, Quakers, Dutch Reform, Presbyterians, who all rejected slavery. And the southern states dominated by the wealthy plantation owners granted huge tracts of land by the Crown of England.

I think you need to travel the world more. My brother-in-law is visiting from Asia and travels the world regularly. America is the least racist country he has visited (we struggle with racism), but unlike most countries, our core values reject racism.

In his recent visit to China, his Chinese guide argued their treatment of non Chinese was justified since the only way for them to preserve their nation is reject non Chinese from coming there. Japan has a similar philosophy, it welcomes guest workers for a period of time, but after that time, their visa will not be renewed, and they will be sent home... no exceptions.

My sister-in-law from Africa says the problems in Africa are deeper than race... come from the wrong tribe and you are discriminated against. Unlike America, there is no core value inherited from post Reformation Christianity that all men are created equal... that is a purely "western" concept, one we struggle with, but at least embrace ideologically.

Which non-Christian society do you think grants women and gays more rights, that western "Christian nations"? Which non-Christian nation does not discriminate against other races, religions, or ethnicities within their laws? We are not a perfect nation, but which country would you compare us to that is doing a better job of eliminating bias, bigotry, and racism from their laws and culture.

And if we are doing the best job (again no one is claiming perfection), then perhaps Christianity deserves the credit.