Mon November 19, 2012 'Color Of Christ': A Story Of Race And
Religion In America Originally published on Mon November 19,
2012 3:55 pm What did Jesus look like? The many different
depictions of Christ tell a story about race and religion in
America. Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey explore that history in
their new book, The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga
of Race in America. The book traces how different races and
ethnic groups claimed Christ as their own — and how depictions
of Jesus have both inspired civil rights crusades, and been used
to justify the violence of white supremacists. The Ku Klux Klan
could not rely on Christian doctrine to justify their
persecution and violence, so they had to turn to religious
icons. "The belief, the value, that Jesus is white provides them
an image in place of text," Blum tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross.
"It gets them away from actually having to quote chapter and
verse, which they can't really do to present their cause." If
Blum had to paint a realistic portrai